My thoughts on the MTA Union’s transit strike:

1. The strikers are criminals.
The Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act (Taylor Law) was enacted in 1967 following a series of public sector strikes, including a 12-day New York City transit strike in 1966. The Taylor Law makes it a crime for public sector employees to strike, and imposes on each illegal striker a 2-day fine for every day on strike. In exchange, (and this is the big one!) the strikers can’t be fired for striking. So unfortunately, no one can do what Reagan did when he fired the air traffic controllers.

2. The strikers are anti-union.
First of all, Transit Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, which is organizing the strike, is doing so against the will of its parent union, TWU International. The TWU International president has criticized the strike and has called for the strikers to get back on the job. One possibility is that TWU Int’l could remove the leadership of TWU Local 100, appoint new leaders, and put the strikers back to work. TWU Local 100’s illegal strike goes against the wishes of its parent union, which is bad for the union itself, and unions in general.
In addition (see below), the strikers are turning commuters’ perceptions sharply against the union.

3. This is an example of rich monopolists screwing over the poor worker.
The MTA (Mass Transit Authority) is a monopoly – there is no competition for local mass transit in NYC. Its workers are relatively rich, at least compared to the people who ride their mass transit: MTA workers need only a G.E.D.; they earn on average $55,000 per year; they pay zero for health benefits; they can retire on a full pension at 55 after 25 years of service. The average MTA user is much, much poorer than the MTA workers.

So the situation we have here is criminal, anti-union, rich monopolists screwing over the poor workers of NYC.
In 20-degree weather.
Right before Christmas.

What makes this even more frustrating is that the MTA offered a 10% raise over 3 years. Local 100 wanted a 40% (FORTY percent!) raise over 5 years. Plus, they wanted retirement with a full pension at age 50!
Almost none of their riders have this kind of sweet deal…
The MTA is asking for changes: raising the age of retirement, requiring MTA workers to contribute to their pensions, and to their health insurance.
BUT, all of these changes would apply to workers who will be hired IN THE FUTURE!
So, the criminals are striking over proposed changes that wouldn’t personally effect them at all!

New Yorkers are pissed – see this page for a summary. The author copied the comments section of a transit workers’ blog into a Word document. There are over 700 comments, most of them negative.

I just hope it all gets resolved soon. Bankrupt Local 100, give them NOTHING, except for fining each worker 2 days of pay for every day on strike.

C

UPDATE: Replace the workers with robots! They've tried it in Paris, Cairo and Calcutta, and it works! This quote from the New York Sun article says it all:
All of us are replaceable, but some are more quickly replaceable than others. Already,the MTA spends 80% of its operating budget on personnel expenses.

80% of the budget on these clowns!
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 12/22/2005 11:31:00 AM