You Can't Fool Me, I'm for the Union
If you don't live in New York, you may be getting a skewed view of what's going on here during the transit strike (which, I notice, Fox News and others, must always modify with the word illegal, no matter how convoluted that makes their sentences). A reality check from my job/not-job in Manhattan:
Myth: The city of New York is in chaos, jam-packed with cars and pedestrians, because of the transit strike.
Fact: Many of the bottlenecks you saw on TV are artificial, the result of road closings "for emergency vehicles." Yesterday most of the streets around my office were closed, creating jams on the remaining streets and forcing colleagues who carpooled to zig and zag trying to find a way to get near the office (and the parking lots nearby, several of which were empty because the streets they are on were closed). There was indeed chaos entering Penn Station last night at rush hour, but that had more to do with them requiring riders to enter specific entrances according to which train they wanted to ride, then stop on the stairs to show a ticket. The train I finally got on? Empty.
Myth: The working people are angry at the strikers.
Fact: Everyone I've talked to has supported the strikers. Said one: "Anybody who works in a subway tunnel among dog-sized rats deserves to get paid for it."
Myth: The transit workers are being unreasonable; the raise offered is plenty.
Fact: The deal-breaker issue is the increase in contribution to the pension fund and health care costs, which would exceed the percent increase in salary, resulting in a net pay CUT. This proposal is primarily focused on new hires, but the union is saying that if you do the same job, you should get the same benefits. After all, those dog-sized rats aren't getting any smaller . . .
Myth: Giving in to the union will result in fare increases.
Fact: If it does, it will only be because the MTA are lousy managers or greedy SOBs. The MTA reported a $1 BILLION surplus this year. Various sources have put the cost of acceding to the union's demands at $20 million per year over the proposed three-year contract. $60 million is less than $1 billion. There'd even be something left over for MTA head Peter Kalikow's limo.
Transit Workers Union head Roger Toussaint gives as good as he gets: When Michael Bloomberg plainted that he was hurting working people, Toussaint was quick to point out that billionaire Bloomberg's walk across the Brooklyn Bridge was just for show: he lives in a mansion on the Upper East Side. When Bloomberg called the transit workers thugs, Toussaint asked why he chose that word for his primarily minority union, as it's much more inflammatory than Bloomberg has used for unions he's fought whose membership was more white.
These days, unions are falling by the wayside. True, some unions have grown very big and their leadership has become so distant from the laborers that they serve the bosses not the workers. The TWU isn't one of those, and in a time when the needs of working people are under attack from all sides--Wall Street telling businesses to cut health care benefits in order to increase the bottom line and therefore value of the stock; government favoring big business over individuals in tax code; Halliburton profiting from a war while young men and women die for lack of proper armor and equipment--I have to laud them for standing up for their rights. It must be especially hard knowing that Christmas is upon us, that they want to have gifts for their families but they don't know whether there will be a paycheck to pay for them. That takes courage, the courage of one's convictions.
That sort of courage has been in short supply lately. It's good to see it.
Myth: The city of New York is in chaos, jam-packed with cars and pedestrians, because of the transit strike.
Fact: Many of the bottlenecks you saw on TV are artificial, the result of road closings "for emergency vehicles." Yesterday most of the streets around my office were closed, creating jams on the remaining streets and forcing colleagues who carpooled to zig and zag trying to find a way to get near the office (and the parking lots nearby, several of which were empty because the streets they are on were closed). There was indeed chaos entering Penn Station last night at rush hour, but that had more to do with them requiring riders to enter specific entrances according to which train they wanted to ride, then stop on the stairs to show a ticket. The train I finally got on? Empty.
Myth: The working people are angry at the strikers.
Fact: Everyone I've talked to has supported the strikers. Said one: "Anybody who works in a subway tunnel among dog-sized rats deserves to get paid for it."
Myth: The transit workers are being unreasonable; the raise offered is plenty.
Fact: The deal-breaker issue is the increase in contribution to the pension fund and health care costs, which would exceed the percent increase in salary, resulting in a net pay CUT. This proposal is primarily focused on new hires, but the union is saying that if you do the same job, you should get the same benefits. After all, those dog-sized rats aren't getting any smaller . . .
Myth: Giving in to the union will result in fare increases.
Fact: If it does, it will only be because the MTA are lousy managers or greedy SOBs. The MTA reported a $1 BILLION surplus this year. Various sources have put the cost of acceding to the union's demands at $20 million per year over the proposed three-year contract. $60 million is less than $1 billion. There'd even be something left over for MTA head Peter Kalikow's limo.
Transit Workers Union head Roger Toussaint gives as good as he gets: When Michael Bloomberg plainted that he was hurting working people, Toussaint was quick to point out that billionaire Bloomberg's walk across the Brooklyn Bridge was just for show: he lives in a mansion on the Upper East Side. When Bloomberg called the transit workers thugs, Toussaint asked why he chose that word for his primarily minority union, as it's much more inflammatory than Bloomberg has used for unions he's fought whose membership was more white.
These days, unions are falling by the wayside. True, some unions have grown very big and their leadership has become so distant from the laborers that they serve the bosses not the workers. The TWU isn't one of those, and in a time when the needs of working people are under attack from all sides--Wall Street telling businesses to cut health care benefits in order to increase the bottom line and therefore value of the stock; government favoring big business over individuals in tax code; Halliburton profiting from a war while young men and women die for lack of proper armor and equipment--I have to laud them for standing up for their rights. It must be especially hard knowing that Christmas is upon us, that they want to have gifts for their families but they don't know whether there will be a paycheck to pay for them. That takes courage, the courage of one's convictions.
That sort of courage has been in short supply lately. It's good to see it.
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