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Brooklyn Supreme Court's Justice Theodore Jones nailed the transit union with a huge $2.5 million fine yesterday, plus ordered the union to stop collecting dues, and the Transport Workers Union vowed to appeal the decision. The loss for the TWU
The Daily News puts the blame on Toussaint. And the TWU's revote of the transit contract should conclude today.
The NY Times front page on December 21, 2005
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2.5 million dollars is petty cash to the TWU despite their P.R. campaign to the contrary. The international TWU also helps Roger play the sympathy card by pretending that they are opposed to sending the local a check for the fines. Roger and Jackson are playing this out as if it were the 1980's before people had access to information via the internet and leaders could more easily spin things. If dues are automatically deducted from transit workers paychecks they have no recourse if they want to protest the actions of their leaders. Getting rid of dues checkoff is pro worker.
What the hell are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson doing there? More publicity stunt? Sharpton, Jackson and Toussant are the new Larry, Moe and Curly of 21st century.
i don't get it. they break the law. have an illegal strike. then they complain when they are legally fined for doing something illegal.
The Taylor Law is pretty bogus - denying a union the right to strike is worse than what Walmart does. Just because people might be inconvenienced and take a cab, walk or god forbid, ride a bike for a few days once a decade does not mean a union should not have the fundamental right to strike. It's a lot different than police and fire as "essential". Think about it.
What we really need to do is get rid of the MTA and put the mayor/city council in charge of it's city operations. I can't believe that the city has control over every other government service, but not the one that almost everybody uses on a daily basis. The MTA is anti-democratic and completely unresponsive to its customer's needs. And the TWU members could use a few lessons in customer service themselves.
"Taylor Law is pretty bogus"
I'll bet you thought your Mom was bogus too when she grounded you for 2 weeks for not doing your homework.
It may be bogus in your opinion but it's the law. You break the law, you pay for it.
Dear "I am the Law"
So you've never broken a law you don't agree with? Do you jaywalk? Have you ever smoked pot? People do it everyday in the city, but it's against the law.
Now let's step up to the political realm - the Civil rights era was founded on civil disobedience. So was Indian resistance to the British rule.
Unions also had to engage in many illegal strikes to just get the right to organize. It's a fundamental tenet of the labor movement - the right to organize and the right to strike if you don't have a contract (which had expired before the strike).
You can't force people to work at gun point, that's called slavery. I'm pretty sure that's illegal too.
So by your logic, glennardo, the Fire Department could go on strike tomorrow if they had no contract and let the city burn. The same for the Police Department. While the TWU may not perform a function that saves the city from literal destruction, it does perform a fundamental operation to the functioning of New York as a viable city. When you use that fact to hold a city hostage for unreasonable demands then you should be held criminally responsible. There's difference between these guys fighting for their right to fall asleep in their token booths or be taken care of until the day they die without having to contribute to their own upkeep and the girls in the Triangle factory who were forced to work in life threatening conditions just to make their bosses a few extra pennies per piece.
I said above (comment #4) that police and fire were different. Transportation is ALL about money, not immediate public health and safety.
Tell that to the people who can't go to hospitals or clinics for therapy or treatment because they can't afford taxi fare.
"So you've never broken a law you don't agree with? Do you jaywalk? Have you ever smoked pot?"
Of course. We all have. It's not that simple. When I break a law, it a) doesn't cost NYC millions b) does not inconvenience millions and c) is not a risk to public safety.
Big difference between smoking a joint and endangering an entire city.
as though the MTA's action(s) were not illegal or at least out of line. FINE THE INDIVIDUAL MTA LEADERS (Kalikow, et al - not the city!). they are the ones rippign off the city' residents and making commuting life more miserable than it should be