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This afternoon, Mayor Bloomberg updated everyone on how New York City is coping with the transit strike. 1010 WINS has a nice summary of it on their site. Developments today include:
- NYPD working 12 hour shifts (hello overtime!) and the traffic is being handled by the police cadetsIs everyone ready for the fun commute home yet? Are your bosses letting you off early so you don't have to walk until 9?
- LIRR handled an extra 45,000 riders this morning
- There is now shuttle service at Kew Gardens, Forrest Hills and Woodside (lots of love for far away in Queens)
- The zone system for the cabs is working
- 175,000 calls have come into 311 since midnight
UPDATE: the TWU has been hit with a $1 million dollar per day penalty for each day the strike continues, starting with today. The mayor's office claims the city government is losing $22m per day in tax revenue, and that the local economy is losing $420m per day. Any truth to that?
UPDATE: 1010WINS is reporting mass chaos at Penn Station-- apparently tens of thousands of people are massed around the station trying to get home, and not getting any clear directions. People without tickets have to go in one entrance, but then you have to go out again and wait on line before you can get access to the trains. Sounds like that's a recipe for some rioting-- let's hope everyone stays calm. Anyone have a first-hand account? Updated, see below.
UPDATE: holy crap-- the crowds outside Penn Station really are huge-- that looks like a total cluster-fcuk.
UPDATE: traffic downtown is strangely light. Broadway is pretty packed with cars, vans, and taxis heading south, but the northbound streets are empty, and even the streets leading to the Holland Tunnel (Broome, Varick, etc.) seem totally empty-- more like 2am than 6pm on a Tuesday.
UPDATE: Two main entrances to Penn Station have been shut down according to 1010 WINS. The entrances at 7th Ave under the MSG marquee and on 34th St are both closed. People looking to get into the station are now flowing onto 7th Ave.
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Can anyone give me information on the "shuttle service at Kew Gardens, Forrest Hills and Woodside"
Thanks!
Come on, people. The PATH and LIRR and other mass transit systems are all running. Use fucking google for christsakes.
all the trains are full at forest hills until further notice.
Should be interesting...
I sympathize with the transit workers. After a strike in 1960 the NY state bullied through the Taylor Law. This law say that the transit union is not allowed to strike, and TRUSTS that all negotiations are in good faith. Well if the Metropoletion Transit authority says that is our last offer, take it or leave it, the transit workers have no recorse. They have to take whatever is offered or face the Taylor law which fines them 2 days pay + fines for every day on strike. What leverage does the transit union have?
Oh - you mean like with EVERY OTHER JOB in the world? Poor them. Boo freaking hoo. Now get to work lazy bums!!!
grow up, how are you going to call them lazy bums when some of them have to deal with lazy bums on a daily buses, that on top of working weekends, holidays, night shifts, all shifts. you dont see many of them blogging while at work do you? jerk.
Forest Hill Penn station has one ticket booth for thousands of people. It is an hour to and hour half wait. This really blows.
To SwampYankee and Petra and everyone who supports a strike from public employees:
I hope that when youre being mugged at gunpoint the cops arent there because they are on strike.
I hope that when your kids go to school, the teachers are on strike and your kids loose half a year of education.
I hope that when your front lawn is overflowing with stinking garbage, no one picks it up because the garbagemen are on strike.
I hope that when your house is burning down with you inside that the firemen dont come because they are on strike.
Better yet, I hope that if you survive the fire that the paramedics dont rush you to the hospital because they are on strike.
This is why the Taylor laws exist. This is what separates us from chaos and anarchy. All city employees get a fair contract, the TWU is no different. For $55,000 a year they should be happy they can do this http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/rnr/118832386.html, instead of working as security guards or desk clerks at macys for $8/hour.
They may not be blogging at work but they sure do like to sleep there!
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/rnr/118832386.html
Actually, if they hate their job situation so much, why not leave for another job? What's stopping them? Who gave them the power to decide if 7 million citizens can or cannot go about their livelihood? Do you suppose they obtained our consent? They don't feel the need to. Call it a strike, I call it a form of economic terrorism. No rationale New Yorker should condone, support or romanticized the TWU's 'collateral damage' tactic.
Just to give some perspective on this, but $55,000 is reasonable when you factor in cost of living for NYC and the fact that many MTA workers are supporting families.
Not to wax nostalgic about the pre-gentrification NYC, but there was a point at least 25-30 years ago when one could be a manual laborer and make enough money to rent their own place and raise a family. That simply does not exist in this city anymore in any way. Call it real estate/economy related backlash, but when you're given a choice between working for $10 per hour and being part of the working poor or making $55k a year and being able to raise a family and take care of them like anyone else would, the choice is simple.
Add to the fact that the MTA is one of the most corrupt and non-transparent public agencies, and this does end up making a bit more sense. The workers exist in an evnironment where they're treated like junk while MTA execs grow fat off of their work even if they screw up.
Could any other agency in this city have gotten away with the whole fare-hike one second, "Whoops, we have the money..." another second.
Pataki and Bloomberg need to get involved to get the damned MTA to restructure and attempt to get rid of the corruption that breeds all of this. No doubt the TWU will hurt after this, but the MTA deserves a good reaming on their management skills as well.
I only wish the TWU would pull it's head out its collective rear end and realize it's not going to get any better and they are only hurting themselves and the people who support them.
If they chose to get a job working for the MTA instead of as security guards or Macy's clerks, then they are obviously smarter and therefore deserve more pay!
Also, since when does a train operator have as low level of skills as a security guard?
And how much money do you make? Certainly more than the security guard or Macy's clerk, as you have a computer with broadband to keep the bills away.
"Actually, if they hate their job situation so much, why not leave for another job? What's stopping them?"
What working class jobs are there left in this city that can give you a decent salary? Do you think working as a clerk at Target or Office Max pays you well enough to truly have a life or raise a family?
The second manufacturing and manual labor jobs left this city--and this country in general--stuff like this is to be expected.
The international TWU is demanding that the strike end - http://www.twu.org/
This leads me to believe that the local board was itching for a strike before they even got to the bargaining table. Their failure to continue negotiating is a disservice to the rank and file. Bloomberg's tepid response is also striking.
I would fire all the union members since they broke their contract and hire mexicans. They'll work for $5500 a year instead of 55000 and they'd still be happy.
I don't actually have a side that I'm rooting for. But I do resent that the MTA was able to raise our fares by a whole 50 cents up to $2---that was a huge increase!--and then later claim they really weren't as poor as they said...only to now boast about this $1 billion surplus. They are INCOMPETENTS in charge of our money. Or worse, they are dishonest crooks.
With the MTA's ridiculous boasting in the press of "Oh, we found this $1bn surplus---so much money that don't know what to do with it, so we've created holiday fare discounts" position JUST AS THEIR EMPLOYEES' CONTRACT WAS ENDING, the TWU saw their opportunity and took it. I cannot blame them for it. In our world it's every man for his own interests, so you can't blame them for trying.
I Hope "Karma" Takes off the Tin Foil...
What did the Craglist Posting say anyway? It's gone from the "Rant's and Rave" section now.
Must have been a doozy, some of the Headcases posting their are Really going off the deep end!
"and how much money do you make? Certainly more than the security guard or Macy's clerk, as you have a computer with broadband to keep the bills away."
I make less than half of what the MTA employees make. Actually 17k after taxes, yet I work full time at an office with a computer in front of me all day. Oh yea, and I have thousands of dollars worth of student loans, no pension, 3 days vacation and no overtime. Man I wish I drove a train.
this is all pre-planned for maximum impact. all timed to coincide with holiday travel, xmas shopping, end of semester finals, freezing weather, etc. to create maximum havoc so they can get (extort) their demands. and i love the stupid new york fux that defend it.
Why the hell isn't Roger Toussant sitting in a cell on Riker's Island?
And I wish I was making MTA employee money and getting their benefits. Its not hard to drive a train, you know.
youre really ignorant for thinking the police, fire department, paramedics, waste management, and teachers were implemented into society to protect us from chaos and anarchy. I only see an extension of corruption in half of those examples, besides, according to your bright ideas, its a miracle life has existed for millions of years without those said institutions.
Oh, where is the $1 million a day from the TWU going to go to?
i wish i could retire at 55 like they can! i'm going to be waitressing in heaven, still trying to pay back my student loans. and who doesn't have to pay in on their health and pension plans? jesus, they need to realize they're getting a pretty sweet deal. after all, how hard is it to look out the window of the train and make sure nobody's getting stuck in the door?
Penn station was definately a poorly organized, pain in the ass, but there were not tens of thousands. There was an old lady in a fur coat yelling at the attendants which was kind of funny.
I"m going through a lot of what the transit workers are going through. I work for Delphi. I have no idea if I'll have a job, come February, due to corporate incompetance and corruption. The CEO wanted us to take a 60%+ paycut, wanted to stop our vision and dental care, wanted the right to end our pension at any time, and wants us to pay into what little health plan we'd have. While we are to take these cuts, he gave the executives who are responsible for this fiasco at Delphi, huge bonuses and severance packages. Some of them are making $54,000 a month. There's not one person at Delphi, who doesn't realize, we need to pay into health care, and take a pay cut, but go from $26.hr to $9? And have to listen to CEO Miller refer to us, as "drunken, ignorant auto workers?" (Hey, Mr Miller, maybe I should come to work drunk, and make you a radiator) OR, as "That class of people?"
If, in Western NY, it takes a wage of over $20/hr to be able to afford to buy a decent house in a crime free neighborhood, to send your kids to college, to be able to buy a used car to get to work, I can't imagine what the living decent wage in NYC is. I hope the transit workers get everything they are asking for.
If there weren't unions, do you honestly think, that corporations would give you paid holidays, sick days, vacation days, any type of benefits, a pension, out of the goodness of thier hearts? Fat chance!
As for hiring Mexican "guest workers..." well, you get what you pay for. REmember that, when your subway slams into the one ahead of it, or never even arrives at your stop, or the seats fall apart on your bus.
yo, Broke all the time: How old are you? Pretty young, it seems. And yet so eager to earn the $50k the average TWU employee makes---ie, the person who has been on the job for more years than you spent in school.
The good news for you is that you still have time to change your career and go apply to the MTA since you seem to envy their jobs so much!
To express your personal concerns to the TWU Local 100 as listed on their website please continue to dial
212-873-6000
Staff Telephone Extensions
Julio Rivera 2092
Tony Utano 2032
John Samuelsen 2033
Charles Ayala 2208
Rick Figueroa 2079
As seen here...
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:U8qHfXB9kI8J:twulocal100.org/%3Fq%3Dmow+twu+local+100+extension+212&hl=en
-TooCold
If you think that being a transit worker is such a great job, WHY DON'T YOU DO IT? Stop whining and go back to Kansas.
yea!!....
please give us more information about the shuttle buses!!!!!
Oh ya, I sympathize with the transit workers and their 55k a year salary.
Assistant Professor, Tenure Track
Location: The City College
Division/Department: Economics
The Department of Economics seeks an assistant professor to teach undergraduate and possibly graduate courses in economics and management. The successful candidate will have an interest in Health Economics or other areas of public policy, domestic or international. The position requires teaching economics courses in the above fields at the undergraduate, and possibly at the graduate (MA) levels. Additional responsibilities for this position include teaching courses in the areas of Management and Administration and/or Accounting. For this position, strong candidates in other fields of Economics will also be considered. A strong record of scholarly productivity is expected from the successful candidate while working at CCNY.
Qualifications:
Doctorate in hand is required. The position requires both the interest and skills for effective interaction with students of multi-ethnic backgrounds in an urban commuter setting.
Salary:
$35,031- $61,308 commensurate with qualifications and experience
I'm actually 26 and it's not like I want their jobs.. I'm just using my salary as an example as to what others have. People assume that just cause you work in an office or have a computer or whatever that you make X dollars, which isn't true. I just think people need to realize that in general most jobs suck and people have to deal with shit from them. MTA employees deal with different shit but everyone still has issues. I'm just trying to make things a little more egalitarian here.
Why hasn't TWU International cut off Local 100 for disobeying direct orders? The whole union's going to be paying for Local 100's defiance when the fines start getting assessed.
And where the hell is Judge Jones anyway? Why is he hitting the union with only $1 million/day fines and why did it take so damn long? That's a slap on the wrist and he should have issued the order days ago.
I don't know how transit workers can sleep at night knowing the incredible threat they've put people under. If anyone dies walking or biking to work, it's on their heads.
Greg,
What is the point of your post? As mentioned above, Macy's clerks also earn less than TWU. And guess what, lots of accountants earn more. And researchers with mere masters degrees who create household cleaners. And real estate brokers.
A doctorate in economics can get you more money at a different type of job (HELLO, Wall Street!), if money is what rings your bell.
It's called LIFE. Salary/benefits rarely has anything to do with how many degrees one has acquired. Every last person on here makes their choices based on personal priorities.
If news of what the TWU benefits package is leaves you feeling jealous, then either come to terms with why you chose your profession in the first place or CHANGE IT.
Jeez, people. Wake up. Take charge of your own life. Whining gets you nowhere.
East side avenues are gridlock, looks like 1st 2nd 3rd all the way up to the 70's and 80's are real bad...Park Ave. bad as well.
"If there weren't unions, do you honestly think, that corporations would give you paid holidays, sick days, vacation days, any type of benefits, a pension, out of the goodness of thier hearts? Fat chance!"
no, but companies have to offer that if they want to hire the best people they can possibly get
I do not support the TWU's current strike, but I do support their right to do it. Now, Roger Toussaint is no Joe Hill, but ANY and ALL rights we wage-earners enjoy as expectations were fought and died for. We should honor those sacrifices of life and liberty instead of focusing on our own transient 'sacrifices'.
For those too young, or too ignorant, to appreciate the role of organised labor in this country, I offer a few memorable quotations for consideration:
"The most important word in the language of the working class is "solidarity." —Harry Bridges
"The quality of employees will be directly proportional to the quality of life you maintain for them." —Charles E. Bryan
"Those unions that enjoy the right to strike have no guarantee that sacrificing their jobs and their livelihood will result in victory but they nevertheless engage in lengthy strikes, not because they are assured of winning but because they are determined to fight." —William Burrus
"Every advance in this half-century--Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another--came with the support and leadership of American Labor." —Jimmy Carter
"Labor Unions are the leading force for democratization and progress." —Noam Chomsky
"The only thing workers have to bargain with is their skill or their labor. Denied the right to withhold it as a last resort, they become powerless. The strike is therefore not a breakdown of collective bargaining-it is the indispensable cornerstone of that process." — Paul Clark
"With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in men, than any other association of men." — Clarence Darrow
"Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor." —John F. Kennedy
hey anonymous-
my point is: that a person with a Ph.D. and all the experience that job requires at City University would make only 6k more a year, IF they got paid at the top of the line for an Assitant Professor. In all liklihood, the person getting that teaching position would start below 55k.
so STFU
"no, but companies have to offer that if they want to hire the best people they can possibly get"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, were you serious? Companies don't offer more to get the best employees. Employees offer less to get the best jobs.
For Broke:
I can appreciate your position and your desire to make things egalitarian. I think that is worthy and noble. The trouble is that no one else is with us on this.
Perhaps in an ideal world, things would be more fair and endeavors like teaching would be more rewarded. But that's not the reality of the world we live in. Is it fair that Morgan Stanley is giving out $1bilion in bonuses this month to people whose only job is to make profits for others? Doctors don't make as much. Forget about teachers. Or the food service employees who feed us.
In the end, all you have is your conscience. Choose the job that will be most fair TO YOU between the need for money and the need for something personally rewarding. If you desire the former more than the latter, the TWU could be a good start.
"I don't know how transit workers can sleep at night knowing the incredible threat they've put people under. If anyone dies walking or biking to work, it's on their heads."
Oh give me a break. How about when someone falls on the tracks, how do the transit workers live with themselves. I'm sorry these people do not have a sacred duty to keep the trains running.
And to everyone who keep complaining about $55,000--that's not what it's about. It's about going backwards and making workers pay more for health care when the MTA has a billion dollar surplus. If you ever bitched about the fare increase which was ridiculous, it's all part of their same fucked up, corrupt policies that are designed to keep the money flowing into the wrong hands. Bloomberg and Pataki make me sick, whining now when they've had years to pressure this organization to pull itself together.
dear Greg:
Huh? I don't think you understood my post at all.
Who cares if City University professors get the same??? Go back and read what i wrote.
For everyone going on and on about how uneducated and menial these MTA jobs allegedly are, here's the one skilled labor posting the MTA has up:
Title: Bus Maintainer - A - Auto Body Mechanic
Exper. & Educ.: you must have: four years of full-time satisfactory experience at the mechanic (journeyman) level performing collision work, body and fender work and automotive welding on passenger automobiles, trucks or buses, or air frame repair; OR 2. three years of full-time satisfactory experience at the mechanic (journeyman) level as described in "1" above, PLUS completion of a major sequence of courses in auto body or auto mechanics, or a closely related field in an approved trade or technical school, vocational high school or community college. Driver License Requirement: At the time of appointment, you must possess either: 1. a Class B Commercial Driver License valid in the State of New York with a passenger endorsement and no restrictions, OR 2. a motor vehicle driver license valid in the State of New York and a Learner's Permit for a Class B Commercial Driver License valid in the State of New York with a passenger endorsement and no restrictions.
For whatever it's worth, it pays $48,600/yr.
And here are the two Civil Servant exams currently open:
Track Worker - ~$34k/yr starting. No education or experience needed. No health or pension benefits mentioned.
Signal Maintainer - ~$51k/yr starting. Health, vacation, pension mentioned. Four years experience or three years + education needed.
Karen, the truly dire situation at Delphi Corp. is not the same as it is for the NYC transit workers. The average salary for the unskilled token booth clerks, driver, subway cleaners, and so on is $47,000-55,000 and their benefits are way above what most New Yorkers get (retirement at 55 with full pension, no pay-in for health care, etc.)
No one is asking the current workers to take a pay cut of 60% like they are at Delphi. In fact, the transit union was asking for a 24% pay increase over 3 years (8% per yr.) And the proposed change to a retirement age of 62 would apply only to new hires.
The really sad part about this strike is that it will impact most harshly on the poorest people in NYC who live in the boroughs outside of Manhattan and who are solely dependent on public transportation.
The subways and buses in NYC are more dirty, unreliable and expensive than any in the nation. The MTA is corrupt and seemingly unaccountable. Transit Union 100 is greedy and unwilling to negotiate in good faith. The whole system is seriously flawed and needs to be revamped.
I took the PATH train out of the WTC station around 4:30 or so, and got out at 33rd at a little past 5. Then just walked home to the UWS from there. Since the entrance closest to Penn was shut down, we got out on 6th Ave., just south of Herald Square, so I didn't get to experience any of the mass chaos.
If your boss has unfarily given you a hard time because you were late or absent as a strike, visit the above website.
i'm tired and want to sleep in my own bed tonight. is that forest hills shuttle a bus or lirr? bloomberg's statement is unclear and the nyc contingency website strangely needs some updating. but based on my interpretation of newspaper articles, the contingency website, and bloomberg's statements, i think the shuttle refers to the lirr shuttle. if i'm wrong, can anyone in the know please refer me to the correct site or post the correct info? thanks.
They should stay on strike until the fines are lifted. Oh and about their raise demands, it's paltry compared to the 22% raise MTA execs gave themselves last year, take a look: http://www.boughtthought.com/htts.htm.
If you're stuck outside, NJ Transit has some info on getting into Penn Station:
http://www.njtransit.com/sa_notice.jsp?ID=1801
the brooklyn bridge traffic camera on nyc.gov really says it all about today's strike...the scroogy MTA, transit workers nowhere to be found, cops & cabbies cashing in and the average joe gets a holiday metro card & a nice frozen ass...
"Hope karma gets you" is a fascist dork.
I'M IN ATLANTA, can anyone tell me what different things they went through today as a result of the strike?
I think the NYPD should go on strike and have the 7 million angry people kill Roger Toussaint and feed him to the homeless community living in the tunnels.
The MTA is disgusting. I'm surprised people are too ignorant to realize that, if transit workers are unskilled, the MTA executives are mongoloids.
And as for those clamoring for a union-free environment of competition...I doubt any company in the city is completely devoid of croneyism and back-scratching, so why don't we just fire everyone and burn it all down?
You know what kills me? How people begrudge a union advocating for its workers because their own employers are being exploitative and inflexible during the strike. You may not agree with the terms the TWU seeks but, historically, labor solidarity is the only way working-class people have had any leverage.
As for the listing for CUNY professors - precisely the reason I left academia, bit the bullet, and went to law school. High prestige/zero money jobs are all-too-common in this city. People in the position to seek an academic job, however, have many, many options open to them that a semi-skilled person with a high school education doesn't have. Those options may not all be fascinating or fulfilling, but they're out there.
It enrages me that while other municipal unions such as the UFT are willing to work without a contract until a settlement can be reached, the TWU is not. Negotiation is a matter of give and take, and if the TWU members don't like their job, they are free to leave it. Driving a NYC bus does pay better and earn better benefits tham most jobs which require a CDL. If anyone in the private sector earning similar incomes were offered the same kind of benefit packages as TWU employees, they would grab it in a NY minute!!! IMO, all of the TWU members should be terminated immediately and subject to immediate replacement. Furthermore, all TWU workers who do not choose to cross the picket line should also be jailed. While it may take time for management to train replacements, the PATCO example is proof that it can be done even for the most skilled jobs.
ALL MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES ARE FULLY AWARE THAT THEY MAY NOT TAKE INDUSTRIAL ACTIOM AGAINST THE STATE!!! IT'S NOT LIKE THEY DON'T KNOW THE RULES!!!
The TWU is stuck in the 1950's. If their main argument for higher wages is that they "can't raise a family on only 55k" there are very few single wage households in NY anymore. The ideal of daddy working for the city while mommy raises junior and little Sally are long gone. So are the days of retiring at 55, a full pension, and only paying 1% of their healthcare costs. The majority of us pay closer to 50%. The TWU needs to get with the program and stop trying to bankrupt the MTA and commuters so they can live the good life in Florida for 40 years after retirement.
You know what kills me, Samantha T? You and your willingness to become the 'leverage' that the TWU has. These are state funded agencies which means you pay for it, not the MTA. These 'explotive employers' are government agencies, not private sectors.I would have been more opened to their grievances if the union was also 'advocating' for the public's interest. But my experience for the past two days persuaded me otherwise. I'm not for the MTA, but neither am I for the TWU's complete disregard for the livelihood of others.
To see what comprobable jobs to MTA workers pay, most without benefits, go here: Keep in mind that these are also jobs in the New York Metropolitan area, so the cost of living for these people is the same as that of the MTA workers.
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_5600.htm#b37-0000