I figured this was deserving of it's own thread to be discussed, and I didn't notice one yet. Should be all out chaos if this happens. My biggest problem was when I read this:



I spent 8yrs in higher education and make as much or less than a lot of these people. I've lost a lot of sympathy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051216/ap_on_re_us/transit_talks_22;_ylt=AnMV_cMWzenJ4y8hyUHtsvUp.gMB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Where do you live?

$47,000 in NYC is the same as $19,600 in Raleigh, NC.
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/calc/salcalc.html

If you made less than that when you got out of college, that's pretty weak.

I live in NY, about 1-1.5hrs north of NYC, depending on the region. I realize the locality differences. However, I doubt a lot of these people are living in the heart of Manhattan. The cost of housing around here isn't NYC expensive, but it isn't nearly as cheap as what I had in Michigan. My pay is shit for what I'm worth, I'll admit that, but I still don't feel all that much sympathy for these workers.

And I'd question that homefair.com website. It says I would need to make more to live in East Lansing, MI than what I do to live here. That's far from the truth.

this just goes to show, again, how out-of-control unions have gotten. these workers are nuts. look at what they want, and what they've been offered.

The workers want 8 percent annual raises over three years and contend they should get a share of the MTA's $1 billion surplus. And after the transit bombings in Madrid and London, they also want more terrorism training.

The union has offered to reduce its pay raise demand if the MTA would promise to reduce disciplinary actions against workers.

The MTA has proposed 6 percent raises spread over 27 months. It says deficits are predicted for upcoming years and another surplus is unlikely.

it's not like the MTA has balked at their greed. also, the $1 billion surplus was completely a suprise, and the MTA is feeding huge portions of it to the workers pension funds, some of it to repairs, and the rest towards future deficits, which are inevitable.

i think it'd be interesting to see what this 'disciplinary actions' stuff is all about.

another FYI: if they do strike, they're money fucked...

A walkout would be illegal under state law. Workers could lose two days' pay for every day on strike. The city is asking for additional damages against individual transit workers: $25,000 for the first day of the walkout, doubling each day thereafter. The city is also seeking damages from the union of $1 million for the first day, doubling thereafter in a similar pattern.

Yeah, this kind of surprised me. The state has this union by the balls. I can't imagine this would last more than a day or two if it does occur.

deadline has passed but everything is still going because both sides agreed to that....

if this happens, NYC biz's will lose over hundreds of millions of dollars...IN ONE DAY

not looking good.

If I could give up going to school for a guaranteed 30 year career with pension in a unionized job, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

You've lost sympathy because you make the same as them? Are they somehow beneath you because you've read a lot of books? Bottom line is you can't get to work without them, I bet they can live without you.

Actually, I can get to work just fine without them. I just don't necessarily see this horrid situation they're dealing with financially. Now, I haven't read up on every detail, so I don't have all the facts. I'm just saying, salary wise, I don't feel too bad for them.

Also, while their daily lives may not be impacted by what I do, in the long run, their lives definitely are.

What's the threshold of yearly salary earned at which fighting for more is ok?

Jesus, $45,000 isn't exactly living the high life, especially in NYC.

$47,000*

But yeah, my initial reaction was a bit overblown. As I admitted, I don't know many of the details behind it, other benefits involved, etc. So, I can't fully discount the strike. Just a gut feeling I have. Maybe it makes me a bastard, oh well.

Power to the People!!!



Unite!

the mta has made a great offer, it seems, and the union is just being what unions are: dumb.

The new deadline gives negotiators at least a few more days to reach an agreement, but MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow insisted Friday that the authority's last offer was its best.

"There is no more," he said.

The offer called for a 9 percent wage increase, phased in over three years. The union demanded annual 8 percent raises for three years. Currently, train operators, station agents and cleaners earn an annual base salary of between $47,000 and $55,000.

i have to say, i saw interviews on TV the other day and bus drivers and station cleaners were complaining they have christmas gifts to buy.

shut the fuck up, please. my dad works 80 hours a week to provide for my family, he may make more than you, but he's not in a union and won't be able to retire after 20 years with a fine pension and health benefits.

oh yea, and he pays for his health benefits, you don't.

do these people realize they took jobs as bus drivers and station cleaners? if i was making 55 grand a year to clean a station or drive a bus, i'd be happy.

this is so fucking ridiculous, i don't know what else i can do to make people understand how ridiculously fucking retarded the union and its workers are.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,179100,00.html

NYC Transit Strike Talks in Last Hours

Monday, December 19, 2005

NEW YORK — Commuters spent the day on edge Monday as negotiators struggled to avert New York's first citywide bus and subway strike in more than 25 years, a walkout that could paralyze the big city at the very height of the Christmas rush.

Turning up the pressure on the city's transit agency, union members at two private bus lines in Queens walked off the job early Monday, and the union president warned that a full-blown strike was set to begin at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

More than 7 million daily riders would be forced to find new ways to get around if the 33,000-member Transport Workers Union shut down the nation's largest transit system.

Union President Roger Toussaint sounded pessimistic about reaching a deal as he appeared before a boisterous gathering of union members Monday evening.

"As we stand right now, with six hours to go until our deadline, it does not look good," he said. "I'm going to leave you now and go back to the hotel and give it one last shot."

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow told New Yorkers to "keep your fingers crossed."

Meanwhile, the union posted a strike plan on its Web site, instructing members to lock up facilities safely and document everything they do to prevent "management sabotage."

If the union's executive board calls for a walkout, buses will drop off all passengers and return to their depots. Subways will finish their trips as turnstiles are chained and locked.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a walkout could cost the city as much as $400 million a day — a figure that includes police overtime and lost business and productivity. It would be particularly harsh at the height of the holiday shopping rush.

The mayor said a strike would freeze traffic into "gridlock that will tie the record for all gridlocks."

Transit workers are barred under state law from going on strike. A walkout could bring punishing fines.

The workers' old contract expired early Friday, but the union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to keep talking through the weekend.

Many commuter were fed up with the uncertainty.

"Enough is enough," said Craig DeRosa, who relies on the subway to get to work. "Their benefits are as rich as you see anywhere in this country and they are still complaining. I don't get it."

The two sides were divided over wages and an MTA proposal to raise the age at which new employees become eligible for a full pension from 55 to 62.

More than 100 employees of the striking Jamaica Buses and Triboro Coach bus lines formed picket lines early in Queens, many chanting, "No contract, no work!"

Later in the day, hundreds of union members rallied outside Gov. George Pataki's office in midtown Manhattan, partly blocking traffic and screaming for a transit system walkout. "Shut it down!" they chanted.

The companies serve about 50,000 commuters, and are in the process of being taken over by the MTA, meaning they are not yet covered by a state law that prohibits public employees from striking.

The last citywide bus and subway strike in New York was in 1980. The walkout lasted 11 days.

Are they fighting over wages or just pension?