He didn't go to the doctor when he began to feel unwell.
The railroad worker doesn't have paid sick leave and he didn't want to be punished for taking time off.
He said that his company's attendance policy meant that he was put off from going.
The doctor told him he had a bug. If caught early, it could have been treated with medication, but as it was, he had to have some of his tissues removed.
The US is on the verge of its first national rail strike in 30 years because of demands for paid sick leave.
Rail workers accepted the terms of a new contract after President Joe Biden and Congress interceded.
There was a pay rise, but no paid sick leave.
Thousands of workers who had hoped for more support from a political party and a president who had promised to support unions have been angered by the result.
A registered Democrat who voted for Mr Biden in 2020 said it was a slap in the face. People are afraid of their jobs.
He said that Biden was supposed to be a pro-labour president and that he liked to ride the national passenger rail.
People are deflated because of this many times.
Rail union members are not the only ones who don't like sick leave.
The US is one of only two countries that does not have a law guaranteeing paid sick leave for its workers. South Korea is experimenting with a paid sick leave program.
Over the last decade, 16 states have passed laws requiring paid sick leave, but one in five workers still does not have access to it.
In recent years, the issue has arisen in labour disputes as workers have a strong job market and have trouble with the flu and coronaviruses.
In 2020 she left her job as a nurse in an emergency room in Tennessee to work at a hospital that offered paid sick leave and other benefits.
The 38-year-old, who is a community advocate for A Better Balance, an advocacy group, said she was surprised that they wanted them to use their paid time off.
She had to take days off to care for her daughter because she didn't have sick leave.
A professor of public health at New York University has tracked the issue and says it's clear that we need federal protections. It shouldn't be because you live in a state that is more pro-business than a state that is less pro-business.
It seemed like a national policy would emerge during the Pandemic.
Congress passed a law in 2020 that requires most companies to give their employees two weeks of paid sick leave.
Firms cut the benefits at the end of the year.
Despite attempts to revive the issue, many Republicans were against the principle of government given business mandates.
The last major public hearing on the issue was held in May 2021.
The one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work on issues like paid leave.
The decision not to extend the benefit in 2020 is the most disappointing thing that has happened in my work on this issue.
She said that a national law now looks impossible.
We couldn't include paid sick days in our Covid relief package because we were celebrating all the front-line workers who were keeping the economy going at the risk of their own health.
According to a professor at the University of Rhode Island, the Biden administration made a mistake when it worked to broker a deal between unions and railroads.
He said no president would be willing to risk a strike over sick pay.
"Paid sick leave at the national level is not even part of the discussion at this point," he said, adding that the rail contract is very good for workers.
It's unlikely that a situation like this would spark a conversation.
Rail workers have plenty of personal and holiday leave, which can be used in the event of illness, as well as the ability to take paid time off, according to the National Railway Labor Conference.
Staffing levels have fallen and managers are rejecting requests.
The companies have earned record profits in recent years and can afford the benefit, according to a railroad employee.
Nobody out here will tell you that they don't want to work. It's all hours and we're on call, but you used to be able to take time off. They're squeezing us so hard that it's like blood.
If I can't use the personal leave days, what are they worth?
The only work you ever get paid for is housework.
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