Not deep enough for Great Debate; probably more of a consensus poll. Mix one-part fate, one-part bad luck, one-part tragedy and one pissed-off mother.
Eileen Long’s Op-Ed Editorial from today in one of NYC’s tabloids. The gist of her argument (with the correlative maternal bias removed):
If my populist senses are are accurate, most people won’t see enough of a correlation between the union’s (in)action and this accident. Most will sympatize with Eileen Long, and perhaps a small minority might even agree with her.
Let’s not muddy the waters with inane lawsuit talk; this woman is calling for criminal charges - not a windfall for her son’s attorney.
There are hundreds of possible opening questions. How about a lame line-drawing one: (Whether you agree or disagree with Ms Long), is there any conceivable strike-caused incident (causing death, carange, economic collapse, riots, what-have-you) where a labor union should be held criminally libel by skirting striker regulation laws?
IMO, absolutely not. You can use anything as an excuse if you trace it back. If it wasn’t for the galaxy, the Sun wouldn’t be here. If it wasn’t for the Sun, the Earth wouldn’t be here. If it wasn’t for Human Evolution, the Strike wouldn’t have occurred, and the Bus wouldn’t have hit this dude on the bike.
I’d say take up your beef with the driver. The fact that he was driving that day tells me that he likely had a license to drive it, and that he should assume all responsibilities of anything going wrong caused by his own mistakes and errors.
Of course in this day and age, it isn’t settled until everyone from the bottom up has taken the blame for everything.
Yes, Roger Toussaint led an illegal strike, but he didn’t cause the moron Bus driver to make an illegal turn, in which a person in his capacity should know better.
There needn’t be an incident, the strike itself was illegal. Ordering the strike was a crime, punishable by jail time. That seems to be all that Ms Long is asking for, that Toussant be jailed for his choice to break the law, as the law specifically allows.
Personally, I believe the union leaders should be jailed for as long as the law allows, and each striking member punished financially for as much as the law allows. These laws were on the books when they joined the union and when they decided to strike, they should take those punishments into account when choosing.
Holding them criminally liable outside of the Taylor Law is a major stretch, one that goes way beyond where I’m willing to go.
Agreed. My whole thing was that the death of Mike wasn’t directly caused by the strike. Yes, the events lead up to it, but you can’t use the excuse that the strike caused his death. This is purely grievance talking. It was the incompetence of the bus driver. Mistakes happen.
Agreed as well, as long as the law is in place. But IMO, such a law shouldn’t even exist. What if the working conditions truly sucked? Shouldn’t the option exist? Sure, you can quit if you feel you’re being shorted, but whats to stop a company from treating the new employees the same? The state and the corporate world shouldn’t have the authority to make strikes illegal. But that’s GD territory.
About a year ago I watch a young lady argue in court that the ticket she received after rear ending another car should be thrown our because the driver of the car she hit did not have a valid license and was uninsured. Her case was based on the fact if the driver of the other vehicle was not breaking the law, she would have never been in an accident. Despite her very persuasive argument and her charts, the judge still found her guilty, he did reduce her fine though.