What A Day - A Freight Knot

Episode Date: September 15, 2022

Tens of thousands of railroad workers could go on strike Friday, even as top-level negotiators and Labor Department officials met in Washington yesterday to try to reach a deal to avert it. Max Alvarez, editor-in-chief of the non-profit Real News Network, joins us to discuss what's at stake, and why the dispute has reached this point.And in headlines: soldiers clashed at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, R. Kelly was convicted of multiple child pornography charges, and West Virginia lawmakers passed one of the strictest abortion bans in the country.Show Notes:Vote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/Real News Network: “Freight workers explain why a national railroad strike is looming” – https://tinyurl.com/2hmp663bCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday 

It's Thursday, September 15th. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And I'm Travelle Anderson. And this is What A Day, where we thought we were waiting in line to pay our respects to the Queen's coffin, but it turns out it was the line for the fall dropped by Supreme. Listen, here in LA, if there is a long line, you just get in it. You don't really ask questions. Who knows what's going to be at the end of it? But I'm sure it's something good. That's why you do it. On today's show, California is going after Amazon for allegedly undercutting its competitors.

Plus, the MyPillow guy says that the FBI took his phone at a fast food drive-thru. He's got to be very upset that we're calling him the MyPillow guy, but we'll get to that later. But first, we told you earlier this week that the Biden administration is trying to head off what could be one of the most high-stakes work stoppages in decades. Tens of thousands of railroad workers could strike as early as Friday, even as top-level negotiators and Labor Department officials met in Washington

yesterday to try to reach a deal. Yeah, a freight shutdown would have devastating consequences for the economy. By one estimate, the strike could cost as much as $2 billion a day. And since nearly a third of all goods in the U.S. are sent by rail, including fuel and food, it threatens to disrupt the nation's already fragile supply chain. To learn more about what's at stake, we spoke to Max Alvarez. He's the editor-in-chief of the nonprofit Real News Network and has been following this story for months. We asked him why these workers are now saying enough is enough, even in the face of critics who say they're going to worsen the supply crisis. What I would stress to people is that the railroad workers

right now are the ones standing up to save the supply chain from the corporate greed that has completely destroyed the country's freight rail industry. I started reporting on this issue back in January when I learned that 17,000 Union Railroad workers at one of the major Class 1 freight railroads, these workers were actually blocked from striking over a draconian attendance policy that was being implemented at BNSF Railway. A U.S. District Court judge blocked the workers from striking, saying a strike would do irreparable damage to the supply chain. And now, eight months later, what workers are telling me is that the supply chain has been irreparably damaged because this attendance policy was allowed to go into effect. It does not treat workers like human beings. It

essentially forces workers to be on call 24-7. Any railroad conductor or engineer will tell you that they don't have a set schedule, really. Makes it impossible for them to spend time with their family. But also, they don't have sick days. They get sick with COVID. They get penalized because of this policy. So no one's happy except the shareholders who are raking in record profits, and they are doing it on the backs of workers who are saying that they can't keep up

with this. Yeah, to help us understand just a little bit more about how we got here, you know, when was the last rail strike in the US? And then what impact did that have on the country, the supply chain, all of it? So the last national rail strike was in the early 90s, I believe it was 1992. But in our lifetimes, this is the first time that we've actually really reached this pivotal point. And it takes a lot of steps to get to this point. You know, labor relations on the railroads are not governed by the National Labor Relations Act, like most other jobs are. And that's because this country saw a century ago how much the economy could be brought to its knees when workers on the railroads strike.

They struck in 1922. There was the Great Pullman Strike in 1894. And there was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. So after seeing how much power workers had over the supply chain and over commerce and the economy, we came up with the Railway Labor Act. And when I say we, I mean politicians and the business class to essentially prevent a strike from happening on the country's railroads. That's why the contract negotiations that have been going on have been so drawn out. That's why there are all these extra

steps. That's why President Biden appointed a presidential emergency board to try to mediate between these two sides. So we've cleared all of those. And the last time that we did was in 1992, but that strike was immediately shut down by Congress and President Bush at the time. They forced a back-to-work order and totally shafted workers. And that's what people are worried is going to happen right now, and that the rail carriers are going to essentially get everything that they want. And workers' greatest power, their power to withhold their labor, is going to be stripped from them by Congress. How did the demands of the rail workers in the 90s compare to the ones that rail workers now have? Are there similarities between the two? The things that workers were screaming about then are, in fact, like the same trends that have led us to the crisis today. In 1980, there were around 40

class one freight railroads, and now there are just seven, which again has made it possible for these seven companies to have an oligopoly over the entire rail system, and they can charge whatever the heck they want. They can push whatever draconian labor policies on their workers that they want, because where else is anyone going to go? So now, if these workers do go through with the strike, it will have a huge impact on millions of Americans. We're already seeing that Amtrak has canceled all of its long-distance train rides to prepare for this possibility. From your vantage point, what are some of the ways in which the general public might be affected by a walkout like this? The consequences will be seismic. The

nation's supply chain intimately depends on the railroads. Grain will rot in silos, right? The price of fuel will go up because the raw materials will not be getting to the refineries in time. Livestock will be euthanized because they can't get fed or moved, right? There are all kinds of hazardous materials moving on the country's railroads every minute of every single day, including deadly substances like concentrated chlorine, so on and so forth. But again, what I would say is that if people are worried about the effects that this will have on them and the supply chain, you are already feeling those effects. You've been feeling those effects because of what these class one

companies have been doing to the railroads. And this has huge impacts on small businesses that rely on freight rail services that can't get their product out there. This hurts bigger corporations. This hurts the agricultural sector hugely because they need to move their product on the railroads and stuff like that. So the crisis is already here. We've just been sleeping while it's happening all around us and accepting it. We're only now waking up to it a few days before an actual strike. Yeah, the stakes are alarmingly high, as you've been saying. And, you know, even the White House has gotten involved to try and avert this strike. You know, Labor Secretary Marty Welsh is having emergency meetings with the rail unions and rail carriers to help them come to an agreement.

And Senate Republicans now want Congress to step in to force both sides into an agreement. So is it unusual for the federal government to step in like this both sides into an agreement. So is it unusual for the federal government to step in like this? I certainly can't think of any other scenario, any other industry in which they would do that for. But from your perspective, is this unprecedented? It's less well known, but the federal government has a history of strike breaking. I mentioned 1980. That, of course, was the year that Ronald Reagan was elected president, and Reagan famously broke the air traffic controller strike in that year. And in a lot of ways, that was a signal to the business class everywhere in this country that it was officially open season on the labor movement. And that's what you saw over the next two decades. You saw

bosses getting way more aggressive with strike breaking and union busting, firing workers on strike, replacing them permanently with scabs whenever they went on strike. And union density began its precipitous fall to the low point that it's at now, where it's barely hovering around 10%. Last but not least, the question on everybody's mind. Do you think this strike is actually going to happen? I would not be surprised if it happened. Now, what people watching and listening need to understand is that workers in this industry have been beaten down and disrespected and run into the ground for so long that this really does feel like the last stand.

If they lose on this, so many workers have said, I'm quitting, I'm out. Like even folks who have been on the railroads for 10, 20 years are gone. It does feel like if they don't fight back now, then all of the problems that have been destroying the rail industry and the supply chain are only going to get worse. And they're going to have Congress's blessing and the president's blessing. So what incentive is there going to be for them to stop if they do go on strike, but Congress has issued a back to work order, a strike would be illegal. It remains to be seen if workers are prepared to stand strong and say, we don't care if it's illegal, we're going to fight for what's right. And we're going to stay out on the picket line. That is possible. Some may stay out, some may not. What I can tell you is that every worker that I've

talked to throughout this year is fed up. They are pissed off. They do not want to accept the recommendations from Biden's presidential emergency board. They do not want to accept those terms and they're ready to fight. We'll keep you updated as we continue to learn more, but that is the latest for now. We'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Soldiers clashed at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan this week, drawing international concern that a war could be brewing between the two nations. Fighting broke out on Tuesday, and since then, over 150 casualties have been reported on both sides, which makes this the deadliest surge in violence

to erupt between the two countries since 2020. For context, Armenia and Azerbaijan are fighting over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh and have been for decades. The area is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but historically ethnic Armenians have lived there for generations and defended their right to call it home. The two countries' trade blows from time to time over the issue, but this week's violence has renewed fears of an all-out war. Diplomatic efforts by the U.S., France, and Russia are already underway to de-escalate tensions. An update on the federal trial of R. Kelly in Chicago. A jury found the singer guilty yesterday on six out of the 13 charges against him.

Those charges included coercing minors into criminal sexual activity and producing child sexual abuse videos. And they could add years to Kelly's 30-year sentence for other sex crimes. On Tuesday, West Virginia lawmakers voted to one-up all of the other GOP-led states by passing one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. They passed a near total ban at every stage of pregnancy, except when the pregnant person's life is in danger or in certain cases of rape or incest. And even in those cases, the crime would have to be reported to law enforcement before an abortion is performed. The bill goes much further than the state's current law that bans a procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Any medical professional who performs an abortion

could lose their license and face criminal charges. The bill now goes to the state's Republican governor, Jim Justice, who signaled that he'll sign it into law. I just really hate that his last name is Justice because... It's awful. Come on. Absolutely not what's happening here. At all.

Prosecutors in Baltimore filed a motion yesterday to give Adnan Syed, the subject of the widely popular podcast Serial, a new trial. You may remember he was convicted for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Haymin Lee, and has been in prison for over 20 years. But Syed has always maintained his innocence, and the 2014 podcast poked holes in the evidence that was used against him. His conviction had already been overturned once in 2018 after he was granted a new trial, but it was reinstated just a year later. The prosecutors this time around didn't say whether they think Syed is innocent, but they did question the integrity of his original conviction. Listen, that podcast, arguably the best podcast to ever been made, aside from what a day, definitely poked the holes.

I don't remember very much from it. It's been a long time since I listened. But I do remember at the end of it being like, huh, that man should not be in prison. They're on the right track here. A prime day to prosecute antitrust violations yesterday as the state of California sued Amazon. California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused the retail giant of using its contracts with third-party sellers to inflate prices and stifle business for their smaller competitors.

This is the biggest legal challenge that Amazon has ever faced in the U.S. And Bonta is seeking damages for the harm that the company has caused to California's economy for over a decade. Amazon has yet to comment on the complaint. This is what I love to see. Hold these major, major companies accountable for their foolishness. Do it. Please and thank you. Some very real news out of the world of very fake money. By the time you're hearing this, Ethereum, the second largest blockchain platform behind Bitcoin, will have finished its long-awaited upgrade. It's a little complicated, but it boils down to this. The merge, as it's being called, will shift Ethereum away from what's known as a proof-of-work model. That's essentially the process that keeps transactions on the network secure and functional, but it's also insanely energy intensive. Running the whole blockchain

uses the same amount of electricity as the entire country of Belgium each year. The system will revert to a proof-of-stake model instead, which is expected to slash energy consumption by over 99%. If all goes according to plan, and a lot of experts say it will, that would be great news for the planet. But it's unclear whether it'll ultimately help or hurt cryptocurrency prices. As always, the best strategy is to just follow the investment advice of whichever man in your office is the loudest, because they obviously know what they're talking about. Obviously. Pillow tycoon Mike Lindell knows the secret to a good night's rest. No phone before bed.

So with that in mind, he teamed up with the FBI on Tuesday for a self-care-oriented collab where the agency seized his cell phone as part of a federal investigation into an alleged breach of voting machines in Colorado. Here he is describing the incident in his own words. The FBI came after me and took my phone. They surrounded me at a Hardee's and took my phone. I run all my business, everything with. They could have just, what we've done is weaponize the FBI. It's disgusting. Oh my God. You can see our facial expressions right now. Why does he sound just like Trump? The same vocal situation is going on there and it's actually terrifying. I don't like it one bit.

Listen, it's disgusting, by the way, is the tagline for the new barbecue triple burger at Hardee's, which he undoubtedly was in line for when this happened. Lindell also said that FBI agents questioned him about an old friend of his, a Colorado election clerk who may have helped an outsider copy election data off of county voting systems. Another detail from this, which highlights how insane it is that Lindell is one of the main self-appointed experts on high-tech voter fraud, he said that part of the reason why his phone is so important to him is that he doesn't own a computer. Now, hold on. He's running this company without a computer? Apparently. Like, I have so many questions. You know, he probably goes to, like,

the library for, you know, to send his emails and stuff like that. You know, when you've got, like, a long email you have to type out that you don't want to do on your phone that's cute right and those are the headlines one more thing before we go let's be honest we're all worried darling luckily keep it is here to talk about it crickets ira madison the third and lewis vertel make sense of the inescapable media storm surrounding olivia wilde's film don't worry darling and betty gilpin returns to talk about her new book all the women Women in My Brain, which she says is for, quote, anybody that feels insane. Tune into new episodes of Keep It Every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.

That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, order the It's Disgusting at Hardee's, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the entire Ethereum blockchain from start to finish like me, Whataday is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Cricut.com slash subscribe. I'm Travelle Anderson. I'm Priyanka Arabindi.

And sleep tight, my pillow guy. I know his pillow, allegedly, right, is like good for your sleeping and whatnot. I mean, he doesn't have a phone. Exactly. A phone might really turn my sleep around. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers.

Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. you