New York Metropolitan Transit Authority no longer on strike! Pg.6 - Page 3

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Posted: 12/21/2005 5:04:18 AM EDT

[#1]

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Goes to show you when you combine two piss-poor ideas (public mass transportation & unions) you have an impending disaster.

What's wrong with public mass transit? The city flat out doesn't work without it. Would you prefer it be privatized? They tried that, the NYC currently public subway is actually a combination of three separate formerly "competing" private rail systems, which resulted in idiocy like incompatible railcar/tunnel size specifications and electrical supply, and piss poor connections between the lines in some areas, which make getting between seemingly close locations in the city an exercise in frustration. Some things are a natural monopoly.
I disagree, if a private company ran it, there wouldn't be the type of problems you see right now.

Three private companies used to run it, and screwed the pooch.

Given the overwhelming level of government regulation involved, it was practically run by the government even though they tried hard to make it look like it was privatized. Remove all government regulation and watch the transit system flourish.

Posted: 12/21/2005 5:26:00 AM EDT

[#2]

Where's Hitlery during all this? I'm sure she could fix it...............

Posted: 12/21/2005 5:28:49 AM EDT

[#3]

I don't care. I live in OK and NY hates us fly over states anyway.

I'm glad I'm not visiting right now.

Posted: 12/21/2005 5:46:54 AM EDT

[#4]

The simple solution is for management to fire the transit workers and hire replacements.

Posted: 12/21/2005 5:49:04 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Never understood why/how they could justify SHUTTING DOWN a department of what, 50k people, all told, from drivers/operators to cleaning staff, preventing some 10+ million people from getting around, over some minor bullshit quabble...

Because they are not slaves or soldiers. Free men can decide whether or not they feel like going to work on any given day.

Posted: 12/21/2005 5:51:58 AM EDT

[#6]

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As I understand it they are legally prohibited from striking...

Can someone explain to me how a civilian can be "legally prohibited" from not going to work?

I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the concept of free men being forced to work at the threat of fines or jail.

Posted: 12/21/2005 5:56:28 AM EDT

[#7]

Fire the transit workers...

Posted: 12/21/2005 5:57:40 AM EDT

[#8]

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As I understand it they are legally prohibited from striking...

Can someone explain to me how a civilian can be "legally prohibited" from not going to work?

I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the concept of free men being forced to work at the threat of fines or jail.

\

Because they are public workers and it is in their contract.

Wrap your head around that.

If they don't like it they are "free" to find work elsewhere.

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:06:44 AM EDT

[#9]

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As I understand it they are legally prohibited from striking...

Can someone explain to me how a civilian can be "legally prohibited" from not going to work?

I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the concept of free men being forced to work at the threat of fines or jail.
\

Because they are public workers and it is in their contract.

Wrap your head around that.

If they don't like it they are "free" to find work elsewhere.

No, if they were "free" to find works elsewhere they employer would simply fire them instead of using the courts to criminalize the simple act of not showing up for work.

Have you ever told an employer that you could not continue to work for them unless they gave you a raise or some other job improvement? Thats the same thing these guys are doing.

Should you be fined 1 million next time you tell the boss "I need a raise or I cant work here anymore."

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:10:33 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Can someone explain to me how a civilian can be "legally prohibited" from not going to work?

I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the concept of free men being forced to work at the threat of fines or jail.

They aren't required to work. They are required to not strike. If they don't want to work, they can quit their jobs, but they are not allowed to strike. They aren't allowed because they agreed to that when they were hired. They signed a piece of paper that says, "I agree to not strike. If I do, damnation and a bigass fine be upon me." They striked, so they get a bigass fine.

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:14:53 AM EDT

[#11]

That judge napolitano or whatever his name is was on Fox Friends this morning and 'splained it.

The union is prohibited from striking (its a criminal offense) and he said all those people could be charged with the criminal offense (I forget what it was).

They were asking for people to email them and tell them their thoughts on the situation and the comments that all the people striking should be fired.

I remember when UPS was on strike...I wish they had fired everyone of them.

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:15:55 AM EDT

[#12]

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They signed a piece of paper that says, "I agree to not strike. If I do, damnation and a bigass fine be upon me."

So each employee signed a contract agreing to civil penalties for not showing up for work? Are you sure about that? I'm a public employee and in a union and have never sign such a document. Plus they are talking about criminal penalties on the news, not civil penalties.

Who decides if its a strike versus just a larger than normal number of guys deciding to take the day off? Shouldnt the employers response to unplanned days off simply be firing the employee for not performing? Why do the courts have to be involved in the process at all?

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:17:22 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
That judge napolitano or whatever his name is was on Fox Friends this morning and 'splained it.

The union is prohibited from striking (its a criminal offense)

Criminal, not civil. Criminal like when a soldier goes AWOL or a slave ran off. How can it be a crime for an employee to decide not to go to work today?

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:20:05 AM EDT

[#14]

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That judge napolitano or whatever his name is was on Fox Friends this morning and 'splained it.

The union is prohibited from striking (its a criminal offense)

Criminal, not civil. Criminal like when a soldier goes AWOL or a slave ran off. How can it be a crime for an employee to decide not to go to work today?

BECAUSE HE IS TAKING PART IN STRIKE. HE WAS ORDERED NOT TO DO SO BY A COURT. Now they are in contempt.

Pretty simple really.

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:25:18 AM EDT

[#15]

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That judge napolitano or whatever his name is was on Fox Friends this morning and 'splained it.

The union is prohibited from striking (its a criminal offense)

Criminal, not civil. Criminal like when a soldier goes AWOL or a slave ran off. How can it be a crime for an employee to decide not to go to work today?

BECAUSE HE IS TAKING PART IN STRIKE. HE WAS ORDERED NOT TO DO SO BY A COURT. Now they are in contempt.

Pretty simple really.

So the Criminal courts should have the right to force you, with the implied threat of jail, to go to work?

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:43:14 AM EDT

[#16]

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That judge napolitano or whatever his name is was on Fox Friends this morning and 'splained it.

The union is prohibited from striking (its a criminal offense)

Criminal, not civil. Criminal like when a soldier goes AWOL or a slave ran off. How can it be a crime for an employee to decide not to go to work today?

BECAUSE HE IS TAKING PART IN STRIKE. HE WAS ORDERED NOT TO DO SO BY A COURT. Now they are in contempt.

Pretty simple really.

So the Criminal courts should have the right to force you, with the implied threat of jail, to go to work?

In violation of a court order, the transit workers are placing the general public at risk (it is Winter in NYC ya know, and hypothermia & heart attacks kill just as dead as lead - wonder how many commuters will die thanks to the selfish lot holding the city hostage)

Could make a pretty good argument that what the TWU is doing amounts to terrorism, and charge them accordingly.

Posted: 12/21/2005 6:58:47 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:

So the Criminal courts should have the right to force you, with the implied threat of jail, to go to work?

If you're gonna take the State's Shilling, and sign a contract saying you won't strike, then yeah.

Posted: 12/21/2005 7:23:28 AM EDT

[#18]

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That judge napolitano or whatever his name is was on Fox Friends this morning and 'splained it.

The union is prohibited from striking (its a criminal offense)

Criminal, not civil. Criminal like when a soldier goes AWOL or a slave ran off. How can it be a crime for an employee to decide not to go to work today?

BECAUSE HE IS TAKING PART IN STRIKE. HE WAS ORDERED NOT TO DO SO BY A COURT. Now they are in contempt.

Pretty simple really.

So the Criminal courts should have the right to force you, with the implied threat of jail, to go to work?

When the act you plan to commit is in violation of state law. You are then told that it is and ordered not to do so by the court in which you argued your case. You then proceeed to do exactly what that court ordered you not to do in clear contempt of the order....? damn skippy they get to force you. Where is this threat of jail anyway? I see fines not prison time.

In AR15fan land, what other court orders do I get to ignore with impunity? Maybe we could start a list.

Posted: 12/21/2005 7:37:49 AM EDT

[#19]

NYC better pray that a major Snow storm doesn't hit during the strike.
Can you say "paralyzed"?

Posted: 12/21/2005 8:14:17 AM EDT

[#20]

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NYC better pray that a major Snow storm doesn't hit during the strike.
Can you say "paralyzed"?

Next chance of precipitation is Christmas Day...and it's forcast to be rain.

Posted: 12/21/2005 8:17:46 AM EDT

[#21]

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what nuts to me is how much of a raise they want about 8 % per year for 3 years, if that was me it would mean a rasie of 16 thousand over 3 years, thats a real nice chunk of change. nothing like raises that are more than what some body at McDs make a year.

8%

EIGHT PERCENT?

Heck, the ARMY only gets 3%, and that's 'slightly above' the national average...

The strike has allready been declared illegal, and there's a court ordered million-plus fine per day imposed... Fuck 'em, fire 'em, replace 'em...

Posted: 12/21/2005 8:30:46 AM EDT

[#22]

Also...

THIS MAKES ME VERY GLAD TO LIVE IN A CITY WITH LITTLE TO NO MASS TRANSIT....

There's no such thing as a car strike....

Shows what happens when you rely on someone else to get you places....

And just think, the libbies want EVERY city to be just like NY...

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:08:02 AM EDT

[#23]

A lot of the older fellaz in my church work for the TA. The majority of them don't want to strike but said they'd get fucked up by the unions for crossing the line...

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:27:53 AM EDT

[#24]

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Because they are not slaves or soldiers. Free men can decide whether or not they feel like going to work on any given day.

Yeah, but where I come from that's called "quitting".

Don't want to work there? Fine. But don't be suprised when someone else takes your job.

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:33:29 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:
A lot of the older fellaz in my church work for the TA. The majority of them don't want to strike but said they'd get fucked up by the unions for crossing the line...

They elected their union leadership.

Doubt if they will get much sympathy from the millions who have to put up with their (or their leaders') tantrum, especially timed right at Christmas.

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:34:34 AM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Also...

THIS MAKES ME VERY GLAD TO LIVE IN A CITY WITH LITTLE TO NO MASS TRANSIT....

There's no such thing as a car strike....

Shows what happens when you rely on someone else to get you places....

And just think, the libbies want EVERY city to be just like NY...

One of the things i love about living here is mass transit. I grew up in Houston and i love being able to walk 5 minutes to a train station and go where ever I want for less than $2 each way 24 hours a day. Everytime I go home to visit I notice how much fatter the people are from never walking anywhere

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:38:32 AM EDT

[#27]

I have freight to pick up in NYC, and NONE of my freight carriers are going in! All their websites say "NYC Embargoed", wonder if I can sue MTA because of loss of revenue if my customers cancel orders?

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:41:03 AM EDT

[#28]

Oh come on now ar15fan, you know if the judges tells you to “go arrest those criminals” you will be on it like flies to honey, probably give em a good tasering too if they dis ya!

Just kidding AR15, I couldn’t resist it.

Rich V

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:41:37 AM EDT

[#29]

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I have freight to pick up in NYC, and NONE of my freight carriers are going in! All their websites say "NYC Embargoed", wonder if I can sue MTA because of loss of revenue if my customers cancel orders?

I don't know about freight but all my carriers are working fine in Manhattan. Got a few hundred pounds of computer hardware delivered yesterday and expecting another batch today.

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:43:13 AM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
I have freight to pick up in NYC, and NONE of my freight carriers are going in! All their websites say "NYC Embargoed", wonder if I can sue MTA because of loss of revenue if my customers cancel orders?

The only time vehicles cant go into the city with less than 4 people is between 5am and 11am

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:56:13 AM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
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That judge napolitano or whatever his name is was on Fox Friends this morning and 'splained it.

The union is prohibited from striking (its a criminal offense)

Criminal, not civil. Criminal like when a soldier goes AWOL or a slave ran off. How can it be a crime for an employee to decide not to go to work today?

BECAUSE HE IS TAKING PART IN STRIKE. HE WAS ORDERED NOT TO DO SO BY A COURT. Now they are in contempt.

Pretty simple really.

So the Criminal courts should have the right to force you, with the implied threat of jail, to go to work?

AR15fan,

I know you're smarter than you're making yourself look right now.

It is not against the law to quit your job. It is not against the law to call in sick. It is not against teh law to take vacation that you have accrued.

This is not, however, about individual action. It is about organized labor. These civil employees are, in mass, shutting down a city's mass transit system. They are, as a group, holding a city hostage. There are laws about holding a significant population hostage like this.

These transit workers are involved in organized thuggery. Specifically, it's extortion.

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:56:32 AM EDT

[#32]

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I have freight to pick up in NYC, and NONE of my freight carriers are going in! All their websites say "NYC Embargoed", wonder if I can sue MTA because of loss of revenue if my customers cancel orders?

The only time vehicles cant go into the city with less than 4 people is between 5am and 11am

I'm not talking vehicles, I'm talking tractor-trailers, none of my carriers will take any freight from NYC area zipcodes!

Posted: 12/21/2005 11:01:28 AM EDT

[#33]

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I have freight to pick up in NYC, and NONE of my freight carriers are going in! All their websites say "NYC Embargoed", wonder if I can sue MTA because of loss of revenue if my customers cancel orders?

The only time vehicles cant go into the city with less than 4 people is between 5am and 11am
I'm not talking vehicles, I'm talking tractor-trailers, none of my carriers will take any freight from NYC area zipcodes!

Then it must be a carrier specific thing. Big rigs can enter Manhattan between 11am and 5am. Are they taking loads to zipcodes outside of Manhattan?

Posted: 12/21/2005 11:04:43 AM EDT

[#34]

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I have freight to pick up in NYC, and NONE of my freight carriers are going in! All their websites say "NYC Embargoed", wonder if I can sue MTA because of loss of revenue if my customers cancel orders?

The only time vehicles cant go into the city with less than 4 people is between 5am and 11am
I'm not talking vehicles, I'm talking tractor-trailers, none of my carriers will take any freight from NYC area zipcodes!

Then it must be a carrier specific thing. Big rigs can enter Manhattan between 11am and 5am. Are they taking loads to zipcodes outside of Manhattan?

All 100 series zipcodes are embargoed for the time being, with the caveat that they may extend the range depending...This is from my main freight carriers. It seems to be a carrier specific thing, but I can't negotiate with freight companies when I need things picked up now, so another carrier won't do me any good!

Posted: 12/21/2005 2:00:04 PM EDT

[#35]

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They signed a piece of paper that says, "I agree to not strike. If I do, damnation and a bigass fine be upon me."

So each employee signed a contract agreing to civil penalties for not showing up for work? Are you sure about that? I'm a public employee and in a union and have never sign such a document. Plus they are talking about criminal penalties on the news, not civil penalties.

Who decides if its a strike versus just a larger than normal number of guys deciding to take the day off? Shouldnt the employers response to unplanned days off simply be firing the employee for not performing? Why do the courts have to be involved in the process at all?

No individuals probably did not sign, and they also do have the right to quit and stand outside in protest, the union does not. The union negotiated and was a signatory to the contract. If the union leaders, whom were specifically ordered by the court to not call a strike, had stood up yesterday and said we have no connection to this action and did not offer strike pay or any benifits to the striking workers and asked them to go back to work, they wouldn't be in trouble.

Instead, the union leaders came out and stated they called the strike, they are paying strike pay, and providing other benefits to the striking workers, and thus are in direct contempt of court. They can be arrested.

Its no different than when a court orders you out of your house and forcloses. If you refuse to vacate, eventually the sheriff comes and arrests you. Not for breach of contract or failure to pay your mortgage, but for contempt of court in failing to follow the court order to vacate the property.

Posted: 12/21/2005 2:07:00 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
A lot of the older fellaz in my church work for the TA. The majority of them don't want to strike but said they'd get fucked up by the unions for crossing the line...

0612...you're not with 6th Comm over in Floyd Bennett Field, are you?

Posted: 12/21/2005 3:07:04 PM EDT

[#37]

Hopefully this will last long enough to burst some of that NYC housing bubble...

Posted: 12/21/2005 7:17:53 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
NYC better pray that a major Snow storm doesn't hit during the strike.
Can you say "paralyzed"?

Fortunately there are now several cases of mountain house in the basement.

Posted: 12/21/2005 7:19:22 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I have freight to pick up in NYC, and NONE of my freight carriers are going in! All their websites say "NYC Embargoed", wonder if I can sue MTA because of loss of revenue if my customers cancel orders?

The only time vehicles cant go into the city with less than 4 people is between 5am and 11am

We're still waiting for DHL to come pick something up that we scheduled on Tuesday.

Posted: 12/21/2005 8:05:07 PM EDT

[#40]

Here's a fun note: I went to top off my gas tank this evening, and as I hand the guy in the booth my money, he says that all they have left is premium gas. That's fine with me, since my car needs it. I tank up, and as I'm getting my change I ask him if he's been busy. He gives me the most beat-up, defeated look I've ever seen, and says that he's on a 16 hour shift, and he called the company that delivers the gas, and they told him that everyone they deliver to is out of everything except premium, and they don't know when they'll be able to deliver more.

Posted: 12/21/2005 10:57:13 PM EDT

[#41]

This crap is ghey.

I was talking to my friend in Queens right now, and while I love her to death, she's so friggin' liberal about it... she tells me, "I wish it would end. I don't see why they can't just give them what they want and get it overwith." It's like, wtf? That's how children get spoiled! They throw tantrums and you cave.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't unions designed to protect a certain group from discrimination or any other deprivation of basic worker's rights? Not meaning you're automatically entitled to bitch and moan and fuck up your entire city?

Posted: 12/22/2005 12:58:52 AM EDT

[#42]

Day 3 of the strike. Yay! 4 more hours of O/T (8 hours total so far in the "Wave's gonna get a new firearm out of this mess" fund)!!!

NYC Faces 3rd Day Without Subways, Buses

Dec 22, 4:36 AM (ET)

By DAVID B. CARUSO

NEW YORK (AP) - As New Yorkers faced day three of a commute without subways and buses, union leaders faced a court date to explain why they shouldn't be held in criminal contempt for halting the city's mass transit system.

As legal and financial pressures mounted on the union, State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones ordered Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and his deputies to appear in court Thursday, warning jail time was a "distinct possibility."

Meanwhile, Toussaint signaled that the union may resume negotiations and possibly go back to work without a contract if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took its current pension proposal off the table.

"Were it not for the pension piece, we would not be out on strike," Toussaint told New York-based all-news channel NY1. "All it needs to do is take its pension proposal off the table."

The contract covering 33,000 New York transit workers expired last week, and the union called the strike Tuesday morning despite a state law banning public employee strikes.

With state-supervised mediation talks under way Wednesday, millions of New Yorkers braved another frigid commute, streaming into commuter rail hubs, hiking over bridges and pouring into cars and cabs. Some tried to hitch a ride.

"Going downtown?" was the mantra of the moment on Broadway at West 96th Street as vehicles inched through thick traffic just after the crack of dawn.

"Rain, sleet, snow or strike, we'll get to work," vowed Paul Jensen, the office manager at the Weber Shandwick public relations firm in midtown.

The judge has already imposed a $1 million-per-day fine on the union for defying a court order barring the strike - a punishment that would not take effect until appeals are complete.

But in an effort to put more pressure on the union, city lawyers asked the judge to issue another order directing union members to return to work. If the order was ignored, the city could ask for fines beyond the docked-pay penalties already faced by striking workers, said Michael A. Cardozo, New York City's corporation counsel.

The fines could range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, and would come out of the workers' own pockets, rather than union coffers.

In preparation for such an action, the city was making plans to serve legal papers on striking workers whenever they might be found, including picket lines and at their homes.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg continued to blast the union, saying the strike "needs to end, and it needs to end right now." He questioned how union leaders could claim the walkout would benefit the city's working class when the strike is causing economic harm to New York.

A chief sticking point for the union has been the pension proposal to raise contributions to the pension plan for new workers from 2 percent to 6 percent. The union contends it is woefully inadequate and would be impossible to accept.

The judge said he was hopeful there would be a breakthrough in mediation talks overnight. Union lawyer Arthur Schwartz warned that hauling Toussaint into court would halt the talks and could make a settlement more difficult.

Bloomberg, who isn't directly involved in the strike talks, said he didn't think putting union leaders in jail was appropriate.

"The fines are what is going to hurt," he said. "Fines don't make you a martyr and fines you don't get back."

A crowd moves along 33rd Street in front of Pennsylvania Station as commuters move through lines for the Long Island Railroad during the second day of a city wide transit strike against subways and buses Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005 in New York. The railroad, which usually services suburbs of Long Island, is now making local stops in parts of the city's outer boroughs. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

New Yorkers stand shoulder-to-shoulder on a packed Long Island Rail Road train bound for Jamaica, Queens before it pulled out of New York's Penn Station on the second day of the city's illegal transit workers' strike during rush hour, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005. With bus and subway service shut down, New Yorkers flooded commuter train lines normally used by workers in Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

A Long Island Railroad employee tells commuters which entrance to enter Penn Station Wednesday night Dec. 21, 2005. A judge Wednesday ordered leaders of New York's striking transit union brought before him and threatened to jail them for criminal contempt as millions of commuters trudged through Day 2 of the bus and subway walkout. (AP Photo/ Shahrzad Elghanayan)

Posted: 12/22/2005 4:43:18 AM EDT

[#43]

NYC Faces 3rd Day Without Subways, Buses
A chief sticking point for the union has been the pension proposal to raise contributions to the pension plan for new workers from 2 percent to 6 percent. The union contends it is woefully inadequate and would be impossible to accept.

Hey I'm already paying 6% into my pension plan...I want a pension for almost free so I think I should strike too. I hope the court does start fining the workers as well...what a bunch of lazy assed, whining, freeloaders.

Posted: 12/22/2005 5:47:37 AM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:
Day 3 of the strike. Yay! 4 more hours of O/T (8 hours total so far in the "Wave's gonna get a new firearm out of this mess" fund)!!!

Hey, at least some good is coming out of this!

Mike

Posted: 12/22/2005 8:25:44 AM EDT

[#45]

Stike will end!

I'll withhold celebration until I see how much the city caves.

Posted: 12/22/2005 9:28:56 AM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:
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That judge napolitano or whatever his name is was on Fox Friends this morning and 'splained it.

The union is prohibited from striking (its a criminal offense)

Criminal, not civil. Criminal like when a soldier goes AWOL or a slave ran off. How can it be a crime for an employee to decide not to go to work today?

BECAUSE HE IS TAKING PART IN STRIKE. HE WAS ORDERED NOT TO DO SO BY A COURT. Now they are in contempt.

Pretty simple really.

So the Criminal courts should have the right to force you, with the implied threat of jail, to go to work?

AR15fan,

I know you're smarter than you're making yourself look right now.

It is not against the law to quit your job. It is not against the law to call in sick. It is not against teh law to take vacation that you have accrued.

This is not, however, about individual action. It is about organized labor. These civil employees are, in mass, shutting down a city's mass transit system. They are, as a group, holding a city hostage. There are laws about holding a significant population hostage like this.

These transit workers are involved in organized thuggery. Specifically, it's extortion.

Seriously, the judge I watched on Fox was saying that this was akin to organized crime...just as the mafia does...

I guess if he is a judge, he should know better than me....you can't just give in...personally I think they should fire everyone and give them a criminal record....or they can quit their job without reversion rights.

Posted: 12/22/2005 8:54:18 PM EDT

[#47]

Crap. Home Early. No overtime tonight...only 8 hours total. This sucks.

Posted: 12/22/2005 9:04:47 PM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:
Crap. Home Early. No overtime tonight...only 8 hours total. This sucks.

That's it? No Nifty News??

Posted: 12/22/2005 9:10:44 PM EDT

[#49]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Crap. Home Early. No overtime tonight...only 8 hours total. This sucks.

That's it? No Nifty News??

No more O/T what else is there to report?

New York's 3-Day Transit Strike Ends

Dec 23, 12:24 AM (ET)

By DEEPTI HAJELA

NEW YORK (AP) - The city's subways rumbled to life just after midnight Friday, ended a crippling, three-day strike that brought nation's largest public transportation system to a standstill.

Faced with mounting fines and the rising wrath of millions of commuters, the city transit union on Thursday sent its members back to work without a new contract.

Buses started rolling shortly before 11 p.m. in Manhattan and at least one subway station opened offering free rides.

"I'm ecstatic that it's over, but I'm still really mad that they did it," said Jessica Cunningham, 21, who was in town for the holiday. "I really think it's screwed up that they decided to strike the week before Christmas."

The breakthrough came after an all-night session with a mediator. Around midday, leaders of the 33,000-member Transport Workers Union overwhelmingly voted to return to work and resume negotiations with the transit authority on a new three-year contract.

"We thank our riders for their patience and forbearance," said union local president Roger Toussaint.

While the deal put transit system back in operation, it did not resolve the underlying dispute - pension contributions were the main sticking point - meaning there could be another walkout if the negotiations fail.

The strike cost the city untold millions in police overtime and lost business and productivity at the very height of the Christmas rush and forced millions of commuters, holiday shoppers and tourists to carpool, take taxis, ride bicycles or trudge through the freezing cold. But the strike did not cause the utter chaos that many had feared, and traffic in many parts of town was surprisingly light.

"In the end, cooler heads prevailed," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "We passed the test with flying colors. We did what we had to do to keep the city running, and running safely."

The walkout, which began early Tuesday, was New York's first citywide transit strike in more than 25 years. The workers left their jobs in violation of a state law prohibiting public employees from striking.

The return to work was announced just minutes before Toussaint and two of his top deputies were due in a Brooklyn courtroom to answer criminal contempt charges that could have landed them in jail.

Earlier this week, state Justice Theodore Jones fined the union $1 million a day for striking. And under the state no-strike law, the rank-and-file members were automatically docked two days' pay for each day they stayed off the job.

"I'm ready to work the rush hour this afternoon if they let me," bus driver Ralph Torres said from the picket line as the breakthrough was announced.

The strike left bitter feelings across the city.

"I think it was all for nothing," said commuter Lauren Caramico, 22, of Brooklyn. "Now the poor people of the TWU are out six days' pay, and nothing gained."

Gov. George Pataki warned there was no possibility of amnesty for the striking workers who were penalized financially. The fines "cannot be waived. They're not going to be waived," he said.

Just before the deal was announced, an off-duty firefighter was critically injured when he was struck by a private bus while riding his bicycle to work. It was the first serious strike-related injury.

A chief sticking point in the talks was a Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposal to require new hires to contribute 6 percent to their pensions, up from the current 2 percent for all employees. The pension proposal remained on the table despite the end of the walkout.

The vote to return to work was blasted by TWU dissidents who felt the union had caved in.

"This was a disgrace," said TWU vice president John Mooney. "No details were provided to the executive board. (Toussaint) wants us to discuss the details after Christmas."

After workers returned to the job, the judge overseeing the dispute adjourned all further action in the case until Jan. 20.

"I'm pleased on behalf of the people of the city of New York," Jones said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to salvage Christmas."

Transit workers returning to the job try to find an open gate at the 34th Street Penn Station subway stop, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2005, in New York. Transit workers returned to work after union leaders agreed to go back to the negotiating table. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Commuters walk through Grand Central Terminal Thursday, Dec. 22, 2005, in New York. The strike ended Thursday when union leaders voted to send their 33,000 members back to work without a new contract. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)

A commuter peeks past the open gate at the Union Square Subway subway station to see if it is open Thursday, Dec. 22, 2005 in New York. The strike ended Thursday when union leaders voted to send their 33,000 members back to work without a new contract. Most subways were expected to be running by the Friday morning rush, just two days before Christmas. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A MTA employee opens the padlocked gates to the Union Square Subway station so that she can prepare the station for passengers, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2005 in New York.

A New York City Police officer tells a commuter the Union Square Subway station is not open Thursday, Dec. 22, 2005 in New York.

Posted: 12/22/2005 9:14:19 PM EDT

[#50]

That would suck of the commuters decided to "strike" and nor use the Metro system for like a week.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - New York Metropolitan Transit Authority no longer on strike! Pg.6 (Page 3 of 4)

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