How can any Democrat not support the TWU strike?

$1,000,000,000.00 surplus. Republican dominated MTA. Take it or leave it offers. Anti-union MTA press conferences.

... a liberal. Support of labor is, imho, a litmus test.

sits home on election day. Labor has been ignored for the past 37 years by a party which simply has taken it for granted.

That's just not working any more. If just 10% of those folks had been energized by hope of economic justice and gone out to vote, those crooked machines would have been overwhelmed and we'd be grumbling about the mistakes President Kerry is making.

As for supporting the TWU strike, I imagine there are a lot of prolabor Democrats in NYC who are horribly inconvenienced right now. Locals are allowed to gripe. Real Dems elsewhere support the strike.

.. who are really Reeps.

Sue

but people think their comfort and liviloods are runied by strikes - just listen to all the people put out by the NYC strike today (their comfort on the subway has been taken away from them and they have to walk in subzero temps). To get the public behind them the Unions have to make more effort and be a bit more clever. I would support an all out strike and I will never cross a picket line.

I walked along with everyone else and it's just another day in New York. Everyone's taking it in stride.

Where I grew up in the Bronx, I would have been absolutely screwed by this strike - I had to take a bus just to get to the last stop on the #6 line. Walking to work is not an option for most people in my old neighborhood, as are those in most of the outer boroughs.

It's a pain but it can be done.

I expect the media are trying to spin it

Google for "New York Taylor Law".

Second: The rich will find other ways to get around during a transit strike. The poor are FUCKED.

Change the law or get out of the way.

Are you going to disclaim everything he did while in office?

If you can find popular support for changing the law, that's fine by me - but as long as it is the law, this strike is clearly ILLEGAL, and the TWU is FUCKING the working people of this city for their own gain. They were offered better raises than I've seen in a few years, and said "no, we want more".

I remember the (equally illegal) strike in 1980. My mom was stuck without any way to get to work, and lost a week's pay as a result. This is hurting working people.

Do you remember Mike Quill in 1966? That strike too was absolutely necessary.

If you're talking about working people getting hurt in NYC, the unions can't be on the top of your list.
Start with the landlords, the corporate headquarters and city hall, all of which have turned huge swaths of the city into post-collegiate playgrounds.

The unions are one of the few institutions left in NYC preserving what's left of workingclass New York. It sure as hell is not the courts.

support a patently illegal strike ?

When the union exhausts the provisions of the law for resolving the labor dispute then the appropriateness of a strike can be fairly considered.

Commentary on current Republican antics have certainly avoided it.

I guess only Democrats & Liberals ever violate the "Rule of Law."

...civil disobedience.

Politely ask them if they feel warrantless wiretaps are appropriate.

something the GOP controlled city is apparently refusing.

Nobody wants a strike, most of all labor, who are invariably badly hurt by it. Strikers go without pay and incur the wrath of people the inconvenience. A strike is an absolute last resort, taken when the bosses refuse to negotiate in good faith. That's why we support this one.

My guess is that the city will cave to binding arbitration pretty quickly.

What they have shown is Bloomberg calling the workers selfish. So what are the issues?

this strike... but I can't help feeling apprehensive about strikes lately... as the position of organized labor continues to weaken in the United States, there is more at stake with every major strike, much of the fight being in the court of public opinion.

It absolutely amazes me the whining, moaning and outright hostility that people are expressing around here. Guess what people, you too might want to have some support from the public concerning your own labor issues. Well, you've got to give some to get some, and this is your perfect opportunity.

Rather than moaning and whining about a two hour commute(which is a common time frame for a commute out here in the metro areas of the Midwest), get out there and support your local union members! Hell, start calling sympathy strikes city-wide and shut the mother down! Not only will it benefit the TWU, it will benefit all workers in NYC.

If labor shows a united front on this issue now, then it will also start to provide other success when it comes to the rest of NYC workers.

Go union!

:shrug:
I don't know the answer, but seems to me we have a couple of hecklers (one to please his lawyer girlfriend) ....

I SUPPORT the strike. I agree with the civil disobedience. Our unions have been decimated and the Dems and others who claim to be labor supporters are fair weathered because when they have to support a strike they don't want to because it is not convienent.
Anything that is worthwhile and a benefit to more than just ourselves has difficulties, "united we stand, divided we fall". We have lost the committment to work for the common good, I believe this nation was at one time called the "Commonwealth" for a reason.

:thumbsup:

Is blind obedience now a requirement for being a democrat? A label or organization isn't universally worshipped all the time anywhere.

and spewing talking points. I am not supporting blindly. Just folks like me, fighting being screwed by the fat cats. People very much like me:

:thumbsup:

God forbid the unions break an arguably unConstitutional law:eyes:

You know, if it wasn't for the unlawful actions of the unions in the past, that nice comfy pay scale you enjoy would be ten times worse than it is now. Sorry, but sometimes unjust laws have to be broken for the greater good.

Is the result of my own efforts. I have worked for myself for the past 30 years. Currently, I am an adjunct professor (non-union).

I am all for unions. They do great things for their constituency. But, they are not above the law. If you disagree with the law, change it. Their current violation of the law is not a form of civil disobedience.

That's the only question.

And I would support them and abide by all their lawful intentions, just as I abide and support all lawful intentions of a number of organizations (religious, social and political) of which I am a member.