Biden lost the union workers and fishermen this week: Kennedy
'The Five' co-hosts react to President Biden signing legislation averting rail worker strike and his controversial lavish White House lobster dinner.
The New York Times published a report Tuesday that highlighted growing dissatisfaction among some union workers with President Biden's handling of disputes between labor and business leaders.
The article, titled "‘Most Pro-Union President’ Runs Into Doubts in Labor Ranks," was written by reporter Noam Scheiber.
"[I]n recent weeks, after Mr. Biden helped impose a contract on railroad workers that four unions had rejected, partly over its lack of paid sick days, many labor activists and scholars have begun to ask: How supportive is the president, really?" Scheiber reported.
He pointed to statements by various labor activists and academics, who are concerned by Biden asking Congress to intervene to avert a labor strike that could result in massive disruptions to the economy.
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President Joe Biden speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One at Heathrow Airport in London, Sunday, June 13, 2021. Biden is en route to Brussels to attend the NATO summit. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
"To those reassessing Mr. Biden, the concern is that the president, by asking Congress to intervene and avert a strike, missed a rare opportunity to improve workers’ bargaining power in ways that could extend beyond the rail sector. They worry that the move essentially validated an employer strategy of waiting out workers in hopes that the pressure would fizzle," Scheiber wrote.
The Times reported that Biden officials justified the President's intervention by pointing to "the potential costs to the economy, which the industry said could be more than $2 billion per day."
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President Joe Biden speaks at a United Steelworkers of America Local Union 2227 event in West Mifflin, Pa., Monday, Sept. 5, 2022, to honor workers on Labor Day. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
"But to critics, these risks were in some sense the point: They provided workers with a rare moment of leverage. They say Mr. Biden could have simply refused to sign any legislation that didn’t include paid sick days, then made clear that rail carriers were to blame for any disruption if they refused," Scheiber wrote.
Scheiber quoted Joseph A. McCartin, a historian at Georgetown University, said Biden wouldn't risk too much for union workers.
"Everyone understands the significance of the president getting involved," Christian Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union, told the Times. "To claim you’re the most pro-union president in history and do something like this contradicts everything."
US President Joe Biden speaks from his notes with governors, labor leaders, and private companies launching the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership as he drops by a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 23, 2022. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
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Union workers were angry with Biden earlier this month for calling on Congress to intervene in the potential rail strike.
Clark Ballew, the director of communications for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED), the third-largest rail union in America, told Fox News Digital union members will remember who stood with them.
"You can damn well bet that railroaders took note of who stood with us and who failed to support the basic common decency of paid sick days," Ballew said.
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