Dems, lose your chains

To the editor:

As reported in a December 6th CounterPunch article by Patrick Mazza, Railroad Workers United's Ron Kaminkow describes a typical workday: "You get a call, usually two hours before scheduled on duty time. You're expected to be rested, sober and ready to take that call, day and night, and report to the on-duty location within two hours, and be ready to work for up to 12 hours. This call could come at midnight tonight, then 3 p.m. the next day, 8 a.m. after that."

Railroad officials blame accidents on workers, but Kaminkow says, "Workers know they're caused by hazards like fatigue, short staffing, task overload, excessively long and heavy trains, poor lighting, uneven walking surfaces and faulty equipment."

Between 2001 and 2021, profit margins for the four major railroads increased from 15 percent to 41 percent, making railroads the most profitable industry in the U.S.

The new contract was imposed on workers by a Democratic-controlled Congress and a Democratic president, Joe Biden.

A separate bill to provide seven sick days (they currently get zero) passed the House but could not get the 60 votes in the Senate to override a filibuster.

When Republicans are in control, they have no problem setting aside the filibuster. Trump's tax cuts were passed by a vote of 51-48. Are Democrats now too timid to vote down the filibuster or is it just an excuse for them not to vote against the interests of their corporate donors, or both?

It's about time the Democrats became a true opposition party that actually represents workers' interests instead of pretending to be.

It's about time they did more than just play good cop to the Republicans' bad cop.

Richard Warren