December 27, 2005
MTA and Transit Union Working On a Deal
The MTA and Transport Workers Union have an "agreement in principle" for a new contract. The TWU board will meet today with president Roger Toussaint to vote on the plan. Right now, it looks like the workers will get raises of 3%, 4%, and 4% for each year of a three-year contract, and while all workers would need to "contribute toward health insurance," the contract "would not change the existing pension plan or retirement age," according the Daily News' sources.
More stats. From the Post - right now, the union doesn't pay anything towards health care premiums, while the MTA's health care costs are about 12% annually. And from the Daily News, an illustration of what the raises will do: "Bus drivers, the largest job title, have a starting salary of about $35,000 a year and a top salary, not including overtime, of about $50,000. Including scheduled overtime, the base pay rises to about $58,500."
There does seem to be some dissension within the TWU, because some members feel like they aren't getting enough (though others are just relieved). Mayor Bloomberg's decision to use the word "thuggish" in his "stop illegally striking"-press conferences is still being criticized by the black community, and some historians think the Strike of 2005 will be forgettable.
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Can they at least make the Contract expire in the Spring??
The TWU is getting away with murder, if their pensions aren't on the table then pataki took us all for a ride on a delayed F train.
That crack whore Touissant should stop race baiting and act like a union leader instead of grandstanding.
next subway ride just spit on these criminals - they have a lot of nerve.
Toussaint isn't the pne race-baiting. That honor belongs to the mayor and to commenter Krackilow. "Crack whore?" come on, be reasonable.
The one thing you are saying with which i agree with wholeheartedly is that Pataki took us for a ride. The MTA could have easily prevented the strike from happening had Pataki been willing to avert it and force Kalikow to negotiate in good faith. Instead, the governor was off campaigning in New Hamshire.
Don't take this out on Toussaint, who was doing what union leaders should: fighting for the workers who elected him. The lion's sharre of the blame here belongs to the MTA.
>thug
One entry found for thug.
Main Entry: thug
Pronunciation: 'th&g
Function: noun
Etymology: Hindi thag, literally, thief
: a brutal ruffian or assassin
Why do you assume all crack whores to be of a minority; that's pretty racist in my book. The mayor, quite correctly labeled the illegal strikers as thugs because they were extorting the citizens of the city who have NO power to address the situation. Yes the MTA is a crooked commission, and the Governor and our beloved state legislators are to blame for their lack of action - but under no circumstances should TWU 100 be let off the hook for their crimes.
BTW - the crack whore reference to Toiussant wasn't intended to be racist; he's just addicted to his own ego and will say or do whatever he can to satisfy it. We here at Gothamist aren't racist, unless of course we're talking about chinks and sarah silverman.
Happy Kwanza.
I am sure that Mayor Bloomberg would have described the TWU as thugs and the strike as illegal regardless of the orgin of its head. Roger Toussant is Mike Quill, who was a thug and IRA terrorist.
Now Toussant had a bad case of Sharpton-itis - ie. he loves to be the centre of attention without caring who gets screwed in the process or little things like facts and a desire to do anything positive for his constituency, as if they get what they want he would loose power. Remember, Roger's illegal strike will cost around $1000 for the workers who struck.
about the 12% annually: the post says it's increasing by 12% annually. looking at the 04 annual report, the health and welfare costs are 710, which makes it 17% of the combined payroll plus health and welfare costs.
The workers voted for the strike. They went on strike knowing full well what they were getting into. It may be more comfortable for you to demonize Toussaint as some sort of demagogue, but the workers i spoke to on the picket lines knew full well what they were doing and why they were doing it. This isn't about Roger Toussaint or Mike Bloomberg, it's about the right to strike and about workers' ability to preserve and extend benefits to new members of unions and new sectors of the labor force in the face of pseudo-public corporate bureaucracies like the MTA which are trying to initiate needless cutbacks despite a billion dollar surplus. That's why this strike happened.
As for crack whores: The figure/trope of the crack whore is a deeply racialized one in American popular culture and was a central image in the late 80s rise of a certain iteration of the racialized discourse of criminality which republicans used with such great sucess during, for instance, the 1988 presidential election in the figure of Willie Horton. When people use the phrase "crack whore" in the way that you have, they are tapping into a lexicon of black criminality and wild sexuality which is deeply racist. Applied to Toussaint, it seems to evoke an intensification of the "Welfare Mother" trope which strikes me as profoundly racist.
The strike was illegal because the TWU has a near monopoly of an essential service. If they don't understand the moral difference between a strike in that situation and a strike otherwise, I suggest the Taylor law be amended to require a one-week cutoff of electricity, gas, water, and sewer service, and garbage pick-up to TWU members for each day of a strike.
To compare the pay, the average (mean) NYC worker GOT $67,000 in 2004 -- if the high-paid finance and headquarter sectors are excluded, the rest of us EARNED an average of $49,600. So I don't think the TWU members are overpaid for what they do by any means. They just get to work a lot less over a lifetime than the rest of us will be. So striking for 20/50 (and don't let them tell you otherwise) was obscene.
larry - thank you for reminding me what I left out of my original post; amend the Taylor law, yes, yes, yes. I was thinking more along the lines of 1week/day + $1000 as a pre-executed judgement against any union member. Along with their benefits administration package they must sign the execution of judgment in advance.
zach-you're a communist.
If only NYC Transit & the City of New York could secede from state control, then Bloomberg could have fired those greedy bastards. Have you seen the air of entitlement that these thugs surround themselves with?
krackilow - grow up. And while you're doing that, take your head out of your ass. And don't forget to wipe your face.
Larry, what that says to me is that "the rest of us" need strong unions, not that the TWU should be subject to greater degrees of privation to balance things out.
What struck me as "obscene" about this strike was the rhetoric of a multi-millionaire like Mike Bloomberg and a plutocrat's wet dream like George Pataki attacking striking workers for daring to defend their union against cutbacks in a time of plenty. The real thuggery in this mess came from Mike Bloomberg's bully pulpit.
(Larry, what that says to me is that "the rest of us" need strong unions)
That would make the TWU dollar go less far, as they would either pay more for things or pay higher taxes. Personally, I'd like to see national health care financing, but that would make everyone with health insurance today slightly worse off. How many care about the uninsured, or have the wisdom to realize they may be the uninsured tomorrow? And regardless, you can't have 12% more health care every year.
(not that the TWU should be subject to greater degrees of privation to balance things out.)
This was not about greater degrees of privateion. It was about:
1) another pension sweetener in the TWU demanded, to 20/50. There is no way everyone can be supported for one year by others for every year they work, period.
2) who gets stuck with the bill for past sweetener passed outside collective bargaining in 2000, along with Pataki's debt and inadequate employer pension contributions even before 2000.
My view: no 20/50, and TWU members should pay for the share of the pension hole caused by the 20/50 sweetener and rising longevity, but not the employer underfunding.
Time of plenty- Hah!
It is all about the pensions. They are going to crush us- remember this year is the year the boomers start to retire en mass.
And the fact is, if the MTA and City get the union split into two camps- new and old, they will have "won" in that a divided union is pretty much impotent.
The workers and their union are greedy and should be fined. The workers have great jobs, with great beneifits and simply want more of the same. I would do the same, and expect to pay the price if my tatics backfired.
The mayor and gov should have figured out a way to fire them all.
Anybody watching local government channels, such as channel 25, saw scroll across their screen during the strike:
...contigency plan for illegal strike ....
along with the news coverage that didn't discuss the strike as a historical right we have in America as workers to unionize and that it brought us great things such as maternity leave, child labor laws and the like was a detriment.
The question isn't why do "they" get pay raises when no-one else does, it is, why aren't the rest of America asking more from their employers?
A: everyone believes in a dog eat dog world that doesn't really exist. Not everyone can climb to the top of a corporate ladder, there are far fewer rungs at the top to hold us all. Meanwhile those at the top don't want the hierarchy to change so they try and succeed at pitting each one of us against each other.
What was done last week was "illegal" by definition of the law, but so was invading Iraq, and so is the goverments stealing of American taxes to put to use to their own pay raises, and their own republic-based system of a caretaker-gets-more-system.
Wake Up Morans! (sic)
hey nick - the definition of the law, IS THE LAW. BTW - the invasion of Iraq, although questionable was legal, and authorized by the UN as well. Strikes and unions are legal, but in the public interest a LAW was passed to protect the citiziens against renegade actions. One last thing; 'their republic based system', is yours too - conceived by the founding fathers, and in theory creates opportunity for all in some form or another.
Fox 5 being Fox, had a big full screen graphic with the words ILLEGAL TRANSIT STRIKE, with the word "ILLEGAL" in red.
An image of that an WNYE's crawl can be found here.
Thanks for the "ILLEGAL" links, couldn't find word about that. It is so interesting to me that they would post that on the scrawls. What does that accomplish?
Again more "red meat for the dopes".
Look: My point is the legality was a main focus of the coverage. Even when asking pedestrians about the strike, the reporters still asked passerby's, "what do you think about this damn union thing" (basically). There was little to no discourse about this strike, just the Mayor and Governor throwing their weight around, and well they should (it's their job), so is getting the 9-11 funds to NY, so is their job to reduce wasteful spending and to enforce the rights of the people (housing rights, ...).
But the power conceivably is in the people, if the people don't act then the caretakers act, if nobody questions authority then we all lose. What is lost is not our support of unions, but our support of the American tapestry / way of life, that we used to be proud of. It's now easier to put down one another than support local mom and pop stores (unless it's your own) etc.
Founding fathers knew that this was all doomed but in the same vein exist Americans who fight for their rights, fight for a better life, and few or large in number they are the real power, not your boss, not the big businesses. We have just slowly and more readily allowed them to "take care of us" so we don't have to.
fox was indeed pretty egregious. then again, all their title design is a crime.
This sentence really stuck out in the NY-1 article - "Meanwhile, the TWU is reportedly considering fining those members who crossed the picket line during the strike." The TWU execs thuggishly give the green light to witch hunting suspect transit workers who think it's a stupid idea to go on strike without realizing any increased gains. Also noticed in one of these articles that anti-free speech activist Norm Siegel is back to lecture the naughty population of new york about the proper use of the english language. He lost the Public Advocate election by a large margin last fall, but feels that he'll still take on the role.
hey I lost that election too; if I had won I'd have gone out to the picket lines and shot them all in the back - twice!