The Economy

As I understand it (been awhile since this was relevant) Taft-Hartley allows the President to call a 90-day halt to any industrial action, lockout or strike. Puts us well past the midterms, and in time to put railroad nationalization in front of a lame duck Congress.

 

Reading a bunch of books about Bob Taft last year and it being suddenly relevant?

 

Fire all striking railroad employees and hire new like Reagan did the air traffic controllers.
I'd like to work on the railroad.


Seriously, though, when I bailed on papers and did a career shift, I looked at railroad jobs that were available. All job descriptions started with "Shovel" ... and at age 40, I decided to pass.

 

Wapo Labor reporter.

 

The Boston transit system is such a shit show that they shut down a whole line for a month to do repairs. A TV station did a special on the issues. One of the problems is staffing. Employees are wracking up huge overtime because of lack of staff.

 

When I first came to Boston, almost 50 years ago now, a job on the T was a golden passport for the white working class (and to a lesser extent, minority working class). Now all those folks have aged out and in a perverse twist, the city's very prosperity makes those jobs less attractive, not because of pay or benefits precisely, but because of the relative lack of opportunity for advancement. Folks would rather take a basement job with a tech firm in hopes of striking it rich.

 

That article makes it sound like we are reaching the end of the 90-day cooling off period Gee referenced above. Of course our benevolent corporate overlords would never lock out workers just to fuck with the economy in time to tilt the election to Republicans …

 

They (surely not unintentionally) scheduled two major shutdowns at once, one pretty much demanded by the FTA. They could have pushed the other off until the Orange Line was done, but didn't. It's a bonanza for the bus companies getting contracts for shuttle routes, too.

 

If you see Driftwood singing this ...

... then you know you're in the correct place.

 

Just for fun, I checked into CSX and Norfolk Southern jobs a few days ago. They are desperate for freight conductors everywhere. It would have been fun 40 years ago, but I'm no longer willing to ride the rails in a reflective vest for $23 an hour.

 

I always wanted to work in transportation and at a younger time in my life, I'd seriously consider it. But spending all the time away from home and being one not-thrown switch away from meeting my maker doesn't appeal to me.

 

This is more like it.