I'm sure you've all heard about this. Anybody here affected by it?

New Yorkers make chilly trek for second day
Transit union to dispute $1 million in daily fines for strike

Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Posted: 11:26 a.m. EST (16:26 GMT)


Manhattan-bound pedestrians cross the Brooklyn Bridge, as the transit strike entered its second day.
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Millions forced to find another way to work (2:58)

Strike leads to creative commuting (1:36)

Union leader announces strike by transit workers (3:55)
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Manage Alerts | What Is This? NEW YORK (CNN) -- New Yorkers made a below-freezing trek to work Wednesday as the citywide transit strike that has halted the nation's largest public transportation system entered its second day.

The strike has forced millions of people to adopt creative ways of getting around -- or simply abandoning plans altogether.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the economic consequences of the strike, which began at the height of the holiday shopping season, range "from severe to devastating, depending on the business."

An attorney for the Transport Workers Union, Arthur Schwartz, said he plans to appeal the $1 million-a-day fines levied by a state Supreme Court judge, who ruled the strike illegal. (Full story)

State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones found the union in contempt of court for ignoring two injunctions barring its workers from striking. New York's Taylor Law forbids transit workers from striking, and the city and state had pressed the judge to impose a hefty fine.

"There are no winners in the strike," Bloomberg said Tuesday. "Everyone is a loser here."

He lambasted union leaders, saying they had "walked out on New York City," and adding there will be no negotiations with the union until workers return to their jobs. (Watch the mayor urge an end to the strike -- 4:30)

The transit strike is the first in the city since 1980. (A map for the transit strike)

The union's 33,000 members are seeking raises, improved health plans and a stronger pension fund, which faces a $1 billion shortfall, according to Roger Toussaint, head of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union.

On Monday, the union rejected an offer by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that included a three-year contract with wage increases of up to 4 percent each year. Workers had been asking for an 8 percent annual wage increase.

Hours before the strike, Toussaint said workers were prepared to lower their wage increase demands to below 6 percent if the transit authority agreed to reduce the number of disciplinary actions launched against workers and grant other concessions.

Another major sticking point involves having new hires pay 1 percent of their pay toward health benefits and keeping the retirement age at 62.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Peter Kalikow stressed the deal would not cut health care or pensions for any employee "by one penny."

Toussaint said the offer "guarantees the next generation of transit workers will be worse off than this generation."

The strike caused chaos during Tuesday's morning and afternoon rush hours, with about 7 million people who usually ride the system jamming cars, negotiating with taxi drivers and packing streets to get to work. Traffic was snarled for miles. (Read how the strike forced commuters to think on their feet)

Bloomberg said the city stands to lose more than $400 million a day, with the strike affecting everything from the restaurant and hotel industries to working-class New Yorkers who could lose their jobs as a result.

One of the best stories that I heard on the news was that some of the striking MTA workers, who had picket line duty in Manhatten, drove their cars over to New Jersey and took the New Jersey PATH TRAIN into Manhatten!

How ironic that the guys who have shut down public transportation in NYC used public transportation in New Jersey to get to New York City!


The union is being fined $1`million per day for every day that they are on strike. The workers will be fined two days pay for every day that they are on strike.


Don Cardi

DC- I could be wrong but in the end no matter how much of a raise they get won't the workers still wind up losing out because of the pay they are missing/ being fined?

Well in theory, you are correct. But it all depends on what is agreed upon if the Union and The MTA come to a contract agreement.

What usually is done is that the company imposes a daily fine on the workers for as long as they are out on strike.
If and when a contract agreement is reached, one of the conditions that the union ususally demands upon acceptance of the new contract, is that the company, or in this case the MTA, forgive all fines due to them by the workers as a result of the strike. And in most cases, in the end, the workers are not fined.


Don Cardi

Schools are being delayed by two hours. I heard a lot of students weren't able to get there at all yesterday.

Edited to add: link to Alternative transportation info.

That's what happened in the last two NYC transit strikes, one in 1980 and one in the 1960's, both of which were settled pretty quickly if I recall correctly.

I have a feeling, though, that this one is gonna be a lot messier and last a bit longer than the others.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs the NYC mass transit system, supposedly has a huge surplus of funds, and I suspect that they could be making a more generous offer to the workers.

As usual, I find myself on the side of the workers in these matters, since a strike is the only real weapon that they have, however New York State has a law which prohibits municipal workers from striking.

While I feel that such a law is unfair, and that generally speaking any workers should have the right to strike, since in this case there is a law against it, and since those who go to work for the Transiyt Authority know this in advance, so in effect by agreeing to work for the Transit Authority in the first place thay are acknowledging that they are giving up this right, I agree that the strike is illegal and that the union should be fined and possibly decertified.

As far as fining the individual workers goes, that's a bit trickier. I'm not sure where I stand on that one.

I'm affected in that all I see and hear on the news is this story

I'm lucky enough to have a reverse commute further up into the Hudson Valley, so I haven't been directly affected. My husband, however, commutes across the TZ Bridge and the amount of traffic the past two days has made a bad situation even worse.

I have seen the footage of people in the city on the news every night, and I feel so bad for them. It's been awful.

As for who is right and who is wrong, I'm not sure. My grandfather was very pro-union and would never allow any member of our family to cross a picket line. We often forget that the rights that many union workers take for granted today were unheard of just a generation or two ago. My grandfather pointed out that many people died just for the right to JOIN a union if they wanted to.

I agree. I think that a union should have the right to strike, and that making it illegal for a union to strike is unfair. As you said, the threat of a strike is the only real weapon that members of a union have, and the right to strike weilds a lot of power when negotiating a contract.

As far as fining an individual worker for each day that they strike, well I think that should be illegal. You want to fine the union as a whole, fine. But to also fine each worker individually is, in my opinion, a form of union busting. What you are telling the workers is that even though they may belong to a union, and the union members have voted to strike, if you don't cross that picketline then we are going to fine you and cost you more money on top of the pay that you are already losing by being on strike. It's a union busting tactic.

And speaking of Union Busting tactics, let's remember that when Mayor Bloomberg ran for office in the first mayoral election, one of his plans was to possibly sell the transit authority and privatized it. But one of the reasons that this did not happen during his first term was because of the union and the benfits it had gotten the MTA employees. Probably too expensive for some private company to handle. So when you say that you think that this strike could get ugly, well I agree because I have this feeling that Bloomberg and the city just may take this opportunity to try and break the union, which would eventually make it either cheaper for the city to run the MTA or make it more lucrative to sell to a private company.


SB, your grandfatehr is correct. Years ago many people died for the right to form a union to get them a better wage and better working conditions.


Don Cardi

Am I correct in assuming the only money a union has is the money paid to them by the workers? If so isn't that double fining the workers? Wouldn't fees go up or in some way reflect back to the workers (I highly doubt union officials are going to take any hits)?

All very true, but, as I said earlier.....

Those who go to work for the Transit Authority know that (striking is illegal) in advance, so in effect by agreeing to work for the Transit Authority in the first place thay are acknowledging that they are giving up this right.

Should police be permitted to strike? Firemen? The military?

Remember Reagan and the air traffic controllers? It's immaterial if I think that they should or shouldn't strike. If they signed a pledge NOT to strike, then they shouldn't. A pledge is a pledge.

And didn't he fire them all too?

So are these transit workers buses, subway workers or all forms of transit? Are they striking for better benefits as well?

I can imagine what a mess NYC is. I didn't think anyone there drives. Wouldn't the cab companies be raking in the money now or are they included in this strike? That's really too bad. Something like that can really have a great affect on a city as big as NYC.

TIS

A strong union usually has what's called a "Strike Fund."

The strike fund monies can be used for many different things. Remember that now that the union is on strike, they are not taking in union dues. So that's where the strike fund comes in. If the workers are out on strike for a certain amount of time, then the union can dip into the strike fund and "pay" the workers that are on strike a nominal amount of money for picket duty.

Let's just say that the union has a big strike fund and they are paying their members who are on strike $80 per week. And out of that $80 they might take $5 for union dues which goes back into running the Local Union, and paying a % to the International or parent Union.

The strike fund can also be used to pay certain fines on behalf of the members. But keep in mind that the strike fund MUST be a large one to handle all these things, and the local union still has to give the International Union their share of the dues. Of course, in the event of a strike, the International Union can wave the monies that the local union gives them. And the International can even subsidze the Local Unions strike fund.

But in this case, the International or parent Union has said that they do not support the Local Union's decision to stage a strike. So I highly doubt that the International Union is waving any fee that they have coming to them from the Local Union, and it's also doubtful that the International Union is subsidizing the Local Union in any way.

It is also not uncommon for sister unions, or even other unions for that matter, to pledge monies to another union that is out on strike for a lengthy amount of time.


Don Cardi

Whereabouts in the Hudson Valley? I live in Montgomery and work at West Point

DC
Are you being affected by this? I wonder why they didn't wait till after the holidays to strike. I wouldn't want to give up my paycheck this time of year.

Mig- Maybe knowing that it was the holidays and everyone was going to be traveling they figured the threat of a strike would help them get their demands.

No. I haven't used public transportation to get to work in about 10 years. And I do not drive directly into Manhatten.


Don Cardi

I just came across this article pertaining to this issue.

Clicky!


As far as I'm concerned the union leaders, and everyday workers should get fined and serve jail time. Since they are breaking state law.