December 7, 2005
Transit Worker Negotiations Continue to Stall
The MTA and Transit Workers Union have continued their contract negotiation talks, but this Saturday, the TWU will vote on whether or not they should strike if a contract is not agreed to on November 15. Union leaders think the vote will be pretty unanimous, with the vice-chair of the car inspectors division told the Post, "The whole place is going to erupt in cheers." And millions of New Yorkers will be swearing if there is a strike. We can't imagine what it would be like, to have to negotiate on behalf of 33,000 transit workers on one side while the other side is negotiating for millions of commuters who rely on the 33,000 workers. The NY Times's editorial to " Keep the Transit Talks Rolling said that while the transit workers do deserve respect, they do not "deserve special treatment," given recent concessions that sanitation workers and teachers made in order to get a contract. The Daily News' editorial said that the transit union is asking for too much, though the MTA should give it a more-than-minimal raise. Both newspapers note that the $1 billion surplus the MTA has this year is not as substantial as one would believe.
And you know that things are desperate when Transit Authority is looking at its supervisors who used to be motormen to take control of trains. For a moment, we thought the headline "Transit bosses may drive trains" meant we'd see MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow in a NYCT uniform, but, alas, no.
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Wow... talk about a typo of epic proportions above. The NYT did not say that transit workers "deserve special treatment." They said transit workers "DO NOT deserve special treatment."
Hopefully that was a typo, because if not, its spin that would Fox News very very proud.
Ok it was a typo... all better now :)
If there is an illegal strike, tell the striking workers, for every day they strike they forefit a day's pay when the return. Then it will be "We will be moving shortly. . ." again.
I think the public should protest loud and strong if the TWU if they go on strike. There will be next to ZERO public support for an action which will crush the city's economy, screw up thousands of businesses, and strand millions of people. Furthermore the traffic will be so terrible emergency vehicles will not be able to get through and save lives. Voluntarily shutting down the subway truly borders on terrorism. Rider's Union anyone?
The MTA workers need to “get a grip” on reality. They should negotiate their little hearts out but a strike should be off the table. The only thing a strike will do is earn them eternal hated of us who depend on mass transit.
Mayor Mike should use some of the “capital” he earned this last election; and bring his cool head into the fray. He might remember what happen to Mayor Lindsey who ended his term with a Quill up his ass.
The last thing the business community needs, in an already soft holiday season, is angry New Yorkers roving the streets looking for a fight.
If they strike, each worker should be fined a weeks pay of every day they are out. This so they can ‘feel our pain.”
It's time for the MTA to get rid of the pension plans, too, just like Verizon did with its managers. Pensions were a misguided idea that makes no economic sense. You can't pay an employee a generous monthly amount for decades after he retires any more than you can give him Social Security for all that time. The money has to come from somewhere and these pyramid schemes ultimately fail. Pension plans are collapsing left and right and Social Security faces insolvency. Let the transit workers invest in 401k plans instead. Nothing wrong with that.
Toby... inform yourself, dude.
Under the state's (wickedly unconstitutional) Taylor Law, state employees are not allowed to strike, and each striking worker is fined two day's pay for each day striking.
Thus removing the one piece of leverage that working people who work for the state have to bargain with. Hooray for the man.
(Can you tell who's old man worked for the state for thirty years?)
The MTA are, collectively, about as dumb as a box of hair. What's the one thing you never do as you are heading into negotiations of any kind? TELL THE OTHER SIDE YOU HAVE MONEY! So what did the MTA do? Said they had a huge surplus and were letting the tourists ride for a buck. Good move.
And why did they feel they could do this? Because they had their workers over a barrel because of the Taylor Law.
A strike would be a royal pain in the ass, especially when you need the #2 to get your third-grader to school as well as my own sorry butt to work. But sometimes the moral position is stronger than the PITA factor.
A quote from Juan Gonzales column in the Daily News 12/7/05.
Toussaint says he's worked hard the past few years to "take the moral high ground," to build closer ties between his union and the riding public. He's done that by repeatedly opposing MTA profligate spending and cuts in service.
And he's not about to undo all that work by making irrational wage demands.
For the next week there will be much sound and fury reported on the plans of the mayor and the city's business community to prevent or handle a transit strike.
The talks will go down to the final hour, as they always do, while everyone holds their breath.
Then Toussaint and Kalikow, two tough but wily negotiators, will get in a room and make the deal and save the whole city a lot of heartache. This time around, there's too much money on the table for it to end any other way.