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NYC Transit Strike...

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Posted by: JC1994

HORRAY to the NYC Transit workers for having the BALLS to go on strike!!! NO MORE TAKEAWAYS!!!!!!

Posted by: pepperman

Posted by: Calabrio

Throw Roger from the train!
Daily News Editorial

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.

The rage will only build as the public gets the full picture of how Toussaint rashly led the Transport Workers Union away from the bargaining table despite winning concession after concession from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The most furious of all should be the 33,700 workers who are on the street without paychecks and facing huge penalties for violating the Taylor Law.

They are about to lose thousands of dollars each - and their union will be financially broken by $1 million-a-day fines - unless they pressure Toussaint to return them to service, having gained all they are ever going to gain through his extortion. Remarkably, the president of the TWU International is urging the transit workers to go back to work on their own, en masse. And well they should, because the makings of a good deal await them.

The MTA wanted a two-year contract, while the union wanted a three-year deal. The MTA made it three years.

The union rejected raises of 3% a year. The MTA bumped yearly hikes to 3%, 4% and 3.5%, which compound to 11% over the life of the contract.

The union asked for more money. The MTA added a 0.5% bonus.

The union proposed Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday, giving the workers 12 a year. The MTA agreed.

The union accused the MTA of subjecting large numbers of employees to arbitrary punishments. The MTA proposed hiring an independent consultant to recommend disciplinary system reforms.

The union balked at having new workers - and only new workers - contribute 1% of their salaries for health insurance. The MTA dropped the idea even though skyrocketing health costs are fueling a deficit projected at almost $1 billion.

And there was progress even on the most difficult issue: pensions. Transit workers now contribute 2% of salary to pensions and can retire at half pay after 25 years on the job at age 55. The costs are bankrupting the MTA and driving up fares. That's why the agency proposed requiring newly hired workers to stay on the job until age 62 and to kick in 3%.

When the TWU adamantly opposed raising the retirement age, the MTA retreated to 55 and both sides began discussing whether new workers should contribute 3%, 5% or 6%, and for how long. But Toussaint abruptly ended the talks, and the strike was on. So irrational was his action that a third of Toussaint's executive board voted against the walkout, and TWU International President Michael O'Brien is calling on the strikers "to report to work."
Any fair reading of the record demonstrates that MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow negotiated in good faith, met Toussaint more than halfway and was prepared to keep the discussions going for as long as they took. Toussaint, meanwhile, betrayed his members and the city in an act of madness.
_________________

Posted by: JoeyLincolnMK8

good thing i moved out of NY. i probably would of fought someone for a LIRR ticket, if i wanted to go to manhattan! do not mess with union workers!!!!!!!

Posted by: Calabrio

The Union is completely unreasonable and I hope they arrest Toussaint, letting his socialist ass sit in jail over the weekend.

Posted by: pepperman

Unions have the right to strike when they believe that the rights that they have worked so hard to get are being taken away. Why do you call that guy a Socialist just because he wants to protect the rights of union members , do you have any proof that he is one!!!!

Posted by: ToddG

Quote:

Originally Posted by pepperman

Unions have the right to strike when they believe that the rights that they have worked so hard to get are being taken away.

Sorry Pepper. Not in this case. The Taylor law expressly prohibits strikes by these public employees and carries heavy fines for violations. Plain and simple, this is an illegal strike. That is why the courts are considering putting that schmuck Roger Toussaint in jail.

Posted by: Dominus

It is estimated that this strike is costing the city $400 million a day. Millions of people are left out in the cold, thousands are walking 1-3 hours to work.

This last person to put NYC in such bad shape was Osama Bin laden.

Posted by: MarkOfDeath

da unions, nothing but

eating pigs

Posted by: JC1994

and

all dog

eating SCABS too!!!

Posted by: rmac694203

It's all the liberals' fault. Damn socialist bastards.

Posted by: NYC LS8

My hours have changed from 9-5, to 4am-whenever due to this strike - nevermind the 18 dollars in tolls, 23 in parking and gas per day, as opposed to 10 bucks roundtrip on an express bus. Then this morning on the drive in, bumper to bumper traffic on the Gowanus Expressway - one lane open due to an accident.

Gotta love this city

Posted by: fossten

I work in the healthcare credentialing field. I speak to dozens of New York doctors' offices per day, and they can't get to work right now.

Pepperman, how would you feel if your kid or wife was sick and you couldn't get him or her in to see a doctor because an illegal strike was preventing doctors from getting to work?

Toussaint is going before a judge today, and presumably straight to the clink, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Good riddance.

Posted by: MAllen82

Quote:

Originally Posted by pepperman

Unions have the right to strike when they believe that the rights that they have worked so hard to get are being taken away. Why do you call that guy a Socialist just because he wants to protect the rights of union members , do you have any proof that he is one!!!!

First, any rights that Union members have weren't worked so hard for. They were recieved because employers are afraid of unions and the power that they have, dwindling though it may be. Second, who gives them the right to decide what hours, pay, and work conditions they should get? I'm sure all of you think that you deserve $30,000 more per year and half days ever day for what you do. That doesn't mean that you deserve it. UAW for instance is one of the main reasons why American auto companies suck so bad and are in the hole. I used to be in the Teamsters, and they never did anything for me. They could honestly care less about the working guy, just how much money they can squeeze out of them. And then every once in awhile, they have to flex their muscles and start making demands for more pay and "better" hours for the workers. Unions are a bunch of BS.

Posted by: JC1994

You anti-union types never cease to amaze me... you all think that unions suck and union workers are lazy, overpaid and will always have a job. you have no idea what it's really like. we fight for things you would bend over and say "well ok I will take whatever you are giving" and be happy. I got laid off earlier this year along with 900 others, some union, some not. Kansas is a right to work state. and non-union workers were glad to take what we gained on the picket line, if that isn't hypocracy I don't know what is.

Posted by: barry2952

IMHO, unions have outlived their usefulness. I believe that they certainly had their place in the distant past as there were not laws in place to protect workers as there are now.

I don't get the term "collective bargaining". Who gets the bargain? Certainly not the employer.

I read something just last week. It might have been here. New engineers at Chrysler were given the task of getting a hole drilled in a block of material made of layers of aluminum, plastic and wood. The carpenters wouldn't touch it because it has metal in it and the millwrights wouldn't touch it because it had wood in it. The plastic freaked everybody out so holes never got drilled, ever.

How does anything ever get done in that environment?

Posted by: Dominus

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC1994

You anti-union types never cease to amaze me... you all think that unions suck and union workers are lazy, overpaid and will always have a job. you have no idea what it's really like. we fight for things you would bend over and say "well ok I will take whatever you are giving" and be happy. I got laid off earlier this year along with 900 others, some union, some not. Kansas is a right to work state. and non-union workers were glad to take what we gained on the picket line, if that isn't hypocracy I don't know what is.

When unions begin commiting crimes that ruin million of lives in order to increase their own benefits, that is not only extremely selfish, but totally and completely morally corrupt.

Posted by: JC1994

WTH are you talking about? I was a IAM union member for 18 years and I have never seen anything like what you are talking about. My union which btw is the oldest union, was formed in the 1800's by railroad workers, when rich tycoon types ran the country.... gee nothing has changed has it?.... and sent pinkerton hired guns to impose their will on anyone who stood in their way of getting richer.. and you think the unions are the bad guy? wake up, if it was not for unions who fought to get their fair share where would middle class america be? nowhere. there would be only upper class and lower class.

Posted by: Dominus

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC1994

WTH are you talking about? I was a IAM union member for 18 years and I have never seen anything like what you are talking about. My union which btw is the oldest union, was formed in the 1800's by railroad workers, when rich tycoon types ran the country.... gee nothing has changed has it?.... and sent pinkerton hired guns to impose their will on anyone who stood in their way of getting richer.. and you think the unions are the bad guy? wake up, if it was not for unions who fought to get their fair share where would middle class america be? nowhere. there would be only upper class and lower class.

What am I talking about? The transit strike is against the law. It is a crime being commited by the TWU that is ruining the lives of millions of commuters so they can improve their own.

Hrm, ruining the lives of millions for the benefit of a few. Speaking of wealthy tycoons, this is trick used by them as well.

I never said that the unions are the bad guys, I said that the TRANSIT UNION is the bad guys. They are breaking the law, costing the city hundreds of millions, ruining thousands of NYC businesses, and runing the daily lives of millions of New Yorkers, all so they can have a few more bucks in their pockets. That is as underhanded and greedy as it gets. They might as well be the oil tycoons at this point.

Posted by: fossten

Quote:

Originally Posted by barry2952

IMHO, unions have outlived their usefulness. I believe that they certainly had their place in the distant past as there were not laws in place to protect workers as there are now.

I don't get the term "collective bargaining". Who gets the bargain? Certainly not the employer.

I read something just last week. It might have been here. New engineers at Chrysler were given the task of getting a hole drilled in a block of material made of layers of aluminum, plastic and wood. The carpenters wouldn't touch it because it has metal in it and the millwrights wouldn't touch it because it had wood in it. The plastic freaked everybody out so holes never got drilled, ever.

How does anything ever get done in that environment?

Ok, barry, get ready...

Sit down...

Are you calm...?

Here goes...

Posted by: Iancusp

sometimes i think "SOME OF YOU" just disagree to start a debate amoungst eachother
its almost like ur opinion has to be different than others or u wont express it does anyone else feel that way too??

Posted by: bufordtpisser

It was greed and corruption that has ruined the ability of the unions to maintain existance. Wages and benefits are higher in this country than at any time in the past. And union membership is at an alltime low. There was a time when union representation meant something. Not any more. Union leaders with their firey speeches about fair wages, and unending benefits packages have made it necessary for companies to relocate jobs overseas just to stay in business. Look at the Caterpillar debacle in York, PA a few years back. Their employees were the highest paid workers in the area. Averaging over $23 per hour. The next highest paid workers in the area was Harley Davidson paying a top wage of $17.00 per hour. Caterpillar went on strike, and stayed on strike, even after all of the other plants setteled, York stayed on strike. They were warned that if they did not accept the contract that had been ratified by the other plants that they would close the plant. The local union reps said that it would not happen. Went on for over a year. Now every day I see ex Catepillar workers flipping burgers at the local McDonalds. I see woman who that they would never work another day in their lives checking me out at the local WalMart registers. They have lost their big houses and fancy cars. All because their local UNION reps were idiots.

Don't get me wrong, I am not anti union, I am not pro union. I have never belonged to a union in my life, but my parents have. I have worked in union shops where I was forced to pay union dues even though I was not a union member. There was a time when unions cared about the people that they represent, but no longer. The union only cares about filling their coffers and being able to have their extravagent union meetings in posh locations while the rank and file are busting their azzez off at the mill.

The bottom line is that the transit strike in NYC was ileagal. It was nothing but a bullying tactic by the union to prove who is in charge. Roger Toussaint needs to be jailed for this strike and all of the transit workers who walked need to be fired. I pay for every benefit that I receive. I pay a portion of my health care, pension, and other benefits by acception lower wages. Those people are well paid, and they have great benefits. They proved nothing other than that they believe that they are above the law, and they should be punished accordingly.