Gothamist: Transit Union's Jail Sentence and Fine for Strike

hells yes

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:14:32 -0500

"walk from Elmhurst to Midtown" - right on with that comment! since summer is coming, maybe we can just make him sit on the b/d platform at the 34th street station for a few hours. the heat down there during summer should approximate how uncomfortable it was for me to walk in the from the staten island ferry to midtown.

Tim N.

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:13:58 -0500

I'd imagine having to walk from Elmhurst to Midtown and back for three days straight in a bitter cold wind would have been a better sentence, but what the hell...

Jay

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:36:22 -0500

A typical Democrat Spitzer makes; he claims to represent the people of the state of New York when he represses union strikes? Workers are workers, government or private. So score another trick point for the Democrats who reiterate the so-called 'socialistic' values while adhering to uber-capitalist policies. It's time to scrap the Taylor law altogether. As the recent AFL-CIO "boxed in" pradigm suggests, the workers who do the jobs that many of us simply won't do are more and more inclined to 'break out of the box' as the only means to stop the malaise in the ever-growing divide of income distribution. For a better background information on Mr. Touissant, which obviously the news press won't cover, the link is: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/revson/dinner/speakers03-04/speakerProfile/toussaint.htm

MN

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 12:06:14 -0500

Is this the end of the story ? This is all TWU got? I can't believe this is allowed to happen. The law clearly defines the punishment ($50k/day for Roger, $1M/day for TWU) but judge decided not to enforce the law. Crime does pay after all. At least in this city. Besides, TWU workers are now ordered to pay Roger's $1k fine. This is an open invitation to a new transit strike.

pugsley

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:22:05 -0500

I imagine a ten day sentence is exactly what Roger was hoping for. Long enough for him to use as a soapbox, yet short enough as to not be inconvenient. The Taylow law would work fine if it was actually used, but it hasn't been enforced. If the whole mess had been sent to an arbiter last december all of this drama would have been avoided and the transit workers would have a reasonably fair contract. This outcome is what Roger wanted all along. He has other axes to grind than just the interests of transit workers.

glennardo

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 10:51:27 -0500

The Taylor law is just another way to create extremely ineffective labor unions. The TWU is the only union that at least tries anymore and they set the contract pattern for the rest of the city employees. And then we wonder why teachers, police and firefighters can't afford to live in the city anymore?

Tom

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 10:04:45 -0500

Why wasn't ge given the $50,000 fine per day as required by the law? What about TWU fines (1 million per day)??