Court Fines NYC Transit Union $1M a Day

[shield772]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...nsit_strike_37

NEW YORK - Commuters trudged through the freezing cold, rode bicycles and shared cabs Tuesday as New York's bus and subway workers went on strike for the first time in more than 25 years and stranded millions of riders at the height of the Christmas rush. A judge slapped the union with a $1 million-a-day fine.

[Chris]

OUCH

good to see Unions dont really have negotiating power anymore.

I dont know the whole story but if workers are being denied benefits, and so they strike then the people they should be looking to for answers are both parties not just one.

Broker a deal or something. Geez!

[tinybear]

The Union broke the law. End of discussion.

[GodBlessAmerica]

Quote by: tinybear The Union broke the law. End of discussion.

A million a day for the Union as a fine is payable for a while by them.

Look after this is over for the courts to reverse these fines so they don't pay a nickle.

Bookmark my post and we'll follow up on this wild prediction of mine.

[Jimmy the Pro]

[quote=|Chris|
Broker a deal or something. Geez![/QUOTE]

I think they have been trying to broker a deal for quite some time now. Plus the one mil. fine per day should make negotiations a little bit quicker. should

[Matt W]

Hmm. Striking illegal? That's not so good. Yes, strikes cause disruption, but at the end of the day, the only way you can hurt a company is in its' wallet. Talking only gets you so far when people aren't willing to listen.

They chose a stupid time to strike though, it has to be said. And for that they deserve the fine.

[Samildanach]

Christmas is one of the most effective times to strike. More people complain about being inconvienienced and the public discontent ends up putting pressure on to get things solved.

We have to put up with it in London just about every year if the tube drivers feel like a pay rise.

[Matt W]

Indeed. There's also the whole Gate Gourmet thing at Heathrow in peak holiday season....ah well.

[Sean]

I respect these guys. They are striking not for themselves but for the pension reductions the new people will be faced with.

[Nono]

Quote by: Chris good to see Unions dont really have negotiating power anymore

Hope that's irony. The alternative to unions having negotiating power is to let Boss Hog decide everything.

So here's an idea: negotiate in bad faith with the union until they get fed up and go on strike (ever been on strike, Chris? lotsa fun) and then let people deplore on your behalf what the effing unions "get away with". Bob's your uncle!

[RickSp]

The union isn't winning any friends. 33,000 transit workers are holding up 7 million commuters. The city is losing an estimated $400 million a day during the strike. An estimated 1/3 of all city shopping is usually done this week.

To put things in perspective the average subway or bus worker earns $63,000 per year. The strike is over the terms of the pension and whether or not union workers will continue to be able to retire on full pension at 55 years old.

[tinybear]

Here in Hong Kong, workers fight for the right to continue working beyond 55. In America, workers fight for the right to retire at 55. What conclusion do you draw from this, folks?

[Chris]

Quote by: RickSp The union isn't winning any friends. 33,000 transit workers are holding up 7 million commuters. The city is losing an estimated $400 million a day during the strike. An estimated 1/3 of all city shopping is usually done this week. To put things in perspective the average subway or bus worker earns $63,000 per year. The strike is over the terms of the pension and whether or not union workers will continue to be able to retire on full pension at 55 years old.

Well F that then... For everything good about unions, there is equal amount of bad parts to them.

If its true as you say, these selfish pricks can pay. Some workers are oblivious to it though, when they start a new job they are told that a union is the best way to go.

I have never been a part of a union and don't plan on it anytime soon.

[Rainbow]

Working people make appx. 10 cents out of every 1 dollar.
Free market ? Does it mean : free-sucking ?
NYC Transit Union does not demand persian rugs, but better life-conditions instead and indeed.

The Law forbids them to go on strike ? Change the Law, then.
There are more working men around the U.S., than lawmakers.
How ?
There are variety of methods any governing body would have to comply with. U.S. governing body can not arrest and/or jail the whole nation :-)))

The key point :
- unity
That what U.S. is all about : United States, United People that can stand together as One.

Men have become slaves of their own minds, thoughts, ect.
They can not afford thinking any other way around, but what the Law says. They have forgotten that : The People is the Law.

I support labor men, and I always will.
These labour men make a business running, and they deserve much more than 10 cents out of every dollar made. That is the point I will go against any governing body, Always (!)

[RickSp]

The union went on strike despite there being a significant split in its Executive Committee and the opposition of its parent union.

Transit Union Lacks Support of Its Parent

The transit workers' union, despite taking the extraordinary step of calling its first strike in 25 years, has revealed itself over the last 48 hours to be an organization wrestling with considerable discord - a local union, in fact, that is at complete odds with its larger parent organization. The union's vote to strike, made at 1:15 a.m. yesterday in a closed-door session of the executive board, was opposed by three of seven vice presidents of the union, Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union. A fourth abstained. And yesterday, merely hours into the paralyzing job action, Michael T. O'Brien, the international president of the parent union, the Transport Workers Union of America, urged the city's transit workers to abandon the strike and return to work immediately. He said the parent union would provide no money or other assistance to Local 100. Those two facts - a lack of unanimity among its own leaders and an absence of help from fellow transit workers across the country - could complicate the union's ability to hold up under the mounting public criticism, enormous fines and escalating attacks by the city and state's top political leaders.

[Osborn F Enready]

This is a sad day for me.

Unions are faulted, no doubt. But these workers have a right to strike, if they feel their deals aren't being honored according to THEIR contract, or if they feel they are being wronged.

Nobody here, will know the entire story unless one of you is a worker in the NY transit system.

Sure, I agree that unions are flawed, but I support a workers right to assemble and petititon for better wages, better conditions, or if their contract is in threat of being violated by the company. The fine is wrong in my opinion, and I don't see how in the hell people could support fining a labor union for taking part in their HONORABLE duty, as assembled workers.

All the whiners need to walk their fat asses, or carpool, get a grip. I'll bet all your grandaddies did it in the snow, barefoot, and uphill both ways, so deal with it.

Guess all the Christman shoppers are gonna have to limit the amount of cheap Chinese good they are going to buy this Christmas, since they will have to figure out how to carry it home......

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: tinybear The Union broke the law. End of discussion.

Sometimes, you have to break the law to end oppression as long as you are willing to a) Question Authority and b) pay the price.

Quote by: Sean I respect these guys. They are striking not for themselves but for the pension reductions the new people will be faced with.

The final straw came when they tried to raise the amount deducted from new workers to 6%.

Bloomberg The MTA offered the union a three-year contract with raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent through 2008, Kelly said. The transit agency also agreed to retain the union's full pension eligibility age at 55, on condition new hires contribute 6 percent of their annual earnings for 10 years to help finance future pensions, he said.

You mean they were going to reduce their pensions AND raise the amount they paid into it?

Quote by: Nono Hope that's irony. The alternative to unions having negotiating power is to let Boss Hog decide everything.

Well said.

This is class warfare.

[RickSp]

Quote by: gr8fuldaniel This is class warfare.

Bullshit. This a local union whose leaders are doing a lousy job representing their members. Their own parent union doesn't support them and their own executive committe is far from unanimous about the strike. Nevertheless they charged ahead into a strike that may succeed in destroying the local and which has caused and will cause massive disruption of a city of eight million and cause a lot of workers to lose wages and probably jobs.

This is not about unions in general or the class stuggle. This is about a few arrogant union bosses acting stupidly.

[gr8fuldaniel]

This is about a few arrogant union bosses acting stupidly.

Arrogantly??
By standing up for the new hires??

6% of their annual salaries for 10 years, on top of all the other expenses (taxes, insurance, Social security, extremely high rents in NYC, fuel, etc.) is no small thing. The MTA tried to slip this in at the close of negotiations and they were called on it.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Why dont we just take that 6% from the upper echalons of management, from those hotshots making $100 k and up? Why oppress those on the bottom of the heap? Those who cant even afford to live in the neighborhoods where they work?