NYC Transit Workers Face $1M-A-Day Fine

http://www.nbc30.com/news/5584596/detail.html?treets=har&tml=har_natlbreak&ts=T&tmi=har_natlbreak_1_03090212202005

NEW YORK -- A judge in New York is fining the city's transit workers' union $1 million a day for going on strike.

The nation's largest mass transit system endured its first strike in a quarter-century Tuesday, stranding 7 million riders in the December cold as negotiations remained stalled.

State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones leveled the sanction against the Transport Workers Union for violating state law by going on strike. Attorneys for the city and state had asked Jones to hit the union with a "very potent fine" for ignoring the Taylor Law.

Some New York City commuters are sympathetic with striking transit workers. Others are furious.

The sign at one subway booth in New York City reads: "Strike in Effect. Station Closed. Happy Holidays."
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Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg is such a hypocrite. Calling what striking transit workers are doing morally reprehensible. Wonder what Spitzer's position will be on this strike and court ruling?

SUCH a hypocrite! His press conference this morning was a joke, talking about the "severe damage" being done to the city by the strike, bemoaning the fact that so many stores in lower Manhattan were closed today ... Oh my God, COMMERCE IS BEING HARMED; call in the National Guard! To hell with workers' rights, collective bargaining, etc. WE MUST BE FREE TO MAKE MORE MONEY!!!

And this is only Day One of the strike. Imagine if this goes on for a few more; Bloomberg will be having a coronary!

Unless you're a worker.

Mike damn near gets carried in a sedan chair everywhere he goes. And like he knows anything about working people - the only thing he's done with workers was lay them off when the bottom line wasn't to wall street's liking.

And he's part of the reason lower Manhattan still has that god damn hole in the ground - He was too damn busy trying to build that white elephant of a stadium and get the olympics to worry about lower manhattan so anything he says now is just rank hypocrisy. but he's a republican what the hell can you expect.

in a 22 mph wind, the mayor was dressed in a leather jacket and no hat? My guess is that his limo was following right out of camera range.

If I'm reading this correctly, the case you're describing is this case --
"Twenty-five years later, the Taylor Law faces another test. Seeking to reinforce the law—no doubt aware of its past ineffectiveness—State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has won a judge’s injunction that explicitly bans a strike. And Mayor Michael Bloomberg has asked the judge to impose extra penalties that would start at $25,000 per worker and at $1 million for the union itself. Six years ago at contract deadline, a different judge approved similar requests."
http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon_12_14_05ng.html

I don't think he has much choice. It's the law and he has to enforce it as part of his job.

I agree Bloomberg is a hypocrite. The amount of money the Union is asking for in annual raises is about what Bloomberg spent to get re-elected. -- even though he was up by 20% the whole campaign.

himself a mayorship). When asked if the MTA was in anyway guilty of this he showed his true colors and screamed "there's no excuse for breaking the law!!! He also insisted talks shouldn't take place during the strike (why, Mike, the City is hurting) and even went so far to bame union members of a car accident that occured today (see, apparently, we didn't have cars in the city before)

Maybe he should share that sentiment with Bush.

Spitzer has to enforce NY law, which says the strike is illegal, the strikers get fined, and their leaders can go to jail (as could the strikers).

about the MTA...they have been caught more than one time by audits performed (at the bequest of the straphangers campaign) of having two sets of books..One they show the public and the Union at fare raise times and contract negotiations and the one the have privately, which is where this surplus magically appeared from..F the mTA...

What better way to raise sagging poll numbers, huh? Some of you dems who don't support this strike should really be careful what you wish for, because a Puke like Pataki is likely to step in and seize the initiative here, helping their own numbers and impacting a dem constituency in the process.

.."Every day you fine our Asses will be one more day that you can walk across that Friggin' Bridge"
.."Lets see who gives up first"

and everyday the strike continues, the union will lose favor in the court of public opinion. jmho.

And the pension savings the MTA is defending is only worth $20 million a year. The real point of this ugly show down is to break this historically defiant local union. The financial elite know they have to crush this strike or risk revealing to the American worker how powerful they really are.

I support this strike 100%!!!!!!