NYC transit strike

[Templedog]

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan...e_down&chan=db

"It's a form of terrorism, if you ask me," said Maria Negron, who walked across the bridge. "I hope they go back to work."

cry babies.

[Kanaric]

ROFL. I bet its a nightmare. Calling it "terrorism" is idiotic, lol. Seems if you do anything now a days your a "terrorist" reminds me of communism in the 50s.

This happened in Chicago a while back when the CTA was on strike and the entire city was so clogged with traffic that it was INSANE. Took hours to get anywhere.

[barbarion horde]

NYC is losing 400 milion dollars a day, so yeah you can kind of interperate it as terrorsim if your greedy like that, and walking in NYC in the beggining of winter isn't pleasent(especially for a tropical weather person like me ). It's also pretty bad for NYC's relativly large tourist industry. But I guess there is one horrible, sadistic, unimaginable alternaive to public transportation..... WALKING!!!!!!

[Templedog]

Instead of paying them alittle bit more....they are going to sue the union 1 million/day. They went on strike during the winter near christmas....lmao, thats just great.

Ok, now to hear the rightwingers bash unions....

[danzig]

Shrug the offer to the union was fair, hell there is even disagreement in the union about the decision to strike. Has nothing to do with right wing or left wing either, its NYC Im about as right wing as you get in this city it has to do with a union rejecting a fair offer. The offer included a 3% raise hike first year, 4% the second and 3.5% the third. Also included that all *new* employees would pay 6% (instead of current 2%) of their salary into pensions plan. The union wants 6% increase each year for three years and wants some disciplinary 'powers' removed.

This is standard NYC politics nonsense where unions hold the city hostage in attempt to get a better deal, its why they make such large demands (the union originally wanted 8% increase per year) knowing they will come down. And they are getting fined because its illegal for public employees to strike for obvious reasons. The fine to the union is minor though, fat cat union officals arent going to sweat that what is going to hurt is the specific fine on each employee of two days wages for every day they strike.

[Kanaric]

NYC is losing 400 milion dollars a day, so yeah you can kind of interperate it as terrorsim if your greedy like that

I guess the US government is a terrorist organization then since it supports illegal immigration and doesn't crack down on companies resulting in the loss of billion of taxpayer money. Plus it enacts terrorist overpriced military contracts to corporations, and terrorist budgets as well. See if "greed" is terrorism the US government is Al Qaida.

Also I learned that their strike isn't legal, which is odd. Around here it would be though so I thought it would be their as well. If they hate it so much they should just fire the people and be done with it.

[danzig]

I guess the US government is a terrorist organization then since it supports illegal immigration and doesn't crack down on companies resulting in the loss of billion of taxpayer money. Plus it enacts terrorist overpriced military contracts to corporations, and terrorist budgets as well. See if "greed" is terrorism the US government is Al Qaida.

Also I learned that their strike isn't legal, which is odd. Around here it would be though so I thought it would be their as well. If they hate it so much they should just fire the people and be done with it.

Pfft why blowing this out of whack, it was just some fool they interviewed on the street who said that. Reason it isnt legal is because of police, fire and the risk the city would be at if they were allowed to strike in a city this large. The union could basically hold the city hostage to give in to its demands since they are vital services, transit workers simply fall under the same classification as public employees.

[Kanaric]

If its so illegal fire the bastards, plenty of people are looking for jobs so I dont see how its so hard. Its as simple as that. I KNOW complications should arise but it seems in this country nobody respects labor laws at ANY level besides "human rights" and thats only when its labor in the US.

I know many people around here in Chicago that would jump at ANY kind of job. I'm sure its the same in NY as well.

What I saw though i didn't see that many people on street striking. If they were rioting that would be different. Unless you mean that transportation would be so bad that the police would have problems. If so then thats definately believable, we had problems with that here but not so bad, so long as it wasn't rush hour.

If all Bloomberg is going to do it talk **** and say they are greedy he desirves this problem. He needs to take action any way he can instead of running his mouth.

[danzig]

What I saw though i didn't see that many people on street striking. If they were rioting that would be different. Unless you mean that transportation would be so bad that the police would have problems. If so then thats definately believable, we had problems with that here but not so bad, so long as it wasn't rush hour.

If all Bloomberg is going to do it talk **** and say they are greedy he desirves this problem. He needs to take action any way he can instead of running his mouth.

Probably because the union itself was pretty divided, it seemed to have taken alot of arm turning to get the strike vote and its not too popular mainly because of the threat of fines against the employees themselves which will hurt far more then million dollar per day fine to the union. I think Bloomberg for the most part is doing ok with it since its clear this strike isnt going to last long and has almost zero support from the general public and doesnt appear to have much power within the union itself. The strike was simply a rash decision and unwarrented at the time, listening to union officals it seem to be more about they felt 'disrespected' by the way city officals talked to them then anything to do with the actual offer. How nice people are sitting on their butt on strike facing huge fines because their union people had their feelings hurt? So in that regard Bloomberg knows the city will 'win' this fight and rather quickly so far traffic problems havent been too bad Day 1.

[Rush Limbaugh]

Their currently finning the uniom a million dollars a day. I hope they go broke. This really sucks. Its costing me money. I cant get in and out of the city to pick up my goods. Its not terrorism but it sure is unlawful coersion. They should only let them back if they take a cut in pay :laughing:

[TheKwas]

I'm uneducated on the issue, but making civil servant strikes illegal is generally a bad policy and only leads to more animosity. Ask BC teachers.

That said, knowing NYC unions, I got a feeling this is being pushed by union officials rather than the actual union membership. If not, best of luck to them.

[RusskiSoldat]

If by "union officials" you mean "the mafia" then yes.
Oh well, at least I can't get blamed for missing school because of this, seeing as how I live in southern Brooklyn and my school is in downtown Manhattan.

[Francisco Montana]

The average salary of a NY resident is $45k/year

The salary of a NY Bus Driver is $65k/year

The salary of a NY Transit Booth Operator is $51k/year


Who's being the cry babies?!? There is little sympathy for the strikers in NY from NYers, and for good reason. The demands the union are making are ludirice. Add that to the fact that they pull this chit right before Christmas --costing the city of NY $400 million a day in lost revenue. Further add that to the fact that many are being put out of work by this selfish union act. It's also bad for the union members themselves as the same judge is charging them with $1 million a day in fines for each day the strike continues.

If Bloomberg had half the balls Guilliani had he would fire them today. Like I mentioned, a judge has already ruled the strike unlawful, so he would be absolutely justified. He would also probably bolster is chances in a run for President in '08, which he's been hinting at for a couple years now.

This strike is BS.

[Ulyaoth]

Lord Alameda I find myself agreeing with pretty much everything you ever say. They were offered a 6% raise a year I believe, only 2% less than they demanded. Most transit workers didn't want the strike. I was watching some bus driver ranting about how it's idiotic to strike when they're getting what they wanted. They did it just because they wanted to.

[Rush Limbaugh]

Its the unions way of wishing all us New Yorkers a Merry Christmas. Or should I say happy holidays?

[Templedog]

Bus driver is ranting because they want to get him more money...classic


DUH this is stike is deemed unlawful. Alot of strikes are. That's not news! When you strike on the government, yeah, they kind of look down on that. Still doesn't mean their right. duh :laughing:

[Ulyaoth]

He's ranting because he knew it was stupid and greedy to strike anyway, and that he was screwing over his customers who many busdrivers would know as regular riders.

[Templedog]

ok, tell me more about this bus driver...whats his favorite color?

[Ulyaoth]

I have no idea what you're getting at, but I'm sure it's some sneaky liberal thing... :laughing:

[Templedog]

yes I tried to be a sneaky liberal ninja

anyways, my point is who cares what one dumb buss driver thinks. They had a 1 billion dollar surplus.

The average salary of a NY resident is $45k/year.. hmm I wonder how many poor people in NY....hmm...everyone knows the cost of living in NY is higher then hell. Tell us danzig. You work downtown as a bus driver and you need to drive 2 hours to get to your job because you can't afford anywhere to live there. Not even news really.