News Blog Comments
Brav-fucking-o. Great analysis.
super. now for real news:
Pentagon Shakes Up Emergency Hierarchy
In a Bush administration revision of plans for
Pentagon succession in a doomsday scenario, three of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's most loyal advisers moved ahead of the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Linky:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
20051...sday_succession
Feingold / Toussaint in 2008!
One small point about the media coverage. The Post and Daily News were not trying to report on public opinion; they were trying to create it.
Steve: I do believe you're entitled to an "I was right, neener neener neener" if you are so inclined. Well said.
Right on, TWU.
Great analysis, Steve.
This is a development other unions and workers ought to sit up and take notice. And notes on how not to back down.
While places like Denver or Atlanta may not be New York, there are still some lessons to be absorbed from all this.
Bloomberg stepped in it big time. The next few years of his tenure should be pretty interesting. Sorta like what happened to Bush after his so-called coronation.
The 'peasants' woke up.
a friend from high school (here in the city, over 20 yrs ago) works for transit and like this blog, was an important resource for me during the strike. this is a letter he sent to our local reunion listserv.
-----
The pension tension behind the Transit strike is part smoke screen, part reality. First, the smoke screen part. Pension costs are not responsible for projected MTA budget gaps for 2008 or 2009 (there's no deficit before then). Rapidly rising debt service costs are the culprit. Gov. Pataki knows this and he knows why. In fact, he's responsible for the MTA's soaring debt costs and for the fare hikes needed to pay for the borrowing binge. The governor wanted tax cuts in the late 1990s more than he wanted to pay for new rail cars and buses and the costs needed to fix the transit system. He cut the state's contribution to the MTA Capital Plan to help pay for tax cuts, forcing the MTA to borrow much more than it had in the past.
The massive Pataki-sanctioned borrowing is now coming due, and we'll be paying for it well into the 2020s. Debt service costs will double between 2002 and 2007 and keep on rising. By 2007 the MTA will pay twice as much in debt service costs as it pays in their pension contributions. Pension costs are basically flat between 2006 and 2009, while debt service costs continue shooting up by 36%.
The MTA's pension contributions have risen since 2002, but that is mainly because of the need to make up for the pension fund's poor investment earnings during Wall Street's 2001-2003 downturn.
Transit workers didn't cause that poor performance and shouldn't be penalized for it.
Moreover, in the year 2000 the MTA granted 9,000 management employees the same pension benefits as TWU-covered employees. The cost to the MTA for extending this benefit to top management dwarfs the savings the MTA would see if it got its way with the TWU. Yet these management employees were not asked to pay more than the 2% contribution the union is struggling to maintain. The reality part of the transit pension issue is that the Governor and the MTA have forced a strike over rolling back pension benefits because they perceive that globalization has workers everywhere on the run.
Claiming Transit workers are "selfish," Mayor Bloomberg also embraced the drive to roll back pensions by making new workers pay a much steeper contribution. This, despite the fact that only 2 months ago the Mayor agreed to support the United Federation of Teachers in asking the State Legislature to reduce the retirement age from 62 to 55, exactly the provision the TWU is striking to preserve.
Real wages for most workers are falling and health and retirement benefits are being sacrificed on the altar of "global competition." In New York City, the middle class is shrinking , poverty is rising and living standards are eroding as housing, energy and health costs skyrocket. But if New York City is not winning at global competition, then no place is.
It's just that the gains from globalization are not being shared. Profits and incomes for those at the top are soaring while wages and living standards for everyone else are falling. All workers - in both the private and public sectors - deserve good health care and should be economically secure in retirement. Curbing such benefits for workers only puts us on the fast track away from that goal.
Now that you know a little more than you did about it, maybe you can understand better why the strike was done. It may have been a hassle for awhile but I hope in the end you will understand that everyone is deserving of what they work so hard for. If the MTA management can make six-figure salaries, get great medical at virtaully no cost, a pension that is far and beyond that of most city workers along with other perks at the expense of workers and riders alike then the workers and the ridership deserve to be compensated as well. After all, they are what makes New York City Transit move every day.
Pass this on to someone who didn't know this before the strike...
-----
and so i have.
Gilly, I still think you're overplaying things here. They won what they won by also crippling hundreds of small businesses and fucking up other people's lives. This strike may have helped TWU workers, but any talk of it helping "little people" in general is just talk. The day they start paying restaurant workers at least minimum wage and making it mandatory to pay at least some salary on currently commission-only sales jobs--now THAT would make me take note.
Steve,
I failed to thank you for your coverage of the strike. If not for you, I would not have understood the implications of what was happening because the news coverage was so skewed against the union.
Thanks and keep up the good work.
Jen:
WTF? The TWU is supposed to strike or somehow impact restaurant workers and all commission only jobs? All without inconveniencing anybody?
May I say again, WTF?
Slime ball right wing politicians have a new reality to face: Uppity, black and brown folk are going to determine election results in many, many polities.
And guess what? These folks will not, as a general rule, be scammed by the usual divide and conquer right wing propaganda.
Mr. Bloomfield can kiss his political apirations buh-bye.
Asshole.
.
Jen, why do you seem to be insisting that TWU gets nothing unless everybody else gets something? If the MTA is bargaining in bad faith (which it sure looks like from here on the left coast) does the TWU have NO recourse? They can do NOTHING if it would hurt ANYBODY else?
Come off it. That's abject surrender to "thuggish" authority. Yes, a lot people not in the TWU got hurt. On the other hand, the TWUs stand may have helped reduce the probability of a lot of people not in the TWU getting screwed royally in the future.
Oh yeah, and the TWU broke the law - and is apparently going to take the legally specified lumps (fines). If the MTA caved especially hard so that a lot of those lump are gonna be mitigated under the table, well - that's a management problem, isn't it?
Today's NY Daily News headline is so laughably bitchy, spiteful and half-*ss rabble-rousing that I almost choked while laughing at it:
"$UBWAY $ANTA CLAU$E
New contract gives $110M pension payout bonanza to transit workers"
http://www.nydailynews.com/
They seem to be backing off their initial post-strike spin of how the union, "backed down", "caved" and got shafted and now pushing a "they're screwing you, Archie Bunker--the little guy" in having gotten what now looks like a pretty good deal. It would appear that The News and Post won't be satisfied until they incite some sozzled mouth-breather from Maspeth or Middle Village into assaulting one of those high-livin', n*gger-rich, money-grubbing TWU workers they're railing against.
A lot of the anger seems based on the union 's standing tough and getting a good deal in spite of the best efforts of the tabloids to marshal public sentiment against them. It just didn't work. So now they take the tack of spitefully trying to whip up a "you walked, now they'll ride in Cat-i-llacs" fervor against the TWU. Sad, really. Especially when you consider the five-figure circulation hit these two papers'll take when a TWU boycott of them takes place--and you know there'll be one. If just a skinny third of the workforce says "f*ck you" to the Post or News, that'll be 10,000 fewer readers--a rough hit in this day of dwindling circulation numbers and ad revenues.
It's a "Rip Van Winkle" press we have in this city insofar as its tabloids. They've fallen asleep for years, suddenly awakened and now run around to all the old haunts (clasist, racist and cravenly manipulative old dives, these decrepit places), tripping over a yard long white beard--looking for familiar, but now long gone faces and slowly...too slowly realizing that the world has gone and spun on by.
Lotsa bitterness from the typical voices on the right about this. They all seemed so...I dunno, haughty a few days ago.
Wonder what happened? 
Jen,
All workers should be paid a decent wage, and the TWU should not be faulted for going after theirs.
As for people's lives being "fucked up," yeah, so they were inconveniencved and lost some money for a few days. But that short term loss is overshadowed by the long term gain to all workers, by way of the example of the TWU and what they were able to get for theirs.
"This strike may have helped TWU workers, but any talk of it helping 'little people' in general is just talk."
Its more than just talk. Its a start. Hopefully this will empower other workers to realize their true worth in the economy, and they will look to use the economic tools available to them as did the TWU workers.
Steve was right and you were wrong -- accept it.
Word steve. I've appreciated your staunchly pro-worker commentary throughout. However, I wonder about the effectiveness of aligning every anti-union view with racism.
The dorks at the Manhattan Institute are the type of people who get misty-eyed when they recall how a swashbuckling Captain Regan broke a campaign promise and fired the Air Traffic Controllers in 1981. That was a "highly skilled and technically adept" group as well, not to mention a bunch of palefaces.
While I'm sure you'd have to twist some arms to get any of those think tankers to take the G-train tour, it seems at best an ad-homenum to alledge that their reaction to the strike was racially motivated.
Yup. If those workers want a better time of things, it's time for them to step up and organize themselves. It's time for them to vote for candidates that are going to help them do it.
Butch,
Well, I got a lot of heat for not supporting the TWU on the strike, "because a victory for one little guy is a victory for all" or somesuch. Now, I get yelled at for pointing out (again) that lots of other folks got hurt. Oh well.
Great outcome for the TWU members. They earn every nickel they get, unlike many who denigrate them.
Steve, thanks for the wonderful coverage.
Kevin de Bruxelles - yep - there's a lot of that going around these days.
clark--
Right on. You have to wonder about the prospects for low wage workers in New York, if the union had simply caved in. A lot of the poor wages and work conditions in non-union jobs can be traced to the decline of the unions in this country. When I go job hunting here in Oregon, employers know that they're competing with Wal-mart for my labor. They'd be a lot more generous if they were competing with a union operation.
I was surprised that Greenhouse's article didn't mention what I thought was a central issue: the MTA wanted to created a two-tiered work force, with new workers put on a reduced pay and benefits schedule. This has long been the preferred method for breaking unions by dividing them internally, and would have begun an inexorable decline in the union's ability to fight for its members. Bravo for Toussaint, the new Winston Churchill of labor.
Jen:
Nobody's yelling at you for pointing out that lots of other folks got hurt. The one thing any sane person knew when this thing jumped off was that people--the "little" people were going to get hurt somewhat--the same way they get hurt during a crippling blizzard that shuts down the city, or a blackout--where the losses are even bigger because of the loss of perishable inventory in addition to the inability to get around and lost workdays. As much of a b*tch as the strike was, it wasn't the "end of the world" certain press arms tried to spin it to be--especially when looked at against the backdrop of other (like the above cited) business interruptions this town's experienced.
People got hurt--all over. Of course, damn near stereoytypicaly, the establishment leading the charge for financial recompense post-strike is the Russian Samovar restaurant/bar--an overpriced, faux Russian Tea Room wannabe in midtown that is suing the city, MTA and TWU for lost revenue. Their case for injury wasn't helped in the file footage NY1 showed about the place--unctuous, pinstriped Yuppies puffing stogies, sporting pinky rings and heavily gelled hair and a private party that looked like an outtake from the debaucherous party scene at "Breakfast at Tiffany's"--down to a garishly-hatted, elbow-gloved Holly Golightly wannabe holding court.
The dirty secret is that some folks made out well during the strike. Wealthy Park Slopers who normally chugged underground past the coffee and donut stands and dingy delis of Downtown Brooklyn snaked lines out onto the street from those places during the strike as they patronized them--heavily. The two nurses I rode with on the last day told me they cleared a couple of hundred dollars that night, ferrying people back an forth from the bridge. And I have to wonder how much money the various Foot Locker stores made from folks nabbing new running shoes for their sudden need to trek? Probably a lot more than than they made when I saw multitudes flooding the place on blackout day for sneaks for one day's walk from SoHo.
Were people vexed? Yup--sore feet'll do that to you, but...much to the chagrin of those who wanted blood in the streets (and make no mistake--the tabloids were surreptitiously pushing for a bit of that. Don't think the Post and News both didn't have a "Bang! Zoom!" headline ready for when a crusading, fed-up straphanger punched out a picketing TWU-er), people just dealt wth it and more people than the papers (and Bloomberg and Pataki) were comfortable with, understood and empathized with the TWU--and thus, didn't go apesh*t as they were being prodded to.
Let's not forget that that extra dough the TWU people get is more likely to stay here in town than NYPD aand FDNY raises will because TWU people actually live here , buy here, send kids to school here and pay taxes here.
In fact, who knows? What the TWU did in standing up to a hellacious political and media onslaught to get something better for an admittedly f*cked-over workforce could inspire some of the other f*cked over groups (food service workers and commission-only wage-slaves) to organize and act. Nobody figured the TWU would stand and do what the NYPD, FDNY and UFT wouldn't--namely stand tough against a mendacious, Simon Legree-ish city government and come away with a little more respect, pride and a shekel or two extra in the old pocket.
You never know...
The above anonymous was me.
Haloscan went on strike for a moment.
FIRE HALOSCAN AND REPLACE IT IMMEDIATELY!
LM
i'm unclear why the transit union had an obligation to cater to the city's "convenience," rather than gaining the best contract for its members.
it's been my experience that outside of the dominant culture to whom the news and post choir sing, so-called minorities understand the twu did what it had to do to respond to the mta. the mta whose original "final offer" didn't include a uniform pension plan for all workers, or reimbursements for excess pension contributions. there was no recognition by albany and the mayor that the face of our city has changed. it took a strike and (surprise) public support.
my community gets it. perhaps it's because we don't live in a world where our convenience has priority.
:::tips hat to LowerManhattanite:::
well put.
And might I add, Steve--great post and across the board on this, from run-up to agreement.
Very thought-provoking stuff.
Can't help thnking though about that near-end scene in "From Dusk Till Dawn" when shafts of sunlight began permeating the "T*tty-Twister Club" and the vampires all started going "Poof!" and disappeared when all the anti-union trolls that camped out here come to mind.
"Poof! Poof! Poof!"...like so much water vapor. Tsk-tsk.
Thanks again Steve for your coverage. I'm happy about the way this turned out. F*** the right-wing media. They deserve to get pie in their faces and I'm glad they're discomfited today.
"and increased "assault pay" for bus drivers and train operators who are attacked by passengers."
W...T...F?
Jen,
Name one business that was "crippled" (that is, as the term is commonly understood: as permanently impaired) by the transit strike, with link if possible, thanks.
Aladdin,
I'm not going to bother googling, but NY1 had many shopowners who claimed that they lost the bulk of their pre-Xmas sales--which is high earning season for them--due to the strike.
What, are you claiming that the strike had no economic impact on anybody, except for the TWU?
LM,
Great post. However, I still think Toussaint is a dick for pulling the race card out.
Jen, if your best argument against the strike is that people were inconvenienced, then you're missing the whole point of a strike. People are supposed to be inconvenienced by a strike. In this case, the message was: transit workers are integral to the city's functioning and should be treated with respect as such.
I'm confused why an otherwise intelligent person would fail to see this point.
And as far as shopowners bemoaning the loss of sales, the plural of anecdote is not "data."
Lost revenue figures:
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/55452
http://www.forbes.com/business/
2...1220strike.html
Yeah, all those damn nazis at Forbes are just making shit up...
A somewhat pissy rant from the Post. I don't agree 100% with it, but it makes some points.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nypost/
2...hatrogerwrought
I wanted to point this out but LM beat me to it:
>Let's not forget that that extra dough the TWU people get is more likely to stay here in town than NYPD aand FDNY raises will because TWU people actually live here
Jen, you think TWU people and their families don't support the "small businessman"?? They never go out to eat? They never buy shoes?
A few extra bucks in their pockets will make a bigger difference to the health of NYC than, for instance, all the tax cuts the sops at the Manhattan Institute have collected.
posts crossed... of course the fucking "lost revenues" over that period. But consumer demand for the non-food (hell, just the non-basic-food) portion didn't freaking change, somehow.
If I am due for new shoes and I can't get to the place I want to go on those two strike days, I go next week. If I want to take the family to a high-zoot resturant, I go next month instead.
Just displaced purchasing. And some attempt to blame a sucky retailing season - which is nationwide- on the nearest darkys, I suspect is also in there.
Doesn't--I agree with your first post above, re TWU workers being local. Good point (and points to you and LM for making it).
As a longtime union member, it's my opinion that
"negotiating in good faith" is corporate lawyer-speak for "nickel and diming the union workers to
death".
When dealing with the wealthy and powerful,
you have to demonstrate the ability to cause serious problems for them or you'll get nothing.
Ask the union workers who agreed to pay and
benefit cuts over the last few years to keep companies afloat that went bankrupt anyway.
Steve's right on this one, even without the racial issues. (Which are also valid)
The race card was pulled not by Toussaint, but by the tabloids and local news in their coverage in the run-up to the strike via their "you don't know your place" and "just be lucky you even have a job" tone. Then once the strike hit, the depiction of Toussaint and the TWU as a fat, sloppy "King Kong" kinda poisoned the air too. (Helpful hint news media--caricaturizing a predominantly Black and Latino union and its leader as a marauding ape will tend to skew "just a touch" racist--but hey...you had no clue about that whatsoever, right? Riiiiiiight!)
Then Bloomberg's anger/frustration/freudian slip "thugs" squall got New Yorkers who were NOT TWU strikers saying "Um...what the f*ck is your problem, Mike? I know what it sounds like your problem is, but please...elaborate."
Not a mistake that he's been as quiet as a fieldmouse in a lion's den ever since his "eruption".
The Toussaint reference to "race" was a reaction to a question about the legality of the strike, to which he replied about how civil action sometimes needs to "trump" legality via bringing up Rosa Parks' defacto "breaking the law" as well. By the time that had been said, plenty of melanin and mean talk had long washed under the bridge.
Even more unfortunately, for a clump of the remaining "Archie Bunkers" in this town (and too many from places with no stake in the strike), just seeing the Black Toussaint and his many "of color" lieutenants on stage daring to challenge Rudy's heirs to the throne was enough to send them into paroxsysms of race-tainted rage. Comments about how "uneducated" the TWU membership was, mocking Toussant's accent and so on cropped up here and lots of other places on the internet. Toussaint reacted angrily (and reflected a lot of NYers feelings) to the allegedly innocuous (if the tabloids clean-up job on the gaffe is to be believed---"hah!") "thugs" tag Bloomberg spat out there. He called him on it decisively and shut the Mayor up, embarrassed him and possibly wounded him for the rest of his term with a lot of fence-sitting minority folk.
Toussaint didn't "pull" the race card...he just called Bloomberg's bluff after he f*cked up and overplayed his hand.
Gotta...know when to hold 'em...know when to fold 'em...
Ya'll know the rest of it.
One of those moments of painful hilarity reminiscent of a nasty bump on the coccyx: When I saw that Bloomberg termed the workers "thugs" on the first day of the strike, I was stunned into thinking, "Wait a minute...didn't he get my email?" Isn't that sad?
The strike was a hardship on this family: I'm a part-time temp/mother and couldn't make the two-hour walk in and out that hubby did when I've got the kid cuz her school was canceled, and I and lots of my Brooklyn nabes with and without kids were fully behind it.
It's a relief to be able to ride again; I'm glad that they got a better deal; I pray that Steve's political/media analysis is 100% correct; I think that that using the other unions' bad deals as an excuse to screw over the TWU is just a sad rationalization of an attempted Bushing of New York, and we don't want it.
Thanks again Steve and all commenters.
A somewhat pissy rant from the Post.
The "broken clock is right twice a day" cliche isn't enough to move me one iota towards considering the Post as anything worth a damn editorial-wise--much less reporting wise.
A busted clock doesn't run. Period. Which is why people don't wear 'em. The Post is a racist, sexist, retrograde rag.
Which is why I don't and won't read it.
Well, I got a lot of heat for not supporting the TWU on the strike, "because a victory for one little guy is a victory for all" or somesuch. Now, I get yelled at for pointing out (again) that lots of other folks got hurt.
Lady, you're getting a lot of heat because you're full of shit.
End. Of. Story.
A somewhat pissy rant from the Post.
You really are proving my point, aren't you?
dithbot: TWU workers get a compensation payment when they are attacked. I knew a bus driver who was shot and killed while driving his route.
And hopefully the new contract includes better treatment of the surviving spouse of track workers who die on the job -- at least two track workers were killed on the job within the past few years and the MTA did its best to make it seem that they had done something wrong that caused their own deaths.
LM,
Great post. However, I still think Toussaint is a dick for pulling the race card out.
Jen | 12.29.05 - 2:36 pm | #
Why, because then white trustfund babies like you will have to move over for some brown person to get your job? You are a racist. Admit it.
I thought one of the kids in that group did rape the jogger in Central Park, and that the framing was of the other 4(?)
I also remember that many folks in what I'll call the "activist black community" latched onto the "she was raped by her own boyfriend" story. WBAI, the Voice and the tabloids were all useless, as I recall. It was all emotion and fear mongering, and race was obviously a factor. But a rape happened.
Please do correct me if I'm wrong, this is meant as a request for clarification.
Jen, thanks for the links, but I had requested one specific, supportable instance of a business that has been "crippled" by the transit strike. Any specific case will do, thanks.
I'm Whitey McWhite, but when Bloomberg used the word 'thuggish', I knew exactly how it would be received. And rightly so.
As I said, the 'scary black union leader with Caribbean accent' card was played against Bill Morris.
The other thing people keep forgetting about the municipal unions was the huge role they played in bailing the city out during the 1970s financial crisis. They never got even a bit of respect for the compromises they made there. Kudos to "Bigmouth Toussaint" and good for the "thugs" who drive and maintain our trains and busses.
Hexagon wrote: Why, because then white trustfund babies like you will have to move over for some brown person to get your job? You are a racist. Admit it.
Hey, asshole, how do you know I'm a trustafarian? Ooops, I'm not. Now, do you have a point to make?
Dave and Alladin,
Sorry if I don't blindly worship the TWU's actions here like you do. I see there's no convincing you.
It's pretty obvious that most of you that don't support hardworking people who are trying to make a living, don't understand what it's like to even HAVE to work. But you seem, in my opinion, like not the brightest bulb on the tree, so I won't get into it. They're just uppity black folk, right?
Aladdin,
NY1 ran a piece on street vendors who sold lunch in Midtown (I think the NYT did also)--at least two of the guys had said they may have to fold because of lost profit.
Hexagon,
What makes you think I don't have a job? Do you, or are you blaming The Man for unemployment?
Never said you were unemployed, but chances are you're a twentysomething with a nice desk job who has never seen hazardous waste in your life. Is watercooler gossip just so hard that you deserve to get paid more than the minorities who drive you to work?
Buford,
None of the 4 kids convicted for that crime actually did. Yes there was a rape but it was determined that a serial rapist had actually comitted it. He was caught for other rapes that occured in that area and ended being locked up with 1-2 of the 4 who were wrongfully convicted.
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nyme...eatures/n_7836/
Hexagon,
Wrong on the age and past job experience, but thanks for playing. And for a long time I made a hell of a lot less than any MTA worker.
So it's a jealousy act then.
Hexagon, you haven't been around this site very long, have you? You ought to try reading before posting. I don't agree with Jen this time, but that is rare. She and Steve have made a great liberal news oasis that I enjoy reading every day.
Or are you a troll just stirring up trouble?
hmmm....
Stellans,
I think I have this guy pegged as a troll. Although the jealousy point is well taken--after all, Hex assumed I was a trustafarian; I take it he wishes he could find a way to get paid for sitting on his ass posting all day as well and getting "paid" for it. Unless his appliation for a token booth clerk job got turned down or something...
dithbot: TWU workers get a compensation payment when they are attacked. I knew a bus driver who was shot and killed while driving his route.
I remember two incidents from my "youth" involving attacks on transit workers:
Incident one--early 80's--59th Street #1 Train station:
A customer ran up to the front cars of a just-closed #1 train. The doors were closed all the way to the middle car as the conductor was looking from the middle, back towards the end to close those doors. The customer, a businessman was half-dressed in a softball uniform on bottom, dress shirt untucked and a baseball cap. He had a briefcase, a small duffel and a bat and glove.
"Aw c'mon!", he yelled, trying to wedge the doors open. The conductor was looking at the rear cars as the guy caterwauled for the doors to be opened. In the narrow space between the last car and the wall, one could see another train waiting--lights on, not 300 feet behind the one in the station.
The conductor closed the rear doors and finally saw the pleading guy and said, "Sorry man, we're backed up--but there's another train right behind this one." And with that, the motorman started the train forward.
The customer was fuming and cursing, probably late for a game as the train began whizzing past.
And just as the conductor's car neared, he suddenly raised the heavy first baseman's mitt he'd been carrying and in one swift motion flicked it at the unprepared conductor's face hanging just a bit out of his cab.
"Bwaaaaaap!" the heavy mitt went as it popped the conductor right upside the head, knocking his cap off and bouncing it alongside the speeding train.
"F*ck you motherf*cker!", the customer went as the train exited the station. Several shocked waiting customers (including myself) gasped audibly as the stunned conductor sped past, face now reddened and showing leather-lace indentations as the train disappeared into the tunnel. The offending customer smirked like he was the cat that swallowed the bird--as no cops were to be found and the victim would soon be thirteen blocks away at 72nd Street.
Incident two--early 90's--23rd Street F Train station:
A clerk was out of the booth late at night, emptying the turnstiles herself. There was no second person in the booth and I imagine someone was quite late in emptying the gates, (she was audibly grousing about having to do this) so she figured she'd better do it before they filled to inoperability. As she was emptying the second turnstile, ( I was already on the platform) a customer ran downstairs to the booth to get a token. Right about then I could feel the tepid, disturbed breeze from teh tunnel telling me that something was coming. Seeing there was no clerk in the booth, he ran over to the turnstile-occupied clerk and said "Quick! Sell me a token!"
"I can't do that while I'm outta the booth, sir...I'm sorry."
"But you've got 'em right there!"
"Sir, I can't sell you one of these--it's against the rules--"
"C'mon, the train's coming! Here!"
He tossed her a ten-spot and his hand suddenly darted into her metal bucket for a fistful of tokens in return.
"Hey! What're you doing?!", she shrieked as he snatched at the bucket. She yanked away as the train pulled in, moving quickly towards the booth. "You don't just go grabbing tokens outta my bucket! I'm gonna get fired!"
As I got on the train, I could hear the guy yelling at her to give him his ten back as she said, "Okay, okay! Back off!
Just as the doors closed, she fished the ten out and fearfully handed it back to him. He cursed her loudly as the doors had closed and with one swift move, kicked the living sh*t out of her forearm and hand holding the token bucket, sending a shower of tokens flying and her careening upside the empty booth.
The last thing I heard was him bellowing as he walked away "Thanks for f*cking NOTHING, b*tch!"
This kinda stuff never makes the news--only when one of 'em dies. But dealing with a ridership of several million a day, means that there's a percentage of crazies they encounter--some of 'em pretty violent.
You could pay me ten grand a year more than I'm making now and I wouldn't take a job down there--hell no! 
The above "anonymous" was me again.
DAMN HALOSCAN, ON STRIKE AGAIN! FIRE IT LIKE THE GREAT RAEGAN DID THE PATCO WORKERS AND...uh...REPLACE IT WITH...um...A NEW, um...NON-UNION HALOSCAN!
DAMN GREEDY, SOCIALIST HALSOCAN MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO POST PROPERLY!
Thanks for shouting out the truth -- I read the NYT article first, but then I knew to get the real story I needed to mosey on over here!
Those of us on the other coast need you to keep us up to date with what's really going on.
Lower,
Hey, I'm all for hazard pay for these guys. That wasn't an issue.
I too have a story where a car-conductor (one of the guys in the middle cars who announces and does the doors) had to play Transit Cop while the real undercovers on the train showed up. Long story short: I was sitting next to a slimly-built guy who was just trying to read a book--glasses, big book close to the nose, etc. Well, a very aggressive, large, white "homeless" guy (wearing a WWF T-shirt, shaved head, menacing metal cane in hand--my guess was methhead) came aggressively begging while yelling out his sob story (ex-addict, convict, etc). He hoverd over me and Book Guy for a several minutes-I just stared past him over his shoulder.
Well, Book Guy fidgeted nervously, and the tip of his toe (his legs were crossed) MAY have BARELY tapped the rubber end of this guy's steel cane.
Our beggar went beserk and punched the guy--closed fist--in a hard uppercut under the chin, which was partially obscured by the book he was reading (which flew across the car and probably saved Book Guy some teeth). As he was raising his cane, yelling shit (don't kick my cane, motherfucker!!), Book Guy used the opportunity to get up out of the way. I was pinned at that point between a panicked crowd (we had just pulled into Bowling Green and the doors were about to open) and Mr. Homeless Guy.
Well, the conductor cab (I was near that end of the car) flew open, and a very brave guy (slim, older, black--I can still see his salt n pepper hair and neat moustache) stood right in front of him and asked him for ID. This made Homeless stop for a second, and Conductor hit the doors, closing them (and presumabley hitting some kind of panic button). In under 20 seconds, three plainclothesmen (badges out) came from between the cars and uniformed guys assembled on the platform.
Homeless guy started to lie to the cops, which I and about 5 other witnesses debunked. We all gave our statements and Homless guy (who calmed the fuck down when five guys in blue surrounded him, nightsticks out) was led away in linked cuffs. Book guy was OK--just bruised, and his glasses bent--just rattled.
So hell yeah, they definitley get hazard pay in my book.
LM, reminds me of an incident from August '98 when I was visiting NYC. I rode a D train from Coney to Brighton Beach, just in time to miss a Q express. But the Q came to a sudden stop with half the cars off the platform.
Two elderly Russian women, who'd also missed the train, asked a black station attendant to tell the conductor to open the doors. The attendant tried to explain to them that the doors couldn't be opened safely with half the cars off the platform. They didn't want to hear that, and before long the women started yelling that magic word:
"RACISM!!!"
These broads had been in our country only a few years (if even THAT long), and already squawking about racism where none exists? How quickly they learned!!
The attendant and I exchanged a chuckle about these clueless women. But there was a bit of payback: the next Q came in on the Coney-bound track. The attendant let me cross over on the dispatchers' tower, while the ninnies had to go all the way downstairs to the mezzanine and then come back up.
Okay Jen, if that's the best you can do, fine; I'll weigh your future posts with the knowledge that you sometimes engage in hyperbole in ways that run counter to the success of your arguements.
I'll tell you one thing though: your mulitiple postitions against the transit union strikers have been uniformly counter-intuitive to anyone remote familiar with the history of organized labor in this country.
Futhermore, your failure to take the union's bargaining positions, and the seriousness of their willingness to strike in support of said positions, in good faith speaks volumes in itself.
Here's some hyperbole for you Jen: liberals, and the Democratic Party, would count for nothing in this country without the support of organized labor. Remember this, the next time labor needs your support in turn.
Well, I got a lot of heat for not supporting the TWU on the strike, "because a victory for one little guy is a victory for all" or somesuch. Now, I get yelled at for pointing out (again) that lots of other folks got hurt. Oh well.
Jen | 12.29.05 - 12:52 pm
Oh Jen, whatever shall you do if the waaaaaaambulance drivers go on strike?
You're the one who insists upon repeatedly sticking your hand in the beehive. Don't bawl because you got stung.
This strike was about two individuals: Pataki and Toussaint. They are both winners because of the short strike. They both wanted a short strike.
The strike strengthens Toussaint within his union and keeps the more radical elements at bay.
Pataki wants to run for President as a candidate who faced down the union and was willing to "take" a strike.
Bloomberg was a bystander with no influence on the situation but he was being stuck with big bills for police overtime etc. That's why he was pissed and (rightly or wrongly) turned his ire on the TWU.
here's a comment that was posted on "thepoliticker" blog. the poster's handle is "Macchiavelli". i thought it was so succinct that i'm taking the liberty of copying it on here.
QUOTE:
Local 100 leadership was privately delighted in Bloombergs "thugs" sneer. It brought together lots of disparate groups in the union who clearly perceived a racial subtext. I think on reflection Bloomberg probably regretted it. But thats the way speech is, you can't call the words back to your mouth once they are out.
Likewise the Daily News cartoon depiction of Bro. Toussaint. You probably have to go back to the Reconstruction era to find a more overtly racist editorial drawing. White New Yorkers hardly noticed, but black New Yorkers clearly did.
In the end the polls show a clear watershed of opinion along racial lines regarding support for the strikers even though Black and Latin New York had the longer schleps to their jobs in general. Not for nothing but this was the two New Yorks theme that Ferrer tried but failed to articulate.
What happened to Bloomberg's 75% approval?
Mike's got the right of it....
Ya wanna play nice you will get pissed on.
Ya gotta get the opposition on the ground and then put the boot in.
As for the folks who were hurt by this strike they need to evaluate their own situation and if it ain't good then they need to DO SOMETHING about it for themselves.
TWA did.
It's da American way to Fight Back.
,
So Jen, since my previous post did not include discourteous assumptions about you, but did
take a diametrically opposed view regarding
the methodology for obtaining better pay and
benefits for working class union people, I am
interested in hearing how you would approach
this problem.
If you were a transit worker how would you go about increasing your pay and benefits to keep up with the cost of living? Would you hope that the MTA is in a generous mood at contract time?
Would you trust them to be concerned about your well being as an employee, or would you expect them to give up as little as possible?
I'm curious, because it seems that folks who oppose labor unions seldom have answers for this. Is it really just "shut up and be glad you have a job"? Do working class people not deserve a piece of the pie? As a liberal you must know that the pay ratio between USA CEO's and their workers is 450 to 1, a dramatic increase in recent years and 10 times higher than the ratios
in other industrialized countries. Is this fair?
Respectfully
Excellent!
Jen,
What choice did they have? The MTA knew what would happen and clearly had the money to make a generous deal, which they did.
So are transit workers the only people with responsibility to the city?
Toussaint didn't play the race card until Bloomberg and the tabs did. They called for him to be jailed or in the DN's case, lynched.
hexagon,
Really? She's neither a racist nor a trust fund baby, as I can attest to, with the rest of my rather black family.
So you're wrong on both counts.
Bklyn Observer,
He's no bystander. He has a say in MTA management. BUT, what he did was braindead. He jumped in and lost when all he had to do was stand pat
Pataki's Bloomers,
The DN had a shitstorm over a fucking game. I think the backlash for their conduct is coming. Their actions were outrageous, calling for a lynching, depicting him as an animal, they could have not made worse editorial decisions.
Fer crissakes, Mr Gilliard, if I gotta read this Jen writing about the strike from her perspective ad astra, with an editorial byline no less, I think I'm gonna puke.
Is this a lefty rag or not?
Their actions (NY Daily News')were outrageous, calling for a lynching
Steve, I take your writing seriously. Is the quote above, hyperbole on your part?
I didn't see the article or cartoon in question. Anybody got a link?
Bkyln Ob,
Interesting perspective RE the whole strike being a two-man pissing match at the end of the day.
I'll put five on that horse.
Everyone,
To those who gave me civil retorts--thank you. I know that I have views contrary to some here on this issue--as someone pointed out many many posts ago, strikes are SUPOSED to stir shit up and cause arguments.
To those who tell me not to write--the Internet is a big place; you don't have to come here.
To the trolls--fnord.
"Roger Toussaint, we dare you to take to the Brooklyn Bridge this morning to tell the cold, walking throngs why you chose to disrupt the lives of millions, jacked up the expenses of tens of thousands, shuttered and crimped businesses, exposed the subway system to terrorism and generally threatened the public health and welfare.
It would be delicious watching you try to justify the reckless, lawless transit strike that you have inflicted on the city - assuming your fellow New Yorkers didn't hurl you over the railing into the icy waters before you got a word out. For this town, a labor town, is seething at getting hammered for no good reason."
Here be the link to the published revenge fantasy of the Daily News editorial board:
http://nydailynews.com/front/sto...6p-
319845c.html
By the by, the headline of that.."ahem!"...editorial was this:
"Throw Roger from the train!"
Thank God the press in this town doesn't try to incite sh*t, right?
Jen,
Wage negotiations from one sector usually spill over into other sectors. Thus, (1981) PATCO union-busting made (1984) Hormel union-busting acceptable. Now, 20 years later and meatpacking wages are still around $7 an hour in the Midwest.
Rollbacks by the TWU , in a time of budget surplus, would have led to rollbacks (and been used as an argument) for every union negotiation in town - including cops and firefighters. From there, the effects would have radiated into non-union sectors.
We are all connected, and our wages gains or losses are connected.
LowerManhattanite
says it all. a bunch of jaded manhattanites who dont have to commute from an outer borough to get to work.
Mass transit like Hormel? Does Hormel enjoy NO competition? were public funds used to build all of hormels physical infrastructure?
NYs transit system is a monopoly -- more like a utility than a business. if con ed shut off the lights demanding higher pay and endangering the public you'd rightfully shit your pants. this isn't any different.
The irony will come on the day that the Newspaper Guild goes out on strike again (and it will, as the internet nabs more and more would be dead-tree readers and papers try to cut back staff and salaries) and the affected workers who helped put together the horrid week of papers during the strike find that their management will try to screw them over even worse than the MTA tried to with the TWU. They will beg for sympathy from the public and shout "Scab! Scab!" and who really, the f*ck will care?
Karma is indeed a b*tch as those who f*ck with it always find out somewhere down the line. The little talk-radio bigot pipsqueak Steve Malzberg worked many years ago for old WMCA 570 in NYC. Well, AFTRA went out on a brief strike and Stevie not only scabbed, but for years afterward crowed about his scabbing duting that strike. Needless to say, the little twerp was ANG ("*sshole non grata") in the union and had none of its protections.
Thus, when after a period of time at WABC 770, he found himself being jerked around by management insofar as time slots et. al., he had no one to back him up when they basically treated him like a wet food stamp. His contracts were always weaker than the AFTRA standard, for less money and in the end, they sh*tcanned him mercilessly.
The loser then latched on at WWRL 1600 for a few months when due to the weakness of his contract, they cut his racist *ss loose there as well.
Little dipsh*t does fill-in work overnights and for vacationing personalities out of state now and yes...I gleefully mock his f*cking misfortune as that which he denigrated so brusquely was the thing that could have actually helped him--a thing that helped many hundreds of others beyond himself.
And in the end, he paid the price for his mean-spiritedness...which is never a bad thing. The Post, News and their unions will realize those words, sooooon e-f*cking-nough.
Redmond,
You want uniformity of opinion, go read Counterpunch.
You know why so many right blogs suck and more than a few on the left? Because everyone has to fucking agree. There wouldn't be a blog without Jen, so she has every right to disagree with me and every reader who comes here.
LowerManhattanite,
Which is why I raised the 1990 DN strike. It was crushed by the city's unions supporting the Guild.
But last week may lead to the death of one of the city's papers. It was just awful and suicidal.
Oh poor junko. A wee neophyte drooling and tossing Zwieback bits about the room-- with no knowledge of me (I walked 16.4 miles into and out of Lower Manhattan each day of the strike),
less knowledge of the Subway's history (Guess what? better than 50% of the NYC Subway system was NOT built with public monies--the old BRT (BMT), IRT aand IND lines were all privately run until the city took 'em over in the fortiies, by which time close to 70% of the system you see today was built--but hey, why let facts get in the way of uninformed invective, right?) and virtually no clue about how the MTA is set up (It's a state agency, and doesn't operate like a regular business does--the books are closed and the board is appointed by elected officials and thus open to the vagaries of political whims, incomparable to a utility in so many ways it'll make you dizzy--and apparently already has.)
Now if you're gonna troll here, try to make some sense like...the...others...who...
Aaaaah, skip it, kid.
But last week may lead to the death of one of the city's papers. It was just awful and suicidal.
I have that feeling as well. One's gonna die, and the other one'll be grievously wounded. Ad revenues are dropping, big name retailers send direct mail catalogs based on credit card purchases and internet sales as opposed to the big buys that Macy's, A&S, Bambergers, Lord & Taylor, B. Altman and Bloomingdales used to take out--and what's left is a mish-mosh of ads for mom & pop refurb electronics stores, cheap suit-sellers and supermarkets.
A favorite anecdote I remember is the one about the ad manager for the NY Post years ago trying to cajole Macy's to return to buying advertising in the paper. "We've got over 500,000 five borough readers! How can you turn that dmographic down?"
The Macy's ad rep simply said, "Sir, the problem is that your readers are our shoplifters."
I always loved that.
"(I walked 16.4 miles into and out of Lower Manhattan each day of the strike)"
Bullshit. You and the other park sloper "temp/housewives"? (the ".4" is a nice touch, for a flat out lie.) Your new reeboks must have gotten quite a workout! even if your fib were true would you believe that some of us live considerably further from our jobs than 16.4 miles!!!!!!!! we can't telecommute to our jobs as tech advisers or financial analysts. we can't share cabs with other park slope yuppies and congratulate ourselves for our solidarity with the working class. we can't walk to work AT ALL.
" by which time close to 70% of the system you see today was built--"
it's a state subsidised monopoly that millions rely on. for this same reason policemen cant strike. firemen cant strike. & con ed cant just shut off your lights.
You know what junko, as you have no cue as to where I live (most of the other posters do, but they've been here for awhile, so I'll chalk your idiocy up to your "new troll smell"), I'll let you slide. I suppose I'm the only one who dared Mapquest my in-strike walk just to see how far it was, huh? Bless your water-filled head, that probably never occurred to you.
Hint: I lived in Park Slope for awhile years ago--I live in a much "earthier" and off-the-real-estate-hotness area nowadays. Strain that brain cell figuring out where all you wish.
Learn a little about the city and state you're trying to talk about...it'll serve you well in those group sessions between Thorazine drips. Okay?
Otherwise, I'm done swatting you 'round like a cat would with broken-legged mouse. Bored now.
And hey...try not to spill your drool cup into the keyboard of your Amiga. You could get a nasty shock.
And the 16.4 mile number was a total coming AND going from work, hotshot.
Bzzzzzzzzzt! Aw sh*t..you did spill the drool cup. Tsk-tsk.
Congrats to the TWU and Toussaint for getting a good deal for their workers. As for the this public utilities not striking business, so they should just bend over and take it for the public good right? What responsiblities do public officials who swear to lookout for the public good have? Appearently none, so the motorman on 4.45 out of Woodlawn has a responsibility to the public not strike and not to take care of his own family's needs right. And Pataki, and Bloomberg have none, thats basically the argument you guys are making.
Lower Manhattanite,
Thanks for that link.
I think the headline "Throw Roger From The Train" is a humorous and clever metaphor in the tabloid tradition. But for the News to abandon the world of metaphor and talk about actually drowning Toussaint, crossed the line. They were inciting violence.
Bklyn Observer - Agreed about the Daily News headline. Very typical tabloid pun.
Can anyone tell me how this final deal differed from the MTA's final pre-strike offer? As far as I can tell the only significant difference was that instead of new employees an additional 4% for their pension during their first 10 years, all enmployess will now give 1.5% for health care. But I am having trouble finding the details of that last offer.
LowerManhattanite,
You seem to know a little bit about the history of New York's transit system and how private companies built most of the lines. Why didn't you mention how almost all of them went out of business and were taken over by the city because they were legally barred from raising the fare, thereby making it impossible to make a profit?
I live in Co-Op city and know many single mothers, many who are nannies or indep cleaning persons that missed every day of work due to this strike because it was fiscally impossible to take a cab to a metro north station in Westchester or to Fordham road, then to wait hours to squeeze into the cars.
Keep that in mind when you and others in this blog use the term "inconvenience." These women took a hit in the pocketbook while the "workers stood up".
Finally, my grandfather worked for the MTA from 45>68 and was proud to strike in 66 when the MTA was horrible to its employees. Ask a current MTA employee if he can fathom working 4 hours on, 4 hours off then 4 hour on again? Take a look at what working conditions were then and tell me honestly, minus the insults, that the current personnel are treated poorly? Check out what the ethnic breakdown was of the MTA back then and you will find that it was white people being screwed by white people. Your a thug if you make a elderly widow walk in the cold to a pharmacy to get her daily meds because her fixed income doesn't provide the margin of the "inconvenience" to pay diurnally for cabs, much less wait in line in the freezing cold.
If the UFT and the NYPD(please review how they took 3 years of 0.00% increase) don't strike and maintain a willingness to participate in the collective bargaining process, what makes the MTA employees so special?
After ever strike(66, 80), and capitulation to the union by Mgt, the ridership suffers with higher fares, less money spend on preventative maintenance and poorer service while a select few get theirs.
Karl Marx and Engles are smiling in heaven.
Cordially and most respectfully.
Perrin.
Bless your water-filled head, that probably never occurred to you
actually, that's the first thing that occurred to me. you mapquested your 8 mile walk in order to secure bragging rights/ solidarity/hardship points, congratulations! 8 miles from lower manhattan isn't all that far no matter which way you're coming from. I live in a much "earthier" and off-the-real-estate-hotness area nowadays. har har har!!! I bet you do. your real estate agent told you it was up and coming though, thats why the rent's so high.
i'd guess youre not crossing any bridges, but even if you were, "8 miles from lower manhattan?" that's what - -cobble hill? park slope? oohh maybe ft greene where the colored folk dwell (sort of so easy for the smug cobble hill dwelling white liberal to suffer 3 days and a token 8.2 miles of suffering on behalf of the colored folk. how noble of you! 're quite a working class hero! your neighborhood is so "earthy," populated maybe with one or two negroes. spare us your barely concealed racism, cracker!.. we queens-dwellers who can't walk to work see through you like glass -- we know what to make of your cornball bruce springsteen working class hero act.
ps, I think the city's bus lines were built since the 40's. Im certain the subway cars were. Im sure much of the rail has been replaced since then. your 70% number comes out of your ass. It's municipal taxes and fare paying grunts who keep the subways running, not criminals like toussaint.
I live in Co-Op city and know many single mothers, many who are nannies or indep cleaning persons that missed every day of work due to this strike
right! read this sentence 1,000 times, lowermanhattancoopboardmember.
Remarkable diatribe in this listing. Worker's rights this and management bias that. Actually, having seen the MTA from the inside (as a contractor employee), I can tell you that there are three issues with the entire matter:
1. Roger Toussaint wanted an event that would help define him for his future aspirations. He really doesn't care what the working class MTA employee makes, not with his salary and perks. He defied the law (whether you agree with it or not), went against the recommendations of the Inernational, and made a decision that could have cost each employee more than the money they agreed to recover on top of the hundreds of millions of lost dollars to the economy. (side note, visitors could not "postpone" their purchases to another week...there goes the tourism money).
2. MTA employees make a good wage. The fact that the managers make even more and better money is a factor too. I think the whole place should be overhauled with true "value" assigned to each position. And pensions? Only the public sector can afford to get away with providing those. My company ditched ours in favor of 401K matching. Pensions should be scrapped entirely due to the elevated cost of the program. Employers should not be responsible for the retirement of their employees. Take some personal responsibility people!
3. This country should be forced into a review of the manner in which it handles infrastructure and services. Why is it that the US has to subsidize roads and transportation while other countries can let the market work as it should? Transit subsidies should go away...but only as soon as we stop subsidizing roads as well. If the government hadn't decided to kill mass transit in favor of roads, the streetcar era would never have wound down the way it did. Ah, but that's a diatribe for another time.
Suffice it to say that this transit strike was not about NYC and the MTA alone. As other transit agencies around the country come up for negotiations, this resolution will raise the costs for the nation. After all, fares will have to rise to pay for the salary increases that (many) transit employees should not get to pay for the increases in the cost of living that they are causing in part.
Just my thoughts
I hope that this great victory for TWU workers and New Yorkers can translate into an even greater win for working class Americans. Congressman Gregory Meeks is no better than Bloomberg and Pataki in this situation. He has sold out working class New Yorkers for political contributions by his vote for the Central American free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). He now travels the country with these same anti-working class people. His senior staff is squarely in the pocket of these con-artists and I hope the transit strike in NYC wakes up his majority minority constituents that Congressman Meeks is not on their side. Same goes for Congressman Edolphus Townes.
"so they should just bend over and take it for the public good right? "
Cops can't strike. Firemen can't strike. Con Ed can't decide to shut off our power. Why do you suppose this is so? Do you suppose that all categories of labor are completely identical? how shit stupid can you possibly be?
regulated monopolies arent vulnerable to competition. they shouldnt pretend they are. subway workers enjoy monopoly control of a municipal resource (the bridges tunnels, buses subway cars etc...) they receive a higher wage than the averge nyer and lavish benefits. in exchange for this they arent allowed to strike - BY LAW.
via an astute poster at tm watsons page:
- Each union member will lose six days pay;
- Local 100 is facing a $3,000,000 fine;
- The pension issue off the table, but is on the radar. At some point, the state legislature will have to deal with it;
- Union members will most likely pay more for medical benefits in the final settlement;
- The transit union really pissed off its customer base;
- NY businesses lost hundreds of millions of dollars in sales and productivity;
- NY workers, especially in service industries where they rely on gratuities for a good portion of their income, lost three of their best money days of the year;
- NYC lost hundreds of millions when you factor in overtime costs for police and other workers plus the lost sales tax revenue.
that's what you call a victory?
If cops don't go to work, people can get killed, hurt, robbed, etc. If fire companies don't turn up, people die and things burn. If utility workers go on strike, hospitals are on their own generators, extreme heat or cold can jeopardize the health of the very young, old, and frail, and the subway kicks it to boot.
If the transit workers don't show up . . . well, there are real costs and damage. But nobody DIES, which is the real reason cops, firemen, and utilities can't strike.
The TWU may be covered by the same law as more truly public unions (see LM's earlier post about how selectively public the MTA is), but the ethical and moral standards are entirely different. So they'll face their fines. But that's the extent of it, and rightly so. The widespread outrage the DN and NYP tried to whip up just wasn't there and certainly won't be forthcoming now.
Lastly, junko, would you be so kind as to provide a list of zip codes whence worthy New Yorkers and blog commenters may originate, and what stances on the strike they're allowed to hold? It'd be a big help.
Cops can't strike and fireman can't strike, but city agencies can negotiate in bad faith. Typical management butt boy propaganda. Go back to your Tribune Company job, junko.
(And I don't know which Con Ed or Com Ed you're talking about, but the ones I know shut off power ALL THE TIME.)
"One poll showed 61 percent of black New Yorkers and 44 percent of Latinos supported the strike, along with 38 percent of whites."
It makes absolute sense to me that 20% of my fellow NYers would oppose the TWU in their labor dispute with the MTA, since the NY State Dept of labor statistics indicate that about 20% of NY's work force is in management. However, that means that about 28% of NYers of all colors who opposed the TWU's decision to strike AREN'T in management.
I'd like to suggest to Thomas Frank (in light of first, billionaire MAYOR Bloomberg, and now this) that he ought to consider, "What's the Matter with New York" as the subject of his next book/social commentary.
And I don't know which Con Ed or Com Ed you're talking about
clearly you don't. you probably live in chicago and drive to work. In NYC we have a mass transit system. it's a regulated monopoly. its workers are forbidden by law to strike. most of the city's workers rely on it to earn a living. most of these people make less and have fewer beneits than the average MTA worker.
http://www.goer.state.ny.us/cna/...ter/
taylor.html
NY teachers cant strike either. Nor can NY water treatment and sewer workers. The phone company can't arbitrarily withhold phone service until ratepayers fork over more money. The MTA is a monopoly. Unregulated monopolies are BAD: anticompetitive, anticonsumer, anti-public.
would you be so kind as to provide a list of zip codes...
everyone but lowermanhattanite cracker racebaiters from earthy neighborhoods who feel entitled to speak for the colored folk they see through the cab window.
The widespread outrage the DN and NYP tried to whip up wasn't there
the hell it wasn't. It was and it can't be wished away by tourists & slumming yuppies.
That certain classes of workers are forbidden by law to strike does not make this right, you idiot. Not too long ago, less than a century, nobody was allowed to strike: the unions fought loing and hard to get the right to strike recognised, as they fought long and hard to get anything you now take for granted.
I must say I've been disappointed in Jen about this issue: she comes across as just another campagne liberal: culturally liberal but clueless about issues of class and work.
I didn't hear about any widespread outrage. But I'm an African-American teacher, I guess that depends a lot on perspective. I was appalled by some of the comments that I heard on TV and radio. The main reason for the strike is that the MTA board introduced the issues on worker contribution to pensions at the 11th hour.
Martin Wisse, the law doesnt "make it wrong" as an abstract ethical matter (it does make it illegal.) the abuse of monopoly power and the cost to low income NYers DOES however "make it wrong" as an abstract ethical matter. YOU are clueless about "class" if you dont understand the "class" of workers relying on the MTA, an the character of their "work," and their total dependence on the reliability of public transport system! YOU are the champagne liberal trumpeting platitudes on behalf of workers youve never met in a city i very much doubt you inhabit.
Junko, you keep saying that Con Ed can't shut off people's power... they can and they do. Miss enough payments and they will turn off your power. They do have certain rules to follow if you're disabled, need medical equipment and such, but if you owe them money they can turn your power off. And while they can't raise rates until they've proved to the state that they need a rate increase, they get increases and the public usually doesn't realize it until they get a higher bill. (BTW, the rate increase approval process takes about a year and Con Ed had a increase request at the NYS PSC last year. Rates will be going up shortly, if they haven't already.)
A few notes about Roger T. He was the head of the oil and sugar cane workers union in his native country Trinidad in the 80's where he called a strike that shut down the entire island. I learned this during the strike from a WB Mason drive, and Trini native as well. He went on to say that Roger owns several gas stations in Trinidad, how convenient of him to make a buck as a business owner while putting on his union cap a few years earlier. In addition, Roger never was a conductor or bus driver, but went straight into the union hierarchy. If I was in the union, I would want him there as well.
Does anyone recall the multiple month Westchester B Line bus strike this past year? Guess who called that one? Any bloggers or people of various races want to contemplate who was hurt the most by this? That's right, nannies and cleaning ladies that went into Westchester to care and clean for the wealthy? How did they get to work for months without incurring additional monetary damages? So, two women who take the same express bus as I do in Co-Op city mentioned that had to get new jobs in the city because they could not afford the time and money to get to their jobs.
Once again, the few benefit at the expense of the many.
BTW, for all of those within this blog who feel it's necessary to insult people's race, keep in mind that the people I am talking about are not white. Not sure how few people were included in the poll about the strike support with relation to race.
Can I have a job that pays my healthcare for life please?
Having said all of the above, the initial post about Pataki shuffling the budget is dead on. A crummy governor who bowed down to 1199 and paid them an increase with the Empire Blue Cross Blue shield fund when that insurance company went under.
Any person that calls somebody a "cracker" needs to ask themselves who is racist.
Regards,
Perrin
Junko,
Erm, once again I'll leave it to LM to expound upon his transparent-skinned, flossy-haired whiteness.
Martin,
I'm not a champagne liberal, but as I've said in many other posts on this topic, I have serious issues with the strike and its timing and who it hurt.
Hey Martin,
Why is it that when Bloomburg called the strikers "thugs" it only applied to the non-white people in the union?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Local 100 has 30% white people. Do you know any white people that work for the MTA and if so, do you think they were not insulted by the same comment? Do you recall Roger T using the term "plantation discipline" three years ago when he was threatening a strike? Juxtopose slavery terminology to continue the race bating and perpetuate the victimology mindset to another generation.
You have a large axe to grind beyond this strike and your posts are indicitive of your animus.
Can't we all just get along?
Perrin
Perrin,
"Platation discpline" doesn't equal slavery plantation. Toussaint from the caribbean remember, my grandfather worked on a plantation as an employee. Carribbean slavery ended much earlier than it did here.
PurpleGirl, ConEd can't decide to shut down the entire grid as part of 'negotiating' rates (which are of course regulated/require approval by elected government)-- that's the analog to shutting down the entire public transit system here. The point is, utilities are heavily subsidised and REGULATED monopolies, as are other vital state services. bloomberg and rich investment bankers don't suffer when the TWU goes on strike, the average straphanger does (middle and lower middle income wageearners who make LESS than the TWU members.) If you believe in the state's duty to regulate monopolies, you should support the Taylor Law and condemn this strike. Rich people in Park Slope arent the ones hurt here -- they can afford the cab fare. Housekeepers riding the F from Jamaica can't. its simply an abuse of monopoly power. the only peole here who seem to think otherwise arent in a position to know (non-NYers and cab-riding Park Slope yuppies).
perrin, i dont think lowermanhattanite is necessarily a cracker or a racist. but s/he is a race baiter, as are those (typically upper income white people) who opportunistically fixate on the racial breakdown of opinion polls, the racial makeup of the TWU board etc. the twu controversy isnt about race but even if it were, those worst hurt are black and hispanic, and those most eager to "support the workers"[/irony] are usually white liberals alienated from the real life issues here. They're also the first to throw the race card and scream bigot (see "racist" bullshit above). I apologize if I caused offense.
Junko,
Yes the MTA is a monopoly, a government one. And all the government is a represative of all of us. We are essentially the shareholders, so the service is run for our benefit. Private unregulated monopolies are bad because they are run for the benefit of their shareholders which isn't all of the public, see Microsoft for example.
Oh and by the way I am not "shit stupid" you fucking Rush Limbaugh wanna be. Save your insults for your Mother.
Perrin,
Get your facts stright. Roger was a car cleaner for 20 years. You can't be in that position unless your an employee, should he lose that position, he could actually regain his old job cleaning trains. I don't know what he does with his money now, but he didn't own anything from inhertiance because his old man skipped out on him and he dropped out of Brooklyn College because he couldn't afford it.
junko,
The monopoly is the MTA not the workers. Your argument would be valid if the MTA closed the system down in order to get higher fares.
Martinc,
1) So Roger subjected himself jail and personal fines for his own ambitions? And what would those be.
2) So the American worker is going stiffed, so the Transit workers should too. Crabs in a barrel syndrome. Everybody once got pensions and we let that erode. And the TWU should be like OK. Why don't American workers think we are worth anything to economy and deserve a good wage and benefit package.
3) Any country with good infrastructure has it done by gov't. Markets fail here because infrastructure competition doesn't make sense. 2 Lexington Ave lines or two Holland Tunnels don't make sense.
Jonathan,
I stand corrected on both statements "plantation discipline" and Roger's former position. The WB Mason delivery guy will be advised as well. I heard Roger went to Oxford...impressive.
Now how many people in this blog can admit they are wrong and type it out for the whole blogosphere to see.
With regard to the cartoons in the paper, I concur that they were over the line. Reminds me of how Irish people were depicted in the 1840-80's.
But hey...who reads those passé hard copy newsprints anyway. I'd rather learn stuff here, especially from people who disagree with me.
NYT has an article today about how Pataki may veto the pension contribution payback, as he did in 2000 and 2001. Does anyone remember how we(NY's) lost the Franklin Avenue shuttle, bus lines, when Pataki got elected? He campaigned upstate telling Buffalo residents that he would divert funds from NY's transpiration system and give it to them. I have a friend in Buffalo, and the trolley that runs 3 blocks to nowhere is a joke.
I enjoyed the post from the contractor. Perhaps he could chime in on how any oversight of the expenditures for construction has been stymied by the MTA mgt. Former chief of NYPD Alemone resigned in disgust a few years back.
I feel that it's the biggest scandal in American history brewing, to dwarf Enron with regard to money pocketed by those who are interested in avarice rather than the general good.
How come nobody refers to the Sanitation strikes of the early 90's? When have they ever lost one thing they wanted on the negotiation table?
Cordially and most respectfully,
Perrin
"Private unregulated monopolies are bad because they are run for the benefit of their shareholders "
so things run for the benefit of shareholders are a priori bad?
i would revisit the chapter in your history book on the new deal but i suspect your eighth grade class hasn't gotten there yet. monopolies are bad because they're anticompetitive and against the public welfare, not because they're run for the benefit of shareholders. & regulated private monopolies are obviously preferable to unregulated public monopolies. at least you realise that "the [MTA} is run for our benefit" not allen toussaint's benefit or the workers in the TWU's benefit.
junko - just to nitpick a little, but monopolies by definition are not bad. We most often think about monopolies in the sense of restricting competition, but there are circumstances where the economics of the situation dictate that the market is best served by a single company (ie. a natural monopoly)
"2 Lexington Ave lines or two Holland Tunnels don't make sense."
and if striking workers elected to close down the holland tunnel, bought and paid for by NYC taxpayers???? to close down Lexington avenue?? That's what the MTA did, closed down the tunnels, the bridge, threw a lock on all traffic in and out of the city. They effectively closed down several avenues for ambulances. I couldnt drive into Manhattan even if I owned a car, thanks to allen toussaints' strike. God help anyone needing to go to the airport for any reason at all(i heard livery cabs were charging $200 one way to theairports)
labor law isnt a suicide pact. occasionally the right to strike conflicts with other public rights. the right to a speedy ambulance trip to the hospital. the right to enter and leave manhattan island at will in a half-full car. the right to conduct mass-transit-dependent commerce.
you don't get it. you're not a new yorker. and if you are, you're rich enough to hold such luxuriously stupid views.
MattR, you're entirely correct. reglated monopolies exist all over the place. nowhere do you see regulated monopolies withholding ALL service in answer to a labor dispute.
junko,
i finished the 8th grade 14 years ago, since then i managed finish high school and college too, you condensing asshole. things run for benefit of their shareholders are not bad per se, but when there are no competition to control it becomes exploitive, that why FDR broke up all the trusts(Standard Oil) etc. The government is exempted from that problem simply because the government is supposed to represent the intrests of the people of NY. Why would a regulated private monopoly be preferable to public monopoly? Hallibuton in Iraq is theorically a private regulated monopoly, that seems to working out well right?
(ie. a natural monopoly)
indeed, and mass transit is a natural monopoly (there are only so many bridges and tunnels.) Imagine if any other natural monoply (like the postal service) decided to strike!
since then i managed finish high school and college too, you condensing asshole.
Obviously you got A's in English *snark*
Junko,
I am a New Yorker born and bred. And my modest salary certainly wouldn't render me rich. I do understand fully. I know that shutting down the trains is pain for everybody, including me. That why the MTA and the elected officials we place in charge of it should have cut this deal 2 weeks ago with the TWU averting a strike. Instead they played games with everyone for political reasons. I hold my contempt for them. There are the ones with responsibility. The MTA not the workers.
Since it is, apparently, vitally important I must say off the bat I'm all Mexican and working class and I live in Bed Stuy (11216, if that helps). Word? We cool, Junko? Word.
That being said, I think it's pretty important to know the break downs of opinion polls like these. A majority of the citizens of New York supported the strike. There is no denying that--look at every poll. That being said, where did these people come from? How far out did they live? How much money do they make? And, yes, what color is their skin?
Of course there are black and hispanic people who were angry. And the news media (and, holy Jesus, Fox 5 especially) went out of their way to find pissed off commuters to yell incorrect statistics into their microphones ("These people make $70,000 a year driving busses!!"). But in my neighborhood there just wasn't this groundswell of anger. There weren't people yelling in the street over the Greedy Union. I didn't hear that talk until I biked into Manhattan.
No, for the most part what I heard and talked about was that it sucked, it hurt a lot of people financially, but it was something that Had to Be Done. Sure there are rich people in Park Slope and in the LES. Do you really think they make up 60% of the city?
I don't doubt that anecdotal evidence can be found to the contrary, but you can't argue with the numbers. A majority of the city supported this action, illegal or not. This is why it's important to understand these breakdowns. You're taking this stand as a spokesperson for working class minorities who, for the most part, disagree with you entirely. Including myself.
Guest name,
Actually I did quite well in English. Of course I didn't know I was being graded on my grammar. Maybe I should break out Elements of Style.
ps if you dont think the MTA is a monopoly you should endorse the free licensing of cabs and jitneys. currently these industries are also highly regulated, forbidding straphangers from circumventing the strike. the state forbids this and implicitly enforces the mta monopoly. I'm all for it, but i fear it would lead to a sharp reduction in pay for the mta, since taxi drivers earn far less than any of them.
Jonathan,
All right, fine, you "condensing idiot." eehahahah!
"I didn't hear that talk until I biked into Manhattan. "
you biked into manhattan! man oh man. I invite you to bike into manhattan from my nabe buddy. bring some bandages for your feet.
ps in 11216 you live in prospect heights or the slope or sth ft greene. thats not b.i.g. territory, but nice try.
Jonathan - I posted this upstream, but I never got an answer. It does not seem to me that there was much of a significant difference between the final pre-strike offer by the MTA and the agreed upon settlement. If the only real difference was 4% to pensions for 10 years for new hires versus 1.5% for healthcare costs for all employees, I don't see how this divide was so great that the TWU could not continue to negotiate without a strike.
"but you can't argue with the numbers."
sure you can. I dont buy them for one second. where is this poll? who conducted it and how? whats the sample size and margin of error?
MattR,
The reason for the strike wan't money. It was the fact that the MTA at the 11th hour put a pension demand on the table of dubious legality.
"working class minorities who, for the most part, disagree with you entirely. Including myself."
a working class minority who bikes into manhattan from park slope? not the kind of working class minority I have in mind. the kind I have in mind doesnt have a blog or a bike and doesnt live in park slope/prospect heights. and I'm not pretending to speak for them, whereas you clearly are.
Jonathan - That is the union spin, but I dont buy it. The union had refused to budge about increases to either pension or healthcare contributions. I don't have links handy, but I have read that the "two-tiered" contracts are becoming more common recently, so I think the union busting charge is a bit overblown. It sounds to me like the MTA gave in to a lot of union demands at the 11th hour and tried to find a creative way to close the cost gap without affecting current employees (since any proposal to alter current workers health/pension contributions had been shot down). Had the union tried to counter the pension issue with a revenue neutral alternative, there may have been an agreement without a strike. But the union seemed to be spoiling for a fight due to other issues/complaints with the MTA.
MattR,
The two tiered contract is a nice way to union bust, that why its so common. The whole point is to create division in the union between young and old. Current union workers should not be asked to negoiate away pensions of people with no say.
Junko,
Jittney and taxis couldn't replicate the entire NYC transit system if they tried. remember it serves 8 million people.
Jonathan - I do understand the problem with two-tiered contracts. But at the same time you have to admit that the pension system from years ago no longer fit today's society (mainly due to longer life expectancies). Something has to give eventually.
But my bigger point is that the MTA was not dead set on having a two-tiered contract (while the TWU was dead set against it). The MTA made a last ditch proposal which contained major concessions from their previous position. The TWU did not even try to present a counter proposal. They did not even try to see if they could trade the two-tiered contract for some other concession (like the 1.5% for healthcare they eventually accepted).
I am not saying the MTA is an angel or that they acted well in this whole thing, but it was the TWU who chose to walk away from negotiations and go on a strike that affected millions. And it seems to me that they did not take all the possible steps before they did so.
I invite you to bike into manhattan from my nabe buddy. bring some bandages for your feet.
Hey, I'm not saying it didn't suck and didn't take a couple of hours, but I did it. And Park Slope/Brooklyn Heights is actually about a mile and a half east of me. Not that it makes any difference as to cognitive understanding of public opinion, but whatever.
MattR,
I am not sure that pension from years ago not fit today society esp. in the MTA. Everybody is all hung up on the fact that MTA workers have 25 years on the job and react 55 to get pensions. How many of the people actually retire at 55. My father has the same pension deal as he works for another division of the MTA. He is 61 and still working. He had me and my sister to help through college and wanted to pay off the house morgage, which was 30 years. You don't do that stuff on pension do you stay in the workforce and do it. Life expectancy has gone up, as have people obligations to things like morgage, credit cards, their adult children, etc. Not to mention that many transit employees get hired past age 30, due to things like immigration(spend 20's in home country), military service etc.
Jonathan - I agree about the age 55 thing. I was referring more to pension systems in general. There are many demographic shifts (including the ones you mentioned) so we should at least consider that the pension plan of yesterday does not work today.
Jonathan - I agree about the age 55 thing. I was referring more to pension systems in general. There are many demographic shifts (including the ones you mentioned) so we should at least consider that the pension plan of yesterday does not work today.
I am willing to consider it MattR, but not just take business/gov't word for it. As for other sectors they could have raised the age at which one gets a pension. So instead of 62 you work to 67 or something. But instead they got rid of the old style pensions, why?
Because no one wants to have to work until they are 67? And they naively belive that they will be a lucky one who won't have to.
where is this poll? who conducted it and how? whats the sample size and margin of error?
While the sample size is less than desired, the WNBC/Marist poll is probably the most reliable of all the ones I've seen (much more than, say online polls or the WWRL radio call-in poll that found 70% of listeners). Only 429 New Yorkers were called (margin of error +/- %5), proportional to the population of all five boroughs. You can view the data, showing minorites supporting the union here.
(Although, I must relent, Hispanics opposed the strike even as they blamed the MTA for it.)
Of course, the sample size is smaller and margin of error wider than one would generally like, but it gives you the idea. This widespread outrage of the minorities that the accursed rich folks don't understand really isn't there.
I eagerly await your response that the minorities called in this poll live too close to the city to be relied upon.
Well I am not sure. I know if the choice presented to me between a pension and a 401k which I would choose. But of course I don't have that choice.
"You want uniformity of opinion, go read Counterpunch.
You know why so many right blogs suck and more than a few on the left? Because everyone has to fucking agree. There wouldn't be a blog without Jen, so she has every right to disagree with me and every reader who comes here."
Absolutely agree with you there Steve, and quite frankly, I don't care much for Counterpunch. And right-wing blogs do suck, and freeper-style mandated uniformity is but one reason why this is so.
Of course, calling the head of the TWU a blowhard and a coward, which Jen did, is just the sort of bloviating that one finds among freepers and little green footsies. Well, the more polite one's in any event.
I don't call that "disagreement". I call that the sort of disrespect which calls into question a lot of things about a person's perspective and values.
I may have been rude about this, but I'm certainly not the only one to have picked up on it, as you likely noticed.
Perrin,
We didn't lose the Franklin Ave shuttle. The idea was tabled when people complained. They actually referbushed it. As for Pataki I don't know why anyone downstate ever voted for this guy. His whole mo is taking money from the downstate region and building stuff upstate. The NYC transit system has the lowest subsidy of all the state transit systems and it got worse under Pataki.
Hey, I'm not saying it didn't suck and didn't take a couple of hours, but I did it.
http://www.google.com/maps?q=fro...38242&f=d&
hl=en
from anywhere in 11216 to downtown manhattan is 5 miles. I've ridden that route dozens of times. my point is that 11216 is considerably closer than co-op city and jamaica. You're closer than park slopies to the manhattan bridge. if you lived in an outer borough, or didnt own a bike, or were old or overweight or sick, you'd be shit out of luck. forgive me but your comment strikes me as incredibly jaded and spoiled. you can't imagine being an older person, riding to work in 15 degree cold? or even a perfectly fit person in ozone park or jamaica or anywhere in the bronx having to go to work in manhattan, paid by the hour, with children to support. you have a blog, a cell phone, a bicycle for christs sake, of course you can't.
A radio call-in poll can't seriously be treated as scientific (there's selection bias -- it's not a random sample.) http://www.newyorkbusiness.com/n...ws.cms?
id=12554
here's a crains poll that's 10 times larger. It's not scientific either.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10543414/#survey
here's an msnbc poll that looks even worse.
Your other poll (marist) shows 55% of NYC residents opposing the decision to strike. "A majority of the city supported this action" isnt supported by this poll. Among