I don’t even have an opinion of who’s right and who’s wrong, I’m just fucked if this goes down.
WTF are you talking about? How’s about a link?
When you live your life as a provincial NY’er, there’s no need for links.
Here are 2 “Union, yes!” perspectives. No mention of the civil service monopoly in either of them.
When you make in excess of $50,000/yr on average (with overtime) I don’t think you should be holding 8 million people hostage because your employer won’t give you 24% wage increases over 3 years while reducing the retirement age from 55 to 50 (and the # of working years from 25 to 20).
The MTA might not be the greatest, but the union demands are completely ridiculous. The fact that your jobs are critical to the operation of the city does not give you the right to fuck us all over in an effort to pressure management for more money.
I don’t give a shit who deserves what, the MTA isn’t shutting everything down, they’re willing to go to arbitration, the union (IMNSHO) wants to make life hell for everyone in this town so they can get what they “deserve”.
They are harming me personally, and I take that VERY seriously.
Fuck the transit workers.
They’re behaving like greedy bastards. My poor husband will have to walk thirty blocks in the rain tomorrow if those pigs go on strike. 
I’m normally very sympathetic to striking workers but transit workers are not a group of poor shmoes making $9 an hour at Wal-Mart. They are very well compensated for work that does not require a lot of skill, education or training.
If they go out on strike tomorrow I say fuck them all for screwing over their fellow New Yorkers.
Well, apparently these transit workers are very, very important.
Companies pull out of towns that desperately need the jobs all of the time and totally destroy their economies forever, just to get a little bit more money. It’s mean, but it’s business. This kind of power play and shrewdness is exactly thing things that CEOs do that gets them all that money. I don’t see why it’s suddenly the bane of the world when it happens in NYC, the people making the moves are blue-collar, and the people being affected are largely white coller. If you don’t want the people that have the most power (like the power to shut down a city) to have the most money, try communism.
To their credit, the union has not struck, they are continuing to run the lines and negotiate.
No, they aren’t, their jobs are. There are dozens of jobs, public service jobs, that are absolutely necessary for the running of a city. Hundreds of thousands of people who, if they struck, would shut the city down. Garbage men, sewer maintenance, water processing, electric maintenance, police, fire, teachers, the list goes on. The fact that your job is necessary does not suddenly make you the most important person around. Nor does it give you the right to hold everyone hostage for money. It’s a bullshit power play, and I only wish that the MTA could pull a Reagan/Air Traffic Controller job on them. Because it doesn’t take a genius to drive a bus.
Don’t try to say that this is a class issue either, the poor are the ones who use mass transit the most, live farthest from the city center and they’re the most likely to not have alternative means of travel. Mr White Collar (like me) can work from home, or take the day off while keeping his full annual salary. Mr $8/hr clerk has to pay a taxi $15 each way, or walk for 2 hours each way in 40 degree rain, or not get paid a red cent.
They may be “blue collar” but plenty of those guys already make more than I do, have better benefits, and a lavish retirement plan.
The transit workers probably aren’t getting a whole lot of sympathy from the other public sector unions, none of which have gotten raises anywhere near what transit is demanding (mine got a 13.5% raise over 5 years after working for nearly a year and a half with no contract).Most of them have had to “sell their unborn” (give up salary or benefits for future employees) or give back benefits they already had in order to get what raises they did. Around my union workplace yesterday, one of the topics of conversation was that everyone who was involved in the 1980 transit strike must have retired, because they clearly don’t remember how the transit workers just about broke even after that strike with the Taylor law penalty (lose two days pay for every day on strike) and the union lost the dues-checkoff privilege for a while. They aren’t getting any sympathy from the poorest people, who use mass transit the most and are least likely to be able to carpool. They’ve now done the thing I was most afraid of - didn’t strike at midnight, but also didn’t change the deadline. Now those people who have no alternatives have to choose whether to go to work and take a chance at being stranded, or stay home and maybe lose a day’s pay for no reason.
Now they’ve started a limited strike. Seems the private bus companies have struck. Way to screw the outer boroughs. Hope I can find a car when I fly in tonight.
Looks like 2 of the private bus companies will finish their current runs then go home. It’s pretty lousy to bring people into the city under a “no strike” statement then go on strike while they’re on the bus.
Thankfully, it’s only a limited strike at this time. It’s easier for a few people along a limited number of routes to manage an ad-hoc commute than the whole city.
Update, full strike postponed until Tuesday 12:01am. The two private bus lines so far are the Jamaica and Triboro lines, serving mostly Queens and maybe some parts of Brooklyn. Bad for those who need to take the bus to the train. Bad for me because cabs will be sparse when I fly in this evening.
I just heard a clarification from the TWU, and those two lines will have strikes “phased in” whatever that means. Apparently they will still have some service throughout the day so everyone isn’t completely SOL.
I expect that you will not have too much trouble finding a cab, maybe a bit worse than normal, but nothing like what a full strike will do.
I admit that I’d feel differently if I were in NY.
Mother told me to stay from school, for fear of me being “stranded” without any transportation. I could take a cab, but… 
Good to know. My brother’s pulling out of NYC today, and he was panicking last night because he has to drag 4 articles of luggage to the airport as well as himself, so I spent some time letting him use my shoulder.
I’ll be travelling to Long Island on Friday and my plan was to take the Airtrain from JFK to Jamaica station and then the LIRR to Long Island where my in-laws live.
If the MTA strikes then my 83 year old father-in-law is going to pick us up at JFK. Really, I’d much rather take the train. He’s a wonderful man but I don’t think he’s driven into the city in years.
I hope they work something out for my own selfish reasons and for the sake of all those people who depend on them daily.
velvetjones, I’m probably too late, but Airtran should still be running and the LIRR definitely is. Even if money is tight, cabbing to Jamaica Station might be a better option.
Driving into JFK is not what locals consider driving into “the city”. We’re actually on the same island he is. 
I think the MTA is one of the worst state agencies we have.
With two sets of books that go from, 'We need fare hikes" to “Oh goody a surplus!” overnight, they kind of piss me off.
But then again, if the tranisit workers could actually keep the subway stations clean, and make annoucements that I could understand, I might be more willing to take their cause seriously. The MTA has a surplus this year of A BILLION dollars. They have a projected short fall next year of A BILLION dollars. What are they run by Dr. Evil?
If they get 8% raises a year, I had better get a blow job every time I buy my monthly MetroCard.
Fuck it. $50,000 grand a year in New York is pretty good for a couple, but not likely for a family of 4 or 5. You might not be broke, but most would be a couple of months away from broke from a sudden job loss. So yeah, fuck it. Take your fucking 1 billion dollars and sprinkle it around and make it so they can atleast keep up with inflation. All the other shit about retiring at 50 is just something they threw in the pot. They figure if they’re going to negotiate, invest your demands in strike deal and you might get a raise, and something else out of the deal. But really they just want benefits and better wages, and would forgoe the age 50 demand. I say give it to them, and be proud you did, fuckers.
And who’s going to be giving it to them? Not the millionaires- they don’t ride the buses and trains. Nope, the money will be coming from the many, many people in New York who would think they had died and gone to heaven if a single person in their household earned $50,000/yr with benefits and a pension, including many public sector workers who earn less than $50,000/yr.