Not that I have much faith in politicians, but knowing there’s bipartisan support for regulating stock buy-backs is a good start. https://www.fastcompany.com/90307897/is-it-time-to-end-corporate-stock-buybacks?partner=rss&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss
6 replies (most recent on top)
Politicians don’t give a phuck about railroads, the railroads own them!
You didn’t actually read the article, huh? It’s not specifically about UP.
Politicians?? Seriously. They have two jobs - one is to get elected, and the other is to get re-elected. They’ll step in front of any camera and microphone and say whatever they can to let us know how frustrated and upset they are that UP is laying off and say they’ll do what they can to help.
What that really means is that if you get laid off and call their office you’ll be directed to contact a local job service for help. They can do NOTHING to stop this avalanche and they know it.
Something like “We hope Union Pacific reconsiders their current business strategy and looks to employ more workers to ensure the future of the American way of life” or some BS like that.
NEVER rely on politicians to do anything. At this point all you can do is to hope that precision railroading is a failure and they have to rehire thousands of workers to get back to where they were. Since that’s the only way they would make billions again, that’s the only way you’ll see workers hired back.
Well they should take note because it makes the politicians look stupid. When you give out tax breaks saying employees will benefit and a company like UP pockets it all and lays off a bunch of people you kind of just scratch your head and say well so much for that. Which honestly I don’t think anybody ever believed a company like Union Pacific would do what’s best for their employees I’m just playing devils advocate.
Shareholder primacy started in the 70s and broke the unwritten contract of “when corporations do better, the employees do better, because they created the wealth.” And UP borrows money to buy back stock....
Our model now is, “You didn’t create this wealth. We brilliant minds on 19 did, along with the geniuses on the board. Get back to work and wait to be laid off.”
Its also a direct theft from your retirement as most of your 401ks are based on it