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Thread: Transit Strike

  1. #1
    Administrator PhilDernerJr's Avatar
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    Transit Strike

    Well, Friday it might come.

    These guys are all over protesting already.....asking for public support.

    Yeah, you guys are gonna leave me out on the sidewalk on Friday scrambling to figure out how to get to work and you expect me to SUPPORT you?

    Get a ****in grip.
    Email me anytime at [email protected].

  2. #2
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    :( effin strike

    at least strike in the summer when i dont mind walking.. biotches
    Quote Originally Posted by GothamSpotter
    the extent of showing all was moving their bikinis over to show their vajajays, but only if you were sitting up close and had $$$ out. No Gucci, no coochie!

  3. #3
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    I thought that a Transit Strike in New York is illegal? Of course, is the Union nuts, it is winter time & the holidays are right around the corner, tell the union to kiss my arse all the way here in California....
    The problem with socialism is that you eventually,
    run out of other people’s money.
    ” - Margaret Thatcher

  4. #4
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    it is illegal
    Quote Originally Posted by GothamSpotter
    the extent of showing all was moving their bikinis over to show their vajajays, but only if you were sitting up close and had $$$ out. No Gucci, no coochie!

  5. #5
    Senior Member cancidas's Avatar
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    morons... they picked a really bad time to pull this ****. i don't know if there is one body in this city that is going to support them.
    it is mathematically impossible for either hummingbirds, or helicopters to fly. fortunately, neither are aware of this.

  6. #6
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    These people don't deserve any support what so ever. I listened to one of them bitch about how she doesn't even get time off when she had a baby that she has to use her sick time and vacation time. Well here's clue most companies make you take your own time to have a baby, or you can go out on family leave without pay for 12 weeks. Do what Reagan did in the 80's with the ATC controllers, fire all of them and start over.

  7. #7
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    damn women and their babies, always complainin
    Quote Originally Posted by GothamSpotter
    the extent of showing all was moving their bikinis over to show their vajajays, but only if you were sitting up close and had $$$ out. No Gucci, no coochie!

  8. #8
    Moderator USAF Pilot 07's Avatar
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    The fact is on average condutors make something like $57,000 a year, train operators $62,000 a year and bus drivers $60,000 a year. For a job requiring no education past high school, these figures are not too shabby. Not to mention, they pay modest co-pays for medical services and receive 1/2 pay pension after 25 years. Also, let's not forget that most employees with over 10 years service are making well above the aforementioned averages.

    I believe the workers should see a raise, as should most employees in all fields, as inflation increases, and the cost of living in NYC does as well. But, what the union has put on the table, 27% over 6 years IIRC, is ridiculous. Although I realize this is a high number in hopes to reach a more favorable settlement, I believe what the MTA has offered (6% over 4 years) is just shy of something fair. I'd say something more like 8-10% over 5 years sounds more fair.

    In any case, I believe it'll come down to tomorrow night between 2-3AM before a settlement is reached. The Union won't settle too quickly, because many transit employees will feel that they didn't bargain well enough, and the MTA won't settle too quickly for the same reason. The TWU will try to get all their issues raised and some sort of compromise met on each one of them, and will fight as long as they can to get the best "deal". The TWU is no idiot, they know they won't have much public support especially with a wintertime strike during the holidays, and especially when the MTA has put a pretty good offer on the table.

    Anyway, I hope I'm right, because as the mayor said, a transit strike will yield no winners.

  9. #9
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    8-10% is more then fair and within the range of most normal corporate yearly raises. It really amazes me these guys get paid so much to do so little. Talk about a mindless job some of these guys have. Its like the conductors on the LIRR they start close to 50,000 and all they do is punch tickets and make change, other then that I have no idea what they do? Now perhaps a train operator should get paid a decent wage but otherwise the MTA's offer is fair and just for the rest of them. I think my next go around at life I'll forget college and just go work for the Govt.

  10. #10
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    By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
    15 minutes ago

    Here's what it could look like: Bicyclists darting through never-ending traffic jams. Swarms of commuters trudging over the Brooklyn Bridge in their sneakers in the freezing cold. Tourists stranded during the height of the Christmas season. Broadway shows with half-empty theaters.

    New York could be hit on Friday with its first subway and bus strike in more than 25 years, a walkout that could shut down a system used by an estimated 7 million riders a day.

    The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is locked in round-the-clock negotiations with the Transport Workers Union on a new contract for more than 33,000 members. The old contract expires Friday at 12:01 a.m.

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a strike would be devastating. Estimates are that it would cost the city hundreds of millions per day in overtime and lost business and productivity — a particular blow in the middle of the holiday season.

    Fifth Avenue shops and department stores like Macy's and Bloomingdale's — major holiday destinations in the nation's retail capital — would be disrupted, with employees unable to get to work. For the same reason, a walkout could also interfere with multimillion-dollar corporate deals in the nation's financial capital.

    Transit workers want 8 percent annual raises over three years, and contend they should get a share of the MTA's unexpected $1 billion surplus this year. And after the transit bombings in Madrid and London, they also want more terrorism training, saying they feel unprepared to handle disasters.

    The agency has proposed 6 percent raises spread over 27 months, and says the surplus is not likely to happen again and needs to go toward future expenses. Deficits are predicted for upcoming years.

    A strike could be costly for the union, too. A walkout would be illegal under state law, and the workers could face tough penalties. Strengthening the transit agency's hand, a judge issued an injunction Tuesday that bars the workers from striking.

    They could lose two days' pay for every day on strike. And 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.

    Overtime for the police alone would cost $10 million a day, the city says, since officers would have to maintain order in the streets.

    For weeks, officials have been drawing up a contingency plan. It would require cars entering the busiest areas of Manhattan to carry at least four people. Also, some streets would be closed to all but emergency vehicles. Taxis would be allowed to pick up multiple fares, and commuter rail lines would increase service.

    Many companies are encouraging employees to telecommute or work out of offices outside the city in the event of a strike. Some are arranging buses and ferries for their employees.

    "It would affect me in a major way because I don't know how I would get downtown," said Kisha Smalls, who takes the subway to get from her home in the Bronx to class in Manhattan. "I'd probably have to stay home — I hope it doesn't happen but they need their money so I understand."

    The mayor said commuters might want to find a friend who lives close to school or work and has a couch they can sleep on.

    That is exactly what Angel DeJesus has done. He arranged to stay with friends in the Bronx, to which he commutes every day from his home in East Orange, N.J. But he doubts he will have to put those plans into motion.

    "It hasn't happened since the '80s, so I'm not concerned," he said.

    The last transit strike was in April 1980. For 11 days, subways and buses sat motionless while New Yorkers devised new ways to get around. A reported 65,000 rode bicycles, 60,000 walked and others embraced more creative modes of transportation, such as private helicopters and roller skates.

    Long after the subways started moving again, a trend lingered: Many women who put on sneakers for that long walk to work continued to dress that way for commuting comfort, and a 1980s office fashion was born.
    The problem with socialism is that you eventually,
    run out of other people’s money.
    ” - Margaret Thatcher

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by T-Bird76
    These people don't deserve any support what so ever. I listened to one of them bitch about how she doesn't even get time off when she had a baby that she has to use her sick time and vacation time.
    Well, hell, next time don't have the baby!
    The problem with socialism is that you eventually,
    run out of other people’s money.
    ” - Margaret Thatcher

  12. #12
    Senior Member Tom_Turner's Avatar
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    I think the Transit Workers should take the Winter off and call it a Sabatical and the teachers should take their winter vacation to work the trains and buses. :)

    Seriously though, I remember the last strike.. 1980 or so. I was living in Manhattan and attending high school in Queens. Quite happy to have a few days off... I took a walk down to the financial district. All kinds of people on their bicycles going to work on Wall Street. Masses of people walking across the Brooklyn Bridge being encouraged by Mayor Koch.. (who enjoyed all the attention - positive and negative).

    Wall Street heliport had about nine choppers on the pier and several were stuck circliing overhead waiting for a spot to land and off load some executives.... Fun stuff...
    "Keep 'em Flying"

  13. #13
    Moderator Matt Molnar's Avatar
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    The situation looks pretty grim 15 mins before the deadline. In the past hour, rather than spending every second negotiating, the union prez and an MTA exec made statements blasting each other to the media. No way I'm going to work tomorrow if these guys walk out.

    And despite the TWU retaining the services of uber elite PR guru Ken Sunshine, they are failing even worse than they have to in their efforts to keep the public on their side. Most of us will hate them no matter what if they strike, but they would win a lot of support if they talked about potential layoffs when making media appearances. Layoffs are something everyone can relate too because just about anyone can be laid off. Lay offs of transit workers like booth clerks can also cause the service we experience to suffer. But instead, Toussaint bitches about lack of raises for people who are already fairly paid, who make more than 99% of New Yorkers with similar qualifications to those represented by the union.
    Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
    All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
    I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9

  14. #14
    Senior Member Hyder's Avatar
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    i know everyone's gonna hate me for saying this, but the only reason why i want a strike is because i want my final to be postponed.

  15. #15
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    Amazing, I was going to head to New York next week, got some buddy passes on Midwest, and then it looks like these smucks may go on strike & screw everything up.... ahhh! ahhh!
    The problem with socialism is that you eventually,
    run out of other people’s money.
    ” - Margaret Thatcher

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