I'm going to preface this by saying that I, too, am deeply disappointed (or maybe infuriated is the better word) about the government stepping in on the railroad strike.
(Now comes the part where I will probably get burned at the stake, but please hear me out.)
I don't think we can place all the blame at the feet of Congress or even Biden (or Democrats, or the GOP, or Liberals, or Conservatives….etc, etc, etc). Focusing all our vitriol on them just preserves and protects the broken parts. The problem isn't the government on this one. That's a symptom, not the actual issue. It's like turning down the thermostat because you're too hot, and ignoring the fact that the house is on fire.
The real problem here is that the government isn't even in charge. We have become a system that is so enslaved by our own economy that the people at the top of the economic chain are the ones who actually run everything, and the government simply exists as the buffer they can tell us to blame while they continue to profit off the system.
Even if you are a 100% honest politician, dedicated to protecting the worker (I actually threw up a little bit typing that, knowing that I have accurately described 0% of the politicians at the federal level, and probably not much more of politicians in general), what are our options at this moment? You let the workers go on strike, and at a moment that is critical for the health of the economy, you basically allow an already-struggling transport and shipping system to descend into further chaos, fundamentally bringing the economy down right before Christmas, and in the end, the only people who ACTUALLY get hurt in that situation are the people who you're ostensibly trying to save and protect. And we're not just talking about gifts not making it to homes in time. Food shipments stop (or at the very least, grind to a crawl). Grocery stores get empty. People literally starve. It would make the insanity that was going on at the beginning of COVID look like a minor inconvenience.
Politicians are unlikely to be the ones who save workers in this country. They are mostly bought and paid for by the same people that we're asking for them to rein in, and most of the means by which they actually COULD protect us would wind up hurting us in the end, so even someone who is selfless and of the highest level of conscience is likely to think twice. We've watched it for decades now. “Oh, you want us to pay taxes? Well, we'll move the factories to another country and put everyone out of work. Still want us to pay?” “Oh, you want us to cut emissions at our factories? We'll be in China. Let us know when you're ready to get jobs back.” “Oh, you want fair labor practices? Well, we want to fund the campaign that will get you out of office. So if you even somehow manage to get legislation through, our new guy will get it repealed.”
Part of me has stopped giving a shit. I'd be just as happy to watch the whole thing burn and warm myself by the fire. But I'm not ready to watch the very people who need the help and protection be the ones who suffer and starve and die because the assholes who are really running the show can afford to throw money at it and wait it out. Who cares if they lose millions of dollars when they already have billions? But the rest of us who fight tooth and nail to get a twenty-five cent an hour raise will lose everything, and if it was just us, maybe we wouldn't mind so much. But it's our families, and our children, and our loved ones too.
And this is why I get so frustrated sometimes, because how do you succeed in burning the house down when you're the one in the room farthest from the fire exits, and the people who are the problem are in fireproof rooms?