GRRRRRRR Transit Strike.

[snailpoo]

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow called the strike “a slap in the face” to all New Yorkers and said state lawyers will immediately head to court in seeking to block the walkout.

“This is not only an affront to the concept of public service, it is a cowardly attempt by Roger Toussaint and the TWU to bring the city to its knees to create leverage for their own bargaining position,” said Bloomberg at a news conference.

They have broken the trust of the people of New York," Gov. George Pataki said. "They have not only endangered our city and state's economy, but they are also recklessly endangering the health and safety of each and every New Yorker."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10466982/


Right before Christmas too. For those of you not familiar with New York, the vast majority of the people do not have cars and do not have any other means of getting around -it's just too crowded and too expensive to have a car, as there is no where to park it at your condo or apartment, no room to drive it, and no where to park it when you get there.

This leaves 7 million people without a means to get around.

[LaiSteve66]

Are there alot of people there who never learn to drive? I could imagine someone not bothering to learn if there's no room to drive or park.

[snailpoo]

Are there alot of people there who never learn to drive? I could imagine someone not bothering to learn if there's no room to drive or park.
Probably.

When I first moved here, I was surprised to learn the prevalence of DMV "identification cards" that weren't licenses.

[Atealtha]

I know how to drive but never bothered driving into Manhattan.

I'm so glad I decided to stay home today.

[Craig]

I'm not in NY, but I think people should know multiple means to get to their workplaces in cases of 'situations' like this. I typically only drive my car during the weekend. I'm in no rush to get to work quickly during the week, or deal with the traffic getting back home either.

[lethal]

When you don't have a car and your only means of transportation is the subways, buses, and taxis and the subways and buses aren't running and there's no cabs anywhere near where you live, finding alternate means of transportation to travel upwards of 10 miles to work in sub-freezing temperatures ain't that easy.

This isn't California or Texas where walking or riding a bike in not so cold temperatures in December is an actual option.

[Craig]

When you don't have a car and your only means of transportation is the subways, buses, and taxis and the subways and buses aren't running and there's no cabs anywhere near where you live, finding alternate means of transportation to travel upwards of 10 miles to work in sub-freezing temperatures ain't that easy.

This isn't California or Texas where walking or riding a bike in not so cold temperatures in December is an actual option.If the commute was that long (one way), I'd probably consider taking off work for the day. When the traffic situation is really bad or hectic, I can typically go faster in my bike. I can't really comment on the sub-freezing temperatures as I can't really remember biking in temperatures lower than the teens.

[applehead]

I'm not in NY, but I think people should know multiple means to get to their workplaces in cases of 'situations' like this. I typically only drive my car during the weekend. I'm in no rush to get to work quickly during the week, or deal with the traffic getting back home either.

augh. we all have multiple means.
but it all involves public transportation.

i saw some transit workers protesting today
and firemen bringing them coffee.
it's weird not seeing those huge buses on the street
and there were noticeably less people outside.

i hope they get what they want.

[lethal]

If the commute was that long (one way), I'd probably consider taking off work for the day. When the traffic situation is really bad or hectic, I can typically go faster in my bike. I can't really comment on the sub-freezing temperatures as I can't really remember biking in temperatures lower than the teens.

For you and me, that may be an option, but for people who don't get paid if they don't work, missing a few days of work could be the difference between making rent this month and being evicted.

[Yeahman]

One thing I noticed today was how this strike was bringing people together. Whites and blacks picketing side-by-side. Not a white group and a black group but truely mixed together as if these transit workers couldn't see skin color.
And they were being opposed by frustrated New Yorkers of all colors. It's hard for even your union-supporters not to curse the transit workers when it's 10 degrees outside.

[yoMAMA]

This leaves 7 million people without a means to get around.

that's more people than the entire state of minnesota.......

:tongue:

[Hiroshi2]

If the commute was that long (one way), I'd probably consider taking off work for the day.




Bingo!


I'm wondering why the hell all these people in NY are going to work. Did all of them run out of sick days? Unless I reeeaaaaalllly thought I needed that job and that i was in danger of being fired, I wouldn't have walked five or ten miles to work in 20 degree weather.


And if I had to take a car instead of the train, um..............I would've left like at 4 or 5 in the morning.

For you and me, that may be an option, but for people who don't get paid if they don't work, missing a few days of work could be the difference between making rent this month and being evicted.



Yeah, that's true.


But I guess I assumed a lot more people in NY had the type of jobs where you could get paid sick days or whatever *shrugs*.

[Yeahman]

Here's the final proposal that was rejected by the union:
Raises of 3%, 4%, and 3.5% over the next 3 years.
MLK Day a holiday (I guess that means a holiday transit schedule)
25% decrease in disciplinary action.
For new hires, raises the retirement age from 55 to 62 and pension contribution from 2% to 6% for the first 10 years and healthcare contribution from 0 to 1%.

[noname]

There is also a contingency plan in effect
For drivers, cars coming into Manhattan in the morning (between 5 am and 11 am) are required to have at least 4 occupants.

Luckily for people in my company, they can telecommute, and work from home.
I'm even more lucky, as I live walking distance from my office.

But for businesses like retail, with Christmas and Hanukkah happening (starting) this weekend, this is just the week when employees are most needed to be in at work.
I wonder if many people are choosing instead to shop mostly online during this time, because of the situation.

[snailpoo]

I'm not in NY, but I think people should know multiple means to get to their workplaces in cases of 'situations' like this. I typically only drive my car during the weekend. I'm in no rush to get to work quickly during the week, or deal with the traffic getting back home either.

It's sometimes difficult for people not used to Manhattan to realize the sheer magnitude of people who work here.

7 million people use the subways in New York each day, the majority of them traveling onto an island 33 square miles. Actually, given that the offices areas are in midtown and lower Manhattan, that almost 7 million people crowd into an area closer to about 10 square miles... that's in addition to the 1.5 million people who live on the island.

There really is no option to drive and park... ever. Even if everybody squeezed 4 to a car (and everybody living elsewhere with experience with hov lanes knows how impossible that is), that means you'd need to find parking for over a million cars in 10 square miles, assuming you could even fit a million cars on the 3 tunnels, and 3 bridges that serve midtown and lower Manhattan.




And then the problem becomes not being able to stay home. All the financial institutions, the banks, the company headquarters are located here. You can't close deals without live signatures, and you can't provide live signatures from home. NYSE isn't computerized, so those traders have to physically be there. And telecommuting only works when you have support staff in the office.

[deez nuts]

i heard one of the big issue is pushing up the retirement age from 55.

who retires at 55 nowadays?

[tommyhtown]

i heard one of the big issue is pushing up the retirement age from 55.

who retires at 55 nowadays?

I want to retire at 55 and play golf all day. Any news on when this might end?

[Yeahman]

i heard one of the big issue is pushing up the retirement age from 55.

who retires at 55 nowadays?
Unionized goverment workers.
The Transit Workers Union actually wanted it reduced to 50. They also wanted free healthcare (instead of the 1% contributions the MTA is asking for), 2% pension contributions (instead of the 6% the MTA wanted), and 8%/year pay increases.

Anyway, the union is being fined $1 mil a day, workers are foregoing 2 days pay for every day on strike. The city is going to court again to see if they can impose more penalties. The city can arrest the union leaders but that wouldn't do any good. The city can issue an ultimatum; get back to work or you're fired.

[applehead]

i guess i'd be more supportive of their cause
if the majority of the transit workers
i've interacted with weren't a bunch of
rude assholes.

[Hiroshi2]

^ ha ha


Anyway, according to the NY times, the average pay for transit workers is $55,000/year.................what the hell they complaining about? Or is $55k not enough to get by in New York?


And also too the mayor is trying to impose a $25,000 fine for every individual involved.....................and then, the union workers literally tore up the lawsuit papers, lol.


Sounds like y'all got a mess going on up there. Oh well, hate to be ya ;)

[moser]

It's over, so far.

New York's 3-Day Transit Strike Ends

NEW YORK - The city's crippling three-day transit strike ended Thursday when union leaders — facing mounting fines, possible jail terms and the wrath of millions of commuters — voted to send their 33,000 members back to work without a new contract.

Union board members said the workers would return to their job sites starting with the next shifts. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of returning to work and resuming negotiations with the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority on a new three-contract.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said buses should be running by evening, and most subways should be operating in time for the Friday morning rush. "It can't be turned on and off with a flip of a switch," he said of the nation's largest mass transit system.

Rest of article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051222/ap_on_re_us/nyc_transit_strike_130;_ylt=Ansa50Rb0ZjcB1u79qpgfG Qp.gMB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl)

[Faithless]

i heard one of the big issue is pushing up the retirement age from 55.

who retires at 55 nowadays?
Cops in California under the CalPERS retirement plan.

If they've put in close to 30 years, they can get almost 90%-100% of their salary as pension for life.

[Irezumi Kiss]

Almost broke my fuckin' leg yesterday on the LIRR being packed on the train like a sardine can and then trying to balance between a suddenly open door and the mile-wide chasm between it and a station platform...nggggghh...but when I fell down, my fellow NYers were there to help me right back up and ask me if I was alright, all creeds and colors...Nothing brings us together like a little mutual adversity!

Fuck it. NYers cope. I would've dealt with walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and up Broadway into Midtown if I had to. I've walked most of the length of Manhattan drunk off my ass in the dead of night, so I know there's plenty I could do sober if I get up early enough. When I think about the millions of disabled people who have comfortable, fixed systems of transit using the subways, I realize I have little to complain about. If I wanted an EASY life, I'd move somewhere else, yey?

But at least it's negated for the time being. It's reminded me to appreciate the blessing of being able to use my legs...and also taught me to do my going-into-town-bizness when I'm able to do it and not put it off for later in the week cuz I'm lazy and I "know it'll be there anyway" is the convenient excuse du jour.

[Faithless]

That was a sad state of affairs. The news came all the way to Cali, and we heard from reporters with ties to the bay area.

It was sad to hear that people would try to leave work around 8p and then by 9:30p still not move much from work. :frown:

You hope to god that the transit strikers had a damn good reason to do this.

Makes me wonder how the transit agencies here, avoided them. I think one think that helped was contracts that expired at different times.

*** *** ***

From http://www.twulocal100.org/

TWU Local 100 Executive Board Votes to End Strike, Return to Work

Dec. 22-The first NYC system-wide transit strike in 25 years ended today. Local 100 had to walk out to stop the TA’s 11th hour pension ambush. We walked out strong, and we walk back stronger.

Thousands of transit workers have been on freezing cold picket lines around the clock for three days. The vote of the TWU Local 100 Executive Board to overwhelmingly accept the recommendation of theNew York State Mediators means we will now start reporting to work.

In the face of an unprecedented media assault, the average New Yorker supported the TWU and blamed the MTA for the strike. Our riders knew we did not abandon them, and they did not abandon us. Public support from unions, communities, clergy and elected officials helped create the atmosphere for an end to the strike.

The details will be coming to all transit workers very soon.

Every TWU member should be proud that our Union stood up for justice.

Stay United! Stay Strong!

[Yeahman]

It's over, so far.

New York's 3-Day Transit Strike Ends

NEW YORK - The city's crippling three-day transit strike ended Thursday when union leaders — facing mounting fines, possible jail terms and the wrath of millions of commuters — voted to send their 33,000 members back to work without a new contract.

Union board members said the workers would return to their job sites starting with the next shifts. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of returning to work and resuming negotiations with the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority on a new three-contract.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said buses should be running by evening, and most subways should be operating in time for the Friday morning rush. "It can't be turned on and off with a flip of a switch," he said of the nation's largest mass transit system.

Rest of article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051222/ap_on_re_us/nyc_transit_strike_130;_ylt=Ansa50Rb0ZjcB1u79qpgfG Qp.gMB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl)
All for nothing.

[Irezumi Kiss]

The TWU rejected the first proposals...or should I say, that Toussaint guy did...and now they came back with nothing to show for it...yeeesh!

Make our suffering count for something!

[snailpoo]

It's against the law to strike. The international didn't sanction the strike. The Union is getting fined 3 million. Each worker automatically is docked 6 day's pay. Bloomberg's approval ratings went up. Toussaint is seen as a villian. Class actions are now being filed for the billion or so of lost business. And all the union accomplished was to get the average new Yorker pissed off at the union.

If the union had a decent idea to win the city over, they would have threatened strike, but then held off until January 2.

[applehead]

i've been hearing on the news that the union
is upset with toussaint because they feel that
he didn't come on strong enough.
they wanted him to be more forceful.

If the union had a decent idea to win the city over, they would have threatened strike, but then held off until January 2.
no point. by then they would have their new contracts.

seriously, it's the public that gets screwed over
in the end.