The general public has discovered the Transport Workers Union strike blog, and many are using it to vent their frustrations. The latest entry already has well over 500 comments.

It seems that most people who visit the blog are pretty angry at the union. Anonymous posts compare union members to terrorists, the French, thieves and rapists. They express a desire to see the union crushed to dust, and look forward to the day when the subways are automated and transit workers are a thing of the past.

There also seems to be a widespread belief that there are thousands of polite, competent people dying to work for the MTA for $30,000 a year. Some even offer themselves up: “I’ll drive the train for free, because I think it would be cool!” someone writes. ” All of you should lose your jobs and burn in hell.”

Of course, there is also anger at the MTA, and support for the union’s stance against, in one writer’s words, CORPORATE GREED! Several posts cheer the union on, seeing this strike as a bellwether for US labor.

And then there are those who look beyond the obvious arguments. At least two posts say that neither the union nor the MTA is to blame; the strike is Pat Robertson’s fault

Posted by PresIke:

TemujinKnick & Others...

It's a sad day when many of us have decided that Unions are the same as cartels. If you know your history one should be aware of how important unions are, and how much struggle exists for a fair wage. I have been a teacher in NYC and while I don't always support everything the UFT does, and think that some aspects of unions are flawed, I believe they are important and should be valued.

Simply because other businesses have no unions does not mean that this should be the standard. Who is going to protect workers rights? Are the bosses always right? That seems like a rather assinine assumption to make. Ask the people who work at Wall-Mart about unions...

There's more to this story than being "selfish" and if anything, the MTA is the real cartel, as are Bloomberg & Pataki "made" men who tried (unsuccessfully, thank goodness) to hoodwink and bamboozle this city into building that stadium on the West Side of Manhattan, via back alley deals, cronyism, slick political mauevering, and the neglect of the consideration of ANY alternative method of economic development of the area. And we're supposed to support them?

I mean talk about an being an apologist for the powers-that-be.

As the link I will provide below states, there are racial and class undertones where the battlelines are drawn here, and certain white people have a hard time seeing it for a variety of reasons (not saying you are white).

Here's a quote which discusses the thinking behind those blogs you have posted:

The general public has discovered the Transport Workers Union strike blog, and many are using it to vent their frustrations. The latest entry already has well over 500 comments.

It seems that most people who visit the blog are pretty angry at the union. Anonymous posts compare union members to terrorists, the French, thieves and rapists. They express a desire to see the union crushed to dust, and look forward to the day when the subways are automated and transit workers are a thing of the past.

There also seems to be a widespread belief that there are thousands of polite, competent people dying to work for the MTA for $30,000 a year. Some even offer themselves up: “I’ll drive the train for free, because I think it would be cool!” someone writes. ” All of you should lose your jobs and burn in hell.”

Of course, there is also anger at the MTA, and support for the union’s stance against, in one writer’s words, CORPORATE GREED! Several posts cheer the union on, seeing this strike as a bellwether for US labor.

And then there are those who look beyond the obvious arguments. At least two posts say that neither the union nor the MTA is to blame; the strike is Pat Robertson’s fault

And here's the link:

http://gothamgazette.com/blogs/wonkster/


[Edited by - PresIke on 12-20-2005 3:03 PM]

[Edited by - PresIke on 12-20-2005 3:03 PM]

[Edited by - PresIke on 12-20-2005 3:04 PM]

[Edited by - PresIke on 12-20-2005 3:04 PM]

I was just thinking about the fact that whenever I hear a transit worker talk to a customer, it's almost always "my God, if I ever spoke to a customer like that I'd be taken aside and probably fired on the spot".

When I was in junior high school I had a social studies teacher who tried to teach us to support unions. And because that was what I was taught, I grew up believing unquestioningly that unions were a good thing, that unions were always right, that unions were always about protecting the little guy.

The MTA workers, whose salaries average 50k with minimal education, who have full heath coverage, full pension at 55, and drive in circles for a living, are not the little guy.

The little guy is the hourly worker who takes the subway every morning to a retail job where they are on their feet for 9 hours taking **** from people and smiling through it for 25K if they’re lucky. The little guy can’t afford a taxi and can’t even dream of a car. The little guy works in Manhattan but lives way out in Brooklyn Queens or The Bronx because they can’t afford to live closer to their job. The little guy could concievably walk to work if they had four hours in which to do it and didn’t then have to be on their feet all day.

They want respect. MTA workers are some of the nastiest people around. Ask them a question and they huff at you and roll their eyes like you’re asking them to move the earth for you. I was riding the bus once with a friend of mine who is in an electric wheelchair, and it took her a little longer than the bus driver liked for her to maneuver her scooter into position to get off the bus… the driver yelled at her that she was making him late, grabbed the handlebars of her scooter and twisted it, catching her arm between the bar and the chair, and continuing to yell at her as she yelped in pain.

When MTA workers are expected to provide customer service, to stay awake at their posts, and to treat their customers respectfully… then they still wouldn’t deserve the kinds of things they’re demanding.

Posted by EnySpree:

Posted by EwingsGlass:

I support automation. Then they could pay more people to provide security on the subway. I find it hard to sympathize with the overall issue, though the human side of it I understand. This strike has made the worker's problem my problem now; I find it hard to be sympathetic or empathetic... in fact, I think the timing is pathetic. The union has to do what it thinks is right, the city must do the same. Don't be surprised if there is a greater push for automation.

Automation is the way the entire world is heading.

Still in the MTA's case they just want to cut jobs and put computers on the trains.......and that's it. They already did it on the L train. A court had to order they put them back on the train.

I posted this earlier.....they are trying to run the system by remote control like a video game. They already have plans to build a hi-tech new control center in the 59th street area where this will be possible. This stuff will be up and running in the next 5-7 years. What happens to the workers? Layoffs.......I'm talking massive layoffs. They are not trying to retrain anyone. They proved that already.

And people need to understand that the fare hike is already in the budget regardless of what happens with the strike. It's not a rumor......they already stated that they will do it in 2006.

What kind of training do you (in general not directly at you) think they give us? The conductors and train operators do not have a specific evacuation plan if something were to go down on the train. Actually there is NO plan at all......We go to fire school where we learn how fire works and we learn to use a fire extinguishers (what a joke). Then they have a simulated train where there is smoke and we have to evacuate. All we do is get on the train, the smoke starts then we just walk out an exit.....then we go home. That is the extent of the training we have in case of emergency. No terrorist training, no training in case of an explosion on the train.....you name it....we do not know what to do. All we have is a radio.

What would make sense is to make conductors peace officers with more training in that respect and give the train operators more training than just how to move the train. He should be able to fix the train too if need be. That makes sense. The MTA doesn't make sense so we are where we are now.....just fighting for the right to make an honest living.

Posted by TemujinKnick:

It's obvious no arguments are going to change opinions here. But what it comes down to for me is that the union is already being fined a million dollars a day, TWU members on strike are already being fined two days pay for each day out. And much, much, much tougher penalties are likely to be ordered by the judge tomorrow and in the coming days. No matter what side of this issue you are on, this strike is a total failure. It has already resulted in shutting the city down. The TWU and it's workers claim it's worth it as a bargaining tool. But what are the results of that tool? The union is being bankrupted and each individual worker is facing penalties of $25,000 an up! Do you think that isn't going to happen to you EnySpree? Is a lifetime of debt and needing to file bankrupcy worth going through in order to get the difference between what the TWU is demanding and the MTA is offering?

We can all argue over the motivations behind everything and who is in the wrong until we are blue in the face. But the fact of the matter is that YOU and all of your fellow union members on strike, and maybe even those other union reps that stood on stage supporting the strike announcement, are going to be personally bankrupted by all of this. That seems like a boneheaded bargaining move to me.