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      in US Politics

      US House approves bill to block rail strike and mandate paid sick leave

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      US House approves bill to block rail strike and mandate paid sick leaveLawmakers vote to impose tentative contract deal on a dozen unions as Bernie Sanders calls for sick-day amendment The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to approve a bill to block a potentially crippling US rail strike – but also to mandate paid sick time for the workers.In the US Senate, Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, announced that he would object to fast-tracking Joe Biden’s proposal that Congress impose an industrial settlement, until he can get a roll-call vote on the amendment that would guarantee seven paid sick days for rail workers.The House voted 290-137 to impose a tentative contract deal that had been reached in September, but which four key unions had refused to join, on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers.The US president, who built a reputation on being pro-labor and put himself at loggerheads with the unions after asking Congress to avert a strike, had warned of the catastrophic impact of a rail stoppage that could begin as early as 9 December and could cost the US economy about $2bn a day by some estimates, with chaos hitting freight and passenger traffic.On Tuesday, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, indicated they would attempt to push through a bill to impose the settlement, albeit expressing reluctance.Workers expressed dismay at the stance of Biden and his administration.‘Joe Biden blew it’: rail unions decry plan to impose deal through CongressRead moreOn Wednesday, the House passed the bill to block the strike and, separately, voted 221-207 to give seven days of paid sick leave to railroad employees, a plan that faces an uncertain fate in the evenly split Senate. Democrats and some Republicans have expressed outrage over the lack of paid short-term sick leave for railroad workers.“We know much more needs to be done for railroad workers,” Pelosi said ahead of the votes. “No one should be at risk of losing his or her job by staying home when sick, needing to see a doctor or getting lifesaving surgery.”A rail strike could freeze almost 30% of US cargo shipments by weight, stoke already surging inflation, cause widespread job losses and strand millions of long-distance Amtrak passengers and commuter rail services.After the vote, Biden called on the Senate to act “urgently”.“Without the certainty of a final vote to avoid a shutdown this week, railroads will begin to halt the movement of critical materials like chemicals to clean our drinking water as soon as this weekend,” he said in a statement.Asked if Biden supported the separate House measure to require sick leave, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said that the president broadly supported paid sick leave for all Americans “but he does not support any bill or amendment that would delay getting this bill to his desk”.Railroad companies and the US Chamber of Commerce oppose amending the contract deal that was struck in September largely on the recommendations of an emergency board appointed by Biden.The influential business lobby group said the sick leave, if passed and signed into law, “would impose an unworkable, one-sided modification to a labor agreement”.Biden on Monday praised the proposed contract that includes a 24% compounded pay increase over five years and five annual $1,000 lump-sum payments, and had asked Congress to impose the agreement without any modifications.There are no paid short-term sick days under the tentative deal, after unions asked for 15 and railroads settled on one personal day.“This all could have been avoided had the railroads been willing to provide their employees with a basic protection and what so many Americans already have: paid sick time,” the House transportation committee chair, Peter DeFazio, said.Ian Jefferies, chief executive of the Association of American Railroads, said House action on sick leave could undermine future collective bargaining and argued the unions had historically bargained for higher overall wages and a more generous long-term leave policy.The contracts cover workers at carriers including Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway’s BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern Corp and Kansas City Southern.The transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, and labor secretary, Marty Walsh, are expected to speak to Senate Democrats on Thursday about the rail labor issue.TopicsHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressJoe BidenUS politicsRail industrynewsReuse this content More

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      in US Politics

      FTX billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried funneled dark money to Republicans

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      FTX billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried funneled dark money to RepublicansThe crypto entrepreneur was thought to be a big donor to Democrats but now acknowledges he gave equally to GOP The fall of crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried has been painted as a big blow to the Democratic party, whose candidates were major beneficiaries of his largesse. But in a new interview, Bankman-Fried has claimed he gave equally large amounts of money to Republicans.“I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties,” Bankman-Fried told the crypto commentator and citizen journalist Tiffany Fong.“All my Republican donations were dark,” he said, referring to political donations that are not publicly disclosed. “The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight.”Bankman-Fried’s undisclosed donations were made possible by the supreme court’s 2010 decision in the Citizen’s United case, which allowed donors to give anonymously and has led to more than $1bn being poured into federal elections since 2010.The revelation comes as a political battle over the collapse of FTX, Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange, is shaping up in Washington.Bankman-Fried was the second-largest donor to Democratic politicians in the last election cycle. The Republican senator Ted Cruz has called FTX “a Bernie Madoff style fraud that cost investors BILLIONS”.“Will Joe Biden and Democrats who cashed Bankman-Fried’s checks give that money to the people SBF screwed?” he wrote on Twitter earlier this month.On Thursday the Senate will hold the first in what is expected to be a series of hearings into FTX’s collapse, with Republicans keen to hold Democrats responsible for a lack of oversight before its collapse.Public data shows that some parts of Bankman-Fried’s empire gave equally to both parties. Data from OpenSecrets, a non-profit that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying, shows FTX US, the company’s US operation, gave equally to both parties.But Bankman-Fried’s public donations went largely to Democrats. The FTX founder gave more than $990,000 to candidates in the last election cycle, according to OpenSecrets, and another $38.8m to outside groups. Only about $235,000 of his public political giving went toward Republican candidates.The money helped Bankman-Fried position himself as an influential voice in crypto regulation in Washington. In February he testified before the same Senate agricultural committee that will hold the first hearing into FTX’s collapse this Thursday.At the February hearing, Bankman-Fried argued for clarity in regulating the crypto market and outlined “FTX’s key principles for ensuring investor protections.” They included:● Maintaining adequate liquid resources to ensure the platform can return the customer’s assets upon request;● Ensuring the environment where customer assets are custodied, including digital wallets, are kept secure; and● Ensuring appropriate bookkeeping or ledgering of assets and disclosures to protect against misuse or misallocation of customer assets.Bankman-Fried was ousted after the company filed for bankruptcy. The new chief executive, John Ray III, who has overseen some of the biggest bankruptcies ever, including the collapse of the energy giant Enron, said FTX suffered an “unprecedented and complete failure of corporate controls”.According to FTX’s new management, a “substantial portion” of assets held by FTX may be “missing or stolen” and the company did not even keep accurate records of who worked there.TopicsCryptocurrenciesUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      ‘The success is inspirational’: the Fight for $15 movement 10 years on

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      Analysis‘The success is inspirational’: the Fight for $15 movement 10 years onSteven GreenhouseFederal lawmakers failed to increase the minimum wage, but US workers made other gains, and they are setting their sights on new goals Ten years ago next week, 200 fast-food workers walked out at 20 New York City restaurants, demanding $15 an hour in pay. At the time, many observers scoffed at $15 as an absurd, pie-in-the-sky demand. As the movement’s anniversary approaches, the Fight for $15 movement has proven the naysayers wrong.‘$15 an hour is not enough’: US domestic workers rally on eve of midterms Read moreTopicsMinimum wageUS unionsUS politicsMcDonald’sStarbucksnewsReuse this content More

    • 113 Shares129 Views

      in UK Politics

      What does the Autumn Budget mean for house prices?

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      For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Jeremy Hunt announced that stamp duty cuts will only last until 21 March 2025 in his Autumn Budget on Thursday. The new time limit will now add “urgency […] More

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      in UK Politics

      Paris overtakes London as Europe’s largest stock market

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      Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Britain has lost its position as Europe’s largest stock market, as Paris overtook London for the first time since records began in 2003. While […] More