I Stand With The New York Transit Workers (STRIKE) !!!

And saving their retirements!

Now if the rest of the country would just figure it out, and follow suit...

Wearin my SEUI 'Solidarity' shirt tommorrow. And pushing for more actions.

Want your country back?



What are YOU prepared to do?!?!?

:shrug:

I live in Florida.

Is your retirement safe?

How 'bout your bank?

:shrug:

Seriously?

If I lived in NYC I wouldn't cross the picket lines and I would find another way to work.

Send a couple of bucks. Bring up a discussion of what Unions have done for this country. Wear a solidarity T-Shirt. Find out what help local unions in your area need, and volunteer.

EVERYBODY'S retirement, bank accounts, jobs, and any sense of security are at risk under this administration!

Show those that are in office, or desire office, that we ain't gonna take this shit anymore!

For starters...

:shrug:

except the T shirt part. I'm not likely to find one around here, particularly in a 4X!

I'm a dues paying union member myself. There are VERY few unions in this town. I'm a teacher on vacation at the moment.

But I'll send good thought up I-95.

:bounce::yourock::bounce:

And yeah... I'm wearin a 2X, on my way to a 3X, LOL!!!

:shrug:

and told him a thing or two about what unions have done for us. Now I have more facts about why they are striking and about their wages-he had the notion that folks in NY all make a minimum of $50 an hour!

wages may sound a bit outrageous until you consider the cost of rent.

around here you can rent a whole house for $350 a month, and apartments are less, even if utilities are included. I think those prices are about right for a night's lodging in some of the better hotels in Manhattan.

How bizarre. Do people never use their brains for other than autonomic reflexes?

Traffic Controllers. This includes Bloomberg and Pataki.


This thread discusses this too...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5647433

the strikers, many of who do not even live in the NYC metropolitan area and who will not be affected by the strike in the least. I don't know how you can be anti-labor and call yourself a liberal.

Curious, ain't it?

:wtf:

Hiding?

Do they not get the concept of two-tiering? It's just the same as the Republicans trying to introduce two-tier citizenship, where children born to illegal immigrants in America will not be citizens. As the granddaughter of three legal and one illegal immigrant, I stand by the constitution. If you're born here, you're a citizen. Republicans want me to say, I've got mine, screw you. I don't.

Two tiers of employees, both at the same job, but not the same? And the next contract, three tiers? Why should anyone feel loyal to anyone else? Why should the new work as hard as the old? Why should any of them stand together on a picket line, or in negotiations, when they are all treated so differently?

Will innocent people suffer? YES! But the Republicans are happy to let them.

Workers right to defy MTA

Think of the impending transit strike as the price - the fare - our city pays every so often to travel toward an important destination for many New Yorkers: entry to the middle class. Many people know nothing about that journey, and frankly couldn't care less about the lives, hopes and working conditions of the 34,000-member army of token booth clerks, track workers, mechanics and bus drivers who ferry us all safely across the city millions of times every day.
The great and growing disconnect between white-collar and blue-collar workers in our town makes it hard for office workers to see, understand or respect what is at stake in this labor standoff. Few riders know, for instance, that transit workers have to ask for a day off 30 days in advance. Back in October, in an annual ritual, some MTA workers slept on cots in bus depots so they could be first on line the next morning to ask for permission to take Thanksgiving off.

Such accumulated humiliations fuel much of the fury leading up to Tuesday's threatened strike. Train operators complain about the fear of driving through tunnels filled with debris; female workers recently went public with descriptions of the rusted, filthy, freezing bathrooms provided for them.

None of that got mentioned at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's news conference at the Grand Hyatt on Friday when talks broke down. Peter Kalikow, the MTA chairman, flanked by Executive Director Katherine Lapp and labor negotiator Gary Dellaverson, declared the talks at an impasse and earnestly pleaded that there was no more money to put on the table.

Unfortunately, Kalikow and the MTA have long since thrown away their credibility. The agency lost $300 million to fraud and cost overruns at its own headquarters, leading Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to tell my colleague Michael Goodwin, "Of all the authorities, the MTA is the most mismanaged, least competent one out there, and everybody knows it." That's putting it mildly. This is the agency that Controller Alan Hevesi found kept two sets of books - one for the public, and the real numbers. The same place that claimed a deficit, then a small surplus, and then a billion-dollar surplus - which the MTA voted to spend down last week even as the strike deadline approached.

So when Dellaverson told reporters that "the bucket is full" and that no more money could be offered to workers, it was almost comical. A reporter asked how much money it would take to meet the union's supposedly unreasonable demands, Dellaverson waffled.

"I have a spreadsheet upstairs," he said. "I haven't run it."

Uh-huh.

Roger Toussaint and his transit workers have every reason to be furious with the MTA. When Toussaint speaks of the current labor negotiations as part of a "glorious struggle," he was talking about preserving a city where his members, men like Kenneth Hoyt, could succeed by landing a good union job.

Born and bred in Brooklyn, Hoyt has been a subway conductor for 34 years. The job enabled him to raise five children - three sons, who all joined the Army, and two daughters, who are close to graduating from New York Technical College and Kingsborough Community College.

Hoyt was doing platform patrol during the Friday afternoon rush on the uptown Lexington Ave. line at Grand Central Station, four stories beneath the press room where Kalikow and Dellaverson were crying broke.

Gliding back and forth between arriving local and express trains, Hoyt spent hours multitasking - giving directions to lost travelers, shepherding riders on and off the trains with a booming, friendly voice, giving the all-clear signal with a flashlight, and exchanging five-second pleasantries with conductors on most trains.

Several riders stopped to ask about the strike, and Hoyt - long before the news hit the airwaves - predicted the trains would stop running Tuesday. "The executive board of the union is not going to give in. I hope they don't."

Me neither.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/375722p-319283c.html

The strikers are public employees, and NY law forbids them from striking. They have paralyzed the city. Their union and leaders should be fined heavily if they continue this illegal strike!!! They could have opted for mediation or arbitration, but instead they are engaging in this illegal strike. Roger Toussaint should be sent to Riker's Island jail for a couple of years cooling off time.

It's difficult for poor people to get to work as it is.
I support the unions, but this may turn people against them & I don't want that. Couldn't they stagger who they strike against, say one company one day & another company the next day? Or is there just one company being struck? Let's not turn people against the labor movement. It is needed, especially now.

Tammy

And just for fits and giggles, how old are you?

:shrug:

If it paralyzed the city, then it just proves that the city needs the Unionized transportation workers and needs them badly. Illegal or not, they did what they felt they had to do. UNION YES!

Many of those rah rahing the TWU do not live here and are not forced to find alternate ways to work (walking several miles in single digit temps or getting in a car with a stranger who could be some kind of nut job). The only ones being hurt. Especially the working poor who have no other means of transportation and are not paid if they can't get to work. If the TWU thinks they are winning the sympathy of the city, they are delusional.

You cannot compel people to labor against thier will.

The strikers are public employees, and NY law forbids them from striking.

New York Law forbids public employees from ceasing thier labor... so when you take a job with the MTA, you are agreeing to enter into bondage? What kind of horseshit is this? MTA workers like all human beings have the right to withhold thier labor. Or is it ok again to pass laws in the United States that force people to work against thier will?

They have paralyzed the city.

Oh, I'm sorry you are right. Getting the trains running so you can go back to life as usual is WAYYY more important than the rights of transit workers. WHAT WAS I THINKING

Their union and leaders should be fined heavily if they continue this illegal strike!!!

Why don't we just call out the Pinkerton's and drop this charade? Why even let the workers have unions if the unions can just be destroyed whenever they exercise thier leverage?

They could have opted for mediation or arbitration, but instead they are engaging in this illegal strike.

It turns out the transit workers care more about thier livelyhoods than about the convienence of your commute.

Roger Toussaint should be sent to Riker's Island jail for a couple of years cooling off time.

Yep, lets throw union leaders into prison, great idea.

Just more vicious regressivism. Do you really think that society without unions is a place we want to return to?

It only took me an extra 15 minutes to get to work today.

I joined a carpool. We picked up someone at the bridge to make 4. We talked to him about his experience walking to work yesterday. Most people I've talked to have said they're surprised how little has been effected.

I'm not remarking on the legal issues here, but I have to say it is a bot of hyperbole to say the city is paralyzed.

Do you know anything, I mean anything, about the labor movement in America?

The question was rhetorical. I know you don't.

Pataki is trying to bust the union. Which means all unions. That's what two tiers means. Have you heard about two tiers?

If you're going to parrot Republican press releases, why bother to be at DU?

And I live in NYC.

illegal strike.
So it's illegal to not go to work for a few days?

:bounce::yourock::bounce:

I think it's about time that the people who do most of the heavy lifting in this world start standing up to the fat fucks who make huge profits out of sucking the life out of them. It's good to see the underdog asserting some power for once.

First it will be the transit workers, then it will be the rest of us. The workers in this country need to stop rolling over every time the plutocrats decide they've got it too good and need to be taken down a few more notches. To hell with all the selfish jerks that can only think how inconvenienced they are.

:wtf:

:hi:

Thank you all!

:grouphug:

Do we care only about workers on strike - what about the workers we don't care about who lose their job because they can't get to work. No one protects them - they are the true victims that only lose in any type of transit strike. Thats what happened to workers last time there was a strike.

If not, maybe they should be.

Maybe we should start unionizing the snot out of every fucking wage paying job in this country.

I don't want workers to get hurt here, but I've seen many a worker get hurt because fellow workers didn't/don't support each other.

You are right however... Just WHAT does it mean to be pro-labor???

:shrug:

Maybe if more people were unionized, the unions wouldn't have to strike as much (because the unions would be stronger & have more clout), which is what I would rather see. The strike in NYC is hurting poor people who need public transportation to get to work. Less strikes mean less inconvenience for them.

Tammy

I wish there were a better way to do this, because I'd hate to see people lose their jobs because they can't get to work. Don't get me wrong--I'm pro-union. But how is making people lose their jobs helping workers? As I said, there has to be a better way to do this.

Tammy

because of this strike, should either pay their employees enough to buy their own friggin cars, pay their employees enough to LIVE IN THE FUCKING CITY WHERE THEY WORK, give them enough sick\vacation leave to withstand a strike, or else pay somebody a bunch of money to watch their businesses REAL carefully at night.

:nuke:

People are losing their jobs and not getting paid if they can't get to work, mostly, the working poor who rely on public transportation. The only one who is getting hurt by this strike are the riders who need the buses and subways. I have been home the past two days because I have no way to work. Businesses are telling their workers that they have a responsibility to find a way to work, no matter what.

Do we care only about workers on strike - what about the workers we don't care about who lose their job because they can't get to work.

What do we do about workers who have so little job security that they can be fired for things completely out of thier control... now when faced with this problem I tend to think the answer is either creating a saftey net for these people, or passing laws that improve the security of thier jobs, not using them in a rhetorical ploy to argue against other workers.

If there really are employers so inhumane that they would pointlessly fire people because of a transit strike, they are the problem, not the transit workers who are exercising thier rights.

No one protects them

Indeed, if only they had a union or a democratic government.

I'll give you a tip. If you want to protect the rights of low wage workers, you are going about it in entirely the wrong way. In general opposing unions is always a bad way to support labor.

they are the true victims that only lose in any type of transit strike.

True victims?

So because its possible that this strike could have negative effects on some other workers we should just pretend the transit workers dont exist and focus on these 'truer' victims you describe? Cheap misdirection.

if you want to make an omelet, you've got to break some eggs.

I was talking to a co-worker, who is relatively enlightened, about the strike, and she was complaining that we don't get free healthcare, so why should the transit workers?

The answer for this is we should get free healthcare, don't hold it against the transit workers that they are willing to FIGHT for it.

Maybe instead of asking why we don't get this and asking that it be taken away from someone else, we should be asking why we don't get this and asking that it be given to us.

The robber barons have gone too far!!! It's the workers' turn!!!

the cops & fireman also threatened, and the city finally coughed up. Transit has been w/o a contract for some time. The big sinking issue was the pension plan. The MTA wants to take away a 20yr-55age plan and replace it with a 20yr-62 plan and then make the employees pay 6% for it. Strange concept give them less then get and then make them pay for it. The purpose of the younger retirement age was to move in new blood at lower salaries, hence creating a savings.

The MTA is a bloated political hack plagued quasi-governmental authority that always pleads no money. People forget it takes a lot to move the city and take it workers for granted. The strike may cost the union fines, but sometimes its the only way. This hasn't been a one week or one year struggle to settle, its been festering for a long time.

contract ended last friday so to say they have been without a contract for some time is just plain wrong.


the metro north union is the one without a contract for a long time

I'm proud that these workers are standing up the way they are. If it takes a strike to make the scumbag politcal hacks realize the value of their labor, well then, so be it. FUCK the Taylor Law. My job is under the Taylor...it's punk ass bullshit. Fuck all that, and burn in hell, all of them. Every last one.....

Go TWU. Go Labor. Let's stand together.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE---SAVE WORKERS RIGHTS!!!!!!!!

Labor rocks

This is just the first step. As this goes, all the others do. Toussaint said that it is very clear that this is all handled by Pataki & Bloomberg - and NOT MTA. It's a naked GOP power grab - and Bloomberg didn't even try to disguise it.

This is just the first step. As this goes, all the others do. Toussaint said that it is very clear that this is all handled by Pataki & Bloomberg - and NOT MTA. It's a naked GOP power grab - and Bloomberg didn't even try to disguise it.

This is just the first step. As this goes, all the others do. Toussaint said that it is very clear that this is all handled by Pataki & Bloomberg - and NOT MTA. It's a naked GOP power grab - and Bloomberg didn't even try to disguise it.

This is just the first step. As this goes, all the others do. Toussaint said that it is very clear that this is all handled by Pataki & Bloomberg - and NOT MTA. It's a naked GOP power grab - and Bloomberg didn't even try to disguise it.

This is just the first step. As this goes, all the others do. Toussaint said that it is very clear that this is all handled by Pataki & Bloomberg - and NOT MTA. It's a naked GOP power grab - and Bloomberg didn't even try to disguise it.

No corporations EVER get such serious fines, no matter how EGREGIOUS or ILLEGAL their violations. None. I challenge anyone aginst the MTU to prove me wrong.

In support of the unions. My husband has been a dues paying member of the UMWA for 40 years as was my father. My uncle was an organizer for the CIO back in the day.

My Daddy has been a member for 30 years -- participated in a Wildcat strike against Consol in the mid-80s. Gave me my first pair of "applejacks," when I was a wee girl. Because of UMWA, I had my college paid for, for free, and my dad gets to retire at 55. If not for the SCABS, my mom wouldn't have had to bawl her eyes out because she couldn't buy me dress shoes for my 8th grade graduation. If workers stuck together, this world would be a better place.

:kick:

Bloomberg got in there by default. Of course, by the time the realization sinks in, we may be diebolded.
Did anyone notice that the news of the union fines came from...Bloomberg news?

This isn't union vs. the big-bad profit grabbing corporation.

It's the union vs. a government agency whose raison d'être is to serve the public. Such agencies can only abuse their power to the extent that the electorate allows it. If people elect a bunch of dumbasses, they get shitty, unresponsive public services.

I wanna join one just for activism. But I work at a really small company that doesn't really need a union.

They don't do auditions anymore, that's a thing of the past. Just pay your money.

signatories. You can't just walk in and join.

http://www.workingamerica.org/home.cfm

New UNION forming for NonUnion Workers and Retirees (AFL-CIO)! Must Read
Great new Website, affiliated with AFL-CIO for all of us who are sick and tired of the Downsizing/Merging and Layoffs which follow. Now is a chance for us all to join and have a voice in a NEW AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT which can include all of us: Techies, Clericals, Corporate Employees, Service Industry workers...all of us who are not currently eligible for a Union where we have a voice. Let's do this and make it work for us. And for those who are concerned about Labor Union's bad reputation the past few decades, we can work to make sure that the corruption is kept out by vigilant monitoring of elected officials.

It's time for all of us to unite and have a voice. We need lobbyists who work for US. Think of the money we could raise that would send the K-Street crowd out of DC. Think of how we could have a united voice to go after our Senators and Congresspersons who continue to give away our rights to the Corporations.

Check out their website. It looks really interesting and I'm going to join and donate. The time has come!

Help Build a Workers' Movement. Nonunion workers and retirees are invited to join the people power of America's union movement and help make America work for all of us. (credit to Buzzflash for posting this headline and the link to the website)

http://www.workingamerica.org/home.cfm

Ideals are like stars..............

***********************************************************************

On edit: credit to Koko. :)

Looking into it!

I almost worked canvassing for these guys...I totally should have in retrospect. I will go see what they are up to now.

edit: whoops, turned out I was talking about workingforamerica.org, a different organization(?)

A National Day Care Workers' Union.
A National Food Service Union.

Whoa boy. I can dream, right?

Screw the MTA, and the hell with the anti-labor elements so prevalent on here today. :puke:

But then I am a union man (motion pictures) and I live very well because of it.

I am proud of each and everyone of them.

It's especially infuriatng what they're trying to do new hires. I hope they get a fair contract soon, and that those ridiculous fines are rescinded.

Of course the only problem with that is the timing..... during the week between Xmas & New Years only the garbage guys and the cops and the firemen seem to be working anyway.

Except the retail workers, of course...... Now there would be a statement if no malls could open on the 26th :evilgrin:

But in the simple lyrics of our Canadian friends, DOA......

shut it down!
we're tired, yeah, tired of workin'.
yeah, workin' for nothin'.
we all want, what we got comin'.
all we need is a break,
come on take a break.

everything is not all right
and there's no end in sight.
you can call it, whatcha like.
come on, stand up for your rights.
stand up, stand and unite.
it's time for a general strike.

we been out, breakin' our backs.
been out workin' gettin' no slack.
all week long, payin' those bills.
that's just the people, that still got a job.
what about the rest of us, on the soupline.

stand up, stand, stand and unite.
it's time for a general strike.
stand up, stand and unite. it's time!!!

Solidarity is the only answer.

A series if day long transportation strikes in cities across the nation might solve the problem. If they refuse to listen to reason, a general transportation strike might solve the problem.

Are they going to call out the National Guard? LOL!

It is time for labor to exercise its muscles. Labor will continue to decline without decisive action.

----------------

This is not just about transportation workers in New York. Worker rights in this country have been decaling. American workers are very aware of this. This has more to do with corporate greed than new economic realities.

I am willing to pay a few cents more for a loaf of bread to assure the clerk has health insurance and a living wage. Not paying for that would be like staling.

Stealing retirement savings, healthcare, and wages is all part of the culture of corruption.

Currently the union is being charged $1M/day for striking. Okay, there is a law against striking. The court should have to assess the workers, not the union.

If they deem the union in charge of the workers, why is not the admin also in charge of the union and workers, therefore the admin should be charged for its part in causing the workers to strike.

Just say'n.

bargain with our numbers, there is no bargaining chip left. Illegal strike - phooey. Illegal politicians is more like it.

An ABC poll today said 50% of New Yorkers polled support the strike.

All the NY TV news shows have a little "transit strike" logo displayed in the corner of the screen. The local Fox affiliate has one that says "ILLEGAL transit strike!"

:eyes:

and I say the hell with this. This strike is hurting everyone the Democratic party is supposed to protect. It is the poor who have to suffer while the MTA shows their clout. Yeah, we know they perform a vital service. We apprceciate it. But the NYC police went without contract for four years. A starting police officer gets $25K a year, which is by no means a living wage in any of the boroughs. Its also way less than a starting employee of the MTA, as I understand it.

Screw the MTA. Fire them all, hire new people and let's get this city back to business. If you check out CNN.com, the poll reflects a 65% disapproval rating (unscientific poll). This strike is about as popular as George W Bush.

...between the MTA and the TWU.

I agree, screw the MTA...and the only way to do that is to support the TWU in doing all they can to push back.

The TWU strike may have an ill effect on the poor for a few days...but the MTA's been screwing the poor for ages and it's just getting worse. The MTA is out of control.

I don't understand all the misguided support here for the strikers. I posted already on another thread on the subject. Among other harmful effects to our local economy (as in retail workers, small business owners, restaurant and hotel workers) there are THOUSANDS of elderly and disabled who are not receiving the at-home care, nursing and otherwise, they depend upon, and at CHRISTMAS time, for G-ds sake. I've been talking with a lot of the so-called 'working class'these past 2 days, and they feel as we do. Working mothers and fathers in my neighborhood (in NJ)are without childcare because their sitters can't make it in from Brooklyn (a lot of them commute because the wages are higher in here). The elderly gentlemen (looked about 70) working in the store where my husband purchased a shirt today, who is working in retail because he NEEDS to support himself, said he WISHED he had a 55K salary and the benefits the strikers has... and a guy like him will be the first casualty when these retail outlets don't get out of the red because of the blow to Christmas-time sales.

I know they had asked for an 8% raise for the next 3 years.... I NEVER got an 8% raise when I worked in the private sector. And any raise I got was tied to performance and not guarenteed from year to year. My husband only got a 2% raise last year, and that was considered GOOD; because of budget, there were people in his office that got ZERO raise (he works for a foregin gov't).

Now I am not sure what to do: I want to visit my mother over the holiday- she is elderly and lives alone in Queens: do I have to fill up my car with 4 people to go through Manhattan (Lincoln Tunnel)? Do you know if this will apply over the weekend?

"Working mothers and fathers in my neighborhood (in NJ)are without childcare because their sitters can't make it in from Brooklyn (a lot of them commute because the wages are higher in here)."

MTA workers can't afford to have full-time babysitters, like you poor aggrieved people in Hoboken (one of the wealthiest communities in NJ). As far as the elderly and disabled, I feel very bad for them. They should call George Pataki if they have a problem.

These people work in filth and stress to take you and your neighbors to work everyday. I think they should get an increase that matches the increase in the cost of living. Or at least more than they are being offered now.

If your husband doesn't like his raise, than maybe he needs to get union representation.

thanks for not letting me down.

MTA employees are not coal miners, and buses and subways are not silver coaches riding the gentry of Hoboken to white collar pleasantries. Simply ridiculous. Telling elderly and disabled people to "call Gov. Pataki" if they don't like the fact their nurses can't get to them, or their 'meals on wheels' have no wheels, is about as cold and uncaring as is imaginable. I suppose you do not know anyone in that condition. You might as well tell the most weak and vulnerable among us to "drop dead".

As for Hoboken, you really don't know what you are talking about. It is a middle class community that has, in the 10 years I've been here, become choked with tacky, high-priced condos and a booming real estate market, attracting a new, affluent population that can afford the over-priced housing. But they are not the majority of residents by any means. My daughter goes to public school, we and the people we know are not wealthy, just hard-working people supporting families and paying rent or mortgages like everyone else. I am not sure why you would have contempt for anyone here, particularly those who hire babysitters because they need a second income--there are NOT ENOUGH daycare facilities in this town to meed demand and people have no alternative.

I would like the MTA workers to get what they deserve, but ALL parties should have continued negotiations until a settlement was reached. Innocent people will lose jobs because of the economic impact, and in the case of an ambulance or fire truck getting stuck in the parking lot on Third Avenue, someone could even die. Inexcusable.

I won't get in a pissing match. You are entitled to your opinion, as I am.

You don't know quite what YOUR talking about. I imagine there are not too many MTA workers able to afford Hoboken. I don't have any contempt for people from Hoboken, I think whining about not having a full-time babysitter is a little selfish considering people who are putting their jobs and their lives on the line trying to get a fair deal for their labor. I feel bad for people victimized by the strike, but your anger at the transit workers is misguided.

It'll take a little while to get across the bridges and tunnels, but you only need four people if traveling between the hours of 5 am and 11 am on Monday through Friday.

It's a pain in the ass, but it's not impossible to do.

I get road rage when driving, which happened yesterday when the traffic cops spent four traffic lights just chatting, letting cars perpendicular to me just back up without allowing us to go when we had green lights. (It takes little to set us road ragers off!) Make sure you bring some soothing music for the ride. I like to turn on Classical when I feel the tension building in my soul!

and I say the hell with this.

To hell with the rights of transit workers? I see.

This strike is hurting everyone the Democratic party is supposed to protect.

Why exactly is it that you think the Democratic party isnt supposed to protect transit workers?

It is the poor who have to suffer while the MTA shows their clout.

I am guessing that you have confused the MTA with the transit workers union? Interestingly enough what you actually wrote is true. This is about the MTA showing its clout. This is about the MTA and the city using every tool at thier disposal to force an unacceptable contract on transit workers.

Yeah, we know they perform a vital service. We apprceciate it. But the NYC police went without contract for four years. A starting police officer gets $25K a year, which is by no means a living wage in any of the boroughs. Its also way less than a starting employee of the MTA, as I understand it.

Wow. So now you are arguing that all workers must be as accepting of employer abuses as the others? As long as one group of workers is willing to accept bad treatment the others should as well?

Screw the MTA. Fire them all, hire new people and let's get this city back to business.

Screw the workers, lets make more money!

You are a true champion for the poor.

If you check out CNN.com, the poll reflects a 65% disapproval rating (unscientific poll). This strike is about as popular as George W Bush.

So I suppose when Bush had good approval ratings he was a good president?

npincus puts it better than I do:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5652401&mesg_id=5658216

Check this out though:

The MTA initially offered TWU members raises totaling six percent over 27 months, but the union wants a three-year contract that includes eight percent raises in each year of the contract.
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=55700

I've never had a guaranteed 8% raise anywhere I've ever worked, so I'm sorry if I'm not more sympathetic. Do you live in New York City K-W? Are you going to support this strike if it goes on into January?

And, just because YOU don't enjoy the same great benefits that TWU members do, the hell with them??? Man, the corporate guys just LOVE workers like you.

are providing an essential service for millions and millions of people here. The TWU is blackmailing in the city.

These are the demands of the TWU with the MTA counter-offers, as I read here: http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=5&aid=55710

(The MTA has offered) a 9 percent wage increase over 3 years; the union (TWU) wants 8 percent per year.

Also, the MTA wants all new employees to pay a 1 percent premium towards their health plan. The union wants them to continue to pay nothing.

New hires would also not be eligible to receive their full pension until age 62, instead of the current age of 55. The union wants it lowered to 50.


For this they shut down the entire city a week before the Holidays? The average retirement age for ALL American workers is RISING, but the TWU wants to lower theirs? You can support any and all unions, no matter what they are asking for if you like, but I prefer to go on a case by case basis, and judge by the merits of the case. The TWU is out of line here.

its more like the hell to everyone who lives in Harlem, Bed-Stuy, the Bronx and Queens. Take a gander at this: (I don't think subscription is necessary)

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/12/21/nyregion/20051221_COMMUTE_GRAPHIC.html

This strike is hurting the working man, not Corporate America.

http://www.nypd2.org/html/recruit/salary.html

By the time they hit the streets after police academy, they make 32.7k, going up to 60k in 5 years on the street, and can retire at 1/2 pay in 20 years. Plus 27 vacation days, and unlimited sick time. Doesn't sound too bad to me.

MTA employees generally (this is New York) do not. http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051213/NEWS02/512130310/1018

An MTA employee with a few years under his/her belt can make more than a NYC teacher with a masters degree. http://nyjobsource.com/teachersal.html and http://www.nycenet.edu/TEACHNYC/CollegeStudents/Salary+Calculator.htm

Sorry, but that's messed up.

instead of taking it away from the MTA workers.

MTA workers work in very dangerous environments also, they suffer from a high degree of job related injuries from working in the filth and weather, not to mention injuries from traffic accidents (surface transit). Their job is plenty dangerous.

And if we grant pay on the danger of the job, maybe soldiers should get more too.
MTA workers get average $50,000/year to live in a city where the average house costs $400-500k in a working class neighborhood. I don't begrudge them a penny they win from the MTA.

This is a city where Wall Street brokers are taking home $2-30 million bonuses this Christmas week, and the people who get them to work safely and quickly get paid $20/hour.

teachers, cops and soldiers should all be paid more. The MTA workers have every right to negotiate the highest salaries possible. However, shutting down the city seemed like the wrong way to do it.

the MTA isn't negotiating in good faith, IMO.
I think there is a racial element also, in evaluating the reaction to the workers demands. Please note that I am not targeting the comments here. Cops and teachers are predominately white, transit workers are predominately minority.

I am watching Pataki right now trying to burnish his RW credentials for strike breaking on the back of the union and the city. It's disguisting that they won't even negotiate.

this strike, and what is REALLY going on with the MTA and the TWU go to http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/ and read some truth.

These union people are striking for the benefit of every working person in this city, and if you are inconvenienced for a few days that is just too bad. This is about the future of labor in this country!!!!



Another post from that blog

The media is doing a number on the Union. The media is doing the work for the republicans, trying to Bust another Union. If this happens you can kiss the middle clas good bye.

The TWU hasn't gone on strike in 25 years. The MTA is out of control. There has to be a way to push back.

I found a way in to work today. I may work from home later this week. My personal inconvenience is the very smallest issue here.

They deserve fair compensation for thier work.

I hope they hold out.

There are people begging for jobs and with no health care. Really, all that was asked was for them to chip in a bit more on health care and pensions. Something that is happening all over the country in the private sector. I work with some hazardous substances that will likely give me health problems in about 30 years, but I still have to pay for half my health care and with no pension.

I feel bad, because if the city collects on the fines the Judicial branch has upheld, it's going to be about $30,000 for each worker and the TWU 100 is going to be broke to the tune of $1 Million a day.

I really don't fully support this strike, especially when I learned that their International told them not to strike. Also, it seems support for this strike is not high within the Union rank and file. About 1,000 Union members broke the line and did not strike and the two TWU workers I overheard last night at diner in the East Village were constantly talking about how they would rather be back at work and were honestly scared about the potential $25,000 fine on top of the two-days pay. They seemed to have serious second thoughts about going on strike.

I think that in the end, the two sides could have reached an agreement. If the MTA took the pension increase off the table and the Union agreed to pay a few dollars more for health care and raise new hire retirement age, we would be still riding the trains. But, for some reason, cooler heads did not prevail.

This strike is costing the poor the most and it's pure greed on both sides that is only going to hurt New York City.

Never begrudge another worker this. It sucks you don't have it, but why be mad at them? Be made at the people who run this country and your work. Everyone should get this.

I don't make what they do, or have the benefits, but I say good for them! A decent salary, decent benefits, and what should be the right to retire at an age young enough (and with enough money) to enjoy life.

Good for TWU.

And, the International not agreeing doesn't mean that much at all -- not if you know how unions tick.

If every worker were in a union, and unions derived their power from true solidarity, there would be no worker exploitation. Those who do not join unions, or stand with them, have no right to bitch -- no matter how many goddamn blocks one has to walk to work.

I stand with the unions, and hope that everyone will see fit to organize, join and support union organization.

*on edit: "Ropen skalla arbete еt alla!"

People must understand that unions are ALL this country has anymore to keep millions of middle class from becoming the working poor! So a few people are inconvenienced for a while. So f-in what?! The bastards in office need to see that WE THE PEOPLE aren't gonna take their crap anymore! :grr:

and marched in DC on Sept 24th. This was the only union that I saw marching that day.

http://uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=3606

USLAW Affiliates -
December 15, 2005

AFSCME District Council 36, Los Angeles

AFSCME District Council 47, Philadelphia

AFSCME Local 171, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

AFSCME Local 171 Retirees Subchapter 52, Madison
AFSCME Local 1723, Temple University, Philadelphia

AFSCME Local 2858, Chicago

AFSCME Local 3558, Duluth, MN

AFSCME Retirees Chapter 36, Los Angeles

AFT California Federation of Teachers

AFT-Oregon State Federation of Teachers

AFT Wisconsin Federation of Teachers
AFT Local 61 United Educators of San Francisco

AFT Local 212, Milwaukee, WI

AFT Local 223, Wisconsin
AFT Local 1021 United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)
AFT Local 1078 Berkeley Federation of Teachers
AFT Local 1493 San Mateo County Community Colleges Faculty

AFT Local 1521A Los Angeles Area Community Colleges Clerical Workers

AFT Local 1521 Los Angeles Community Colleges

AFT Local 1603 Peralta Federation of Teachers, Oakland
AFT Local 1936 Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers
AFT Local 2026, Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia
AFT Local 2121 San Francisco Community College Faculty
AFT Local 2190 United University Professions (UUP), Albany, NY
AFT Local 2334 Professional Staff Congress, CUNY
AFT Local 4999 Research, Statistics, and Analysis Employees of the State of Wisconsin

Alameda County Central Labor Council

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) AFL-CIO (pending)
Black Workers for Justice, No. Carolina

Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, Lodge 3014, Levittown, PA
Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, Lodge 3068, Westbury, NY

BMWE PA Federation

California Faculty Association, SEIU Local 1983
California Nurses Association

Champlain Valley Central Labor Council

Chicago Labor Against War
Chicago Labor for Peace, Prosperity and Justice
Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Florida

Coalition of Labor Union Women, Chicago Chapter
Coalition of Labor Union Women, Philadelphia Chapter

Coalition of Labor Union Women, Washington, DC

Contra Costa County Central Labor Council
CWA Local 1180, NYC

CWA 9119/University Professional & Technical Employees, Univ. of CA.

CWA Local 9415, Oakland

CWA Local 9423, San Jose

CWA Local 1081, New York City (pending)
DC Labor Committee for Peace and Justice
Detroit Labor Committee for Peace and Justice
Garment Workers Center, Los Angeles

Graphic Arts International Union, Local 4N, San Francisco

Greater Seattle American Postal Workers Union

Hawaii Labor for Peace & Justice

HERE-UNITE Local 5, Hawaii
HERE-UNITE Local 483, Monterey, CA

Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees 169, Oakland, CA

International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 10, San Francisco
Kansas City Labor Against War

King County Labor Council
Labor Committee For Peace and Justice, SF Bay Area
Los Angeles Federation of Labor
Maryland and District of Colombia AFL-CIO

Massachusetts Labor for Peace & Justice

Mercer Central Labor Council, New Jersey

Metropolitan Washington DC Labor Council
Monterey Bay Central Labor Council

National Association of Legal Service Workers/UAW Local 2320

National Association of Letter Carriers Local 214, San Francisco

National Writers' Union, UAW Local 1981

National Writers' Union, UAW Local 1981/Unit 16, Arizona & New Mexico
New Jersey Labor Against the War
New Jersey State Industrial Union Council
New York City Labor Against the War
North Bay Central Labor Council, CA

North Carolina Labor Against the War

Office & Professional Employees International Union Local 3, SF Bay Area

Office & Professional Employees International Union Local 1794, Ohio

Ohio State Labor Party
Philadelphia Central Labor Council
Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC
Roosevelt Adjunct Faculty Association, Chicago

San Diego Labor Against the War (pending)
San Francisco Labor Council

San Jose Labor Party

SEIU Illinois State Council
SEIU Pennsylvania State Council

SEIU Local 73, Illinois Public Employees

SEIU Districtl 1199 New England Health Care Employees Union
SEIU District 1199 New York
SEIU District 1199P, Pennsylvania

SEIU District 1199W, Wisconsin/United Professionals

SEIU Local 250, United Health Care Workers West, California

SEIU Local 415, Monterey Bay, CA

SEIU Local 535, California
SEIU Local 615, Boston
SEIU Local 660, Los Angeles

SEIU Local 715, San Jose
SEIU Local 790, SF Bay Area, Central Valley

SEIU Local 880, Chicago
SEIU Local 1000/CSEA, California

SEIU Local 1877, California

SEIU Local 1983, (see CA Faculty Association, above)

SEIU 1991, Florida
SEIU Local 2020, Massachusetts

SEIU Local 2828

Sign, Display & Allied Crafts Local 510, Painters Union, San Francisco
South Bay Central Labor Council, San Jose
South Bay Labor for Peace & Justice, San Jose
South Central Federation of Labor, Madison, Wisconsin
St. Louis Labor Against the War

UAW Local 325, Missouri

UAW Local 1981,(see National Writers' Union above)

UAW Local 2320, (see National Association of Legal Services Workers above)
UAW Local 2322, Northampton, MA
UE United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
UE District Council 2, New England

UE District Council 6, Ohio/Pennsylvania
UE District Council 11, Chicago
UE Local 896 - COGS, Iowa

UFCW Local 1776, Philadelphia
Union of Professional Employees, Univ. of Illinois at Champain-Urbana

United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 1776, Philadelphia

United Health Care Workers of Greater St. Louis

Union Workers Union (Staff Union of SEIU Local 715), San Jose (pending)

Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Vermont Workers Center
Washington-Orange Vermont Central Labor Council
Western Connecticut Central Labor Council

Wisconsin AFL-CIO



Many were marching in DC in September.
Labor can and will have serious power again.

As a Transit Worker the Bull Shit we have to put up with, I'm surprise more of us don't go on strike. Here in Portland Oregon we had to sign a agreement with the state that we would not strike, but the Government wants to Fuck with our benefits. Thats Bull Shit! I just don't understand how any Democratic on this forum that is from New York can be bitching about these men and women. Yes I'm sorry if you have been put out but I also I think that we Transit Workers should just end up with the Blue Flu for a couple of days around the Nation and cripple the hell out of all the cities. If any one here thinks it is easy to drive these 40 foot buses especially in ice and snow you are dreaming. And I could go on and on and on. :mad:

And proud to do so. I know it's awful for NY's but we might as well face it its the only way to fight these greedy pigs feeding off the backs of the american workers.

standing in support of the striking transit workers.

Solidarity.

Protect the middle class.

Because the higherups don't understand anything else but a strike. It hits them in the pocketbook, only then are they willing to negotiate.

If folks don't see how thoroughly eviscerated the unions are they aren't paying attention. Unions all around America MUST take unyielding positions at this point in time and anyone who considers themselves a progressive should support the unions.

Of course we shouldn't even need unions we should have Worker-Owned and operated businesses. But do we? Nope, everything is owned by piranhas so yes we must have unions.

And sorry all who say that this strike is illegal, that doesn't mean it's unjust. Who the hell do you think writes the law that says its illegal.

Indentured servitude is illegal.

Support your local union!!

http://www.brusselstribunal.org/index.htm