Ok I’ll do it.
Just an addendum, read my comment below. I wrote this blog entry incorrectly. I meant to say a lot more then i did, but it ended up just degrading into a discourse about the surplus and it’s effect
I’m stepping into the quagmire that is the MTA strike, and offering my opinion along with hopes and desires.
Today the TWU walked out creating the first strike since 1980. Wow i’ve memorized that date.
None the less
Demands as I know of them:
– 8% raise over next three years (correction i misunderstood this, it is 8% raise per year for three years)
– maintain healthcare coverage
– maintain pension plan
Repurcutions of the strike:
– All public transportation around Manhattan and other burrows shut down completly.
– 1 million dollar fine to the TWU per day strike continues
– For every day absent, 2 days pay will be docked from the worker.
The strike is unreal. I believe it stems from the recently announced 1 billion dollar budget surplus that was horribly mishandled. I think it is strange that a group of city employees that make 45,000-55,000 dollars annually are asking for a raise. Then it hit me. The reason they ask for a raise is becuase the money was there, and they have no real say in how the money was used.
The MTA ruled that they would be “Giving” the money back to the “people” by making it cost only 1.00 for weekend travel using the metro services. This only works for people who purchase pay per ride tickets, and not people who have unlimited tickets. In other words, it helps the tourists and the visitors but not the workers and New Yorkers. So in a roundabout manner they are giving the money to strangers.
What happened when this brilliant move occurs? The TWU says they are not respected and that the new contract is dishonorable to the transit employees as a whole. AND THEN the MTA blames the TWU for striking. I say the MTA shoulders half the blame for not seeing the repurcutions of their actions.
OH well. 45,000 is a lot of f-ing money if you ask me. But is it enough to be in traffic or a tunnel for 50% of my life? I don’t know. oh yeah they have a pension. That sounds nice. I’ve heard of one of those, but dind’t think they were real.
December 21st, 2005 at 1:41 am
Well, Cabs may be a bit more difficult to find to take me to LGA.
December 21st, 2005 at 4:12 pm
In all fairness, while their pay seems good (hey, it’s more than Brandon makes as a tenure-track professor), I wouldn’t consider it “a lot” for someone trying to support a family while living in the city. The other issues that motivated the strike are related to how the initial contract offer from MTA to TWU was handled. Did y’all fly out of Laguardia? I could come pick you guys up if this is still going on when you fly back.
December 21st, 2005 at 11:29 pm
–This ended up a lot longer then anticipated, tell me if you guys think i should move it to the front of the page.– I actually gave the wrong inflection allusion in the above article. What i was meaning when i wrote this the impetus for the strike was the pension and healthcare cut, the impetus for the steep demand of a raise is directly attributed to the budget surplus. Sorry for the confusion. My point is that these people are not ignorant. They realize that they make good money, and they don’t want their benefits cut. I was arguing earlier that the strike would be over if the MTA backed down on the Pension age changes and the Healthcare changes. [url=http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1430153] Then this newsarticle shows just exactly this. [/url] [url=http://www.forbes.com/columnists/2005/12/20/transportation-unions-strikes_cx_daa_1220comment.html]This guy has[/url] to be the most conservative and annoyingly rhetorical person i know, and for all i know he is pulling his numbers out of his ass. BUT it is the only article i know that compares the MTA wages vs other major city wages. In the end i know he is accurate about one thing, the wage range for people working for the MTA. Too many articles seem to quote the 45-55k wage range for it to be completly off base. This [url=http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113510450446327616.html?mod=todays_free_feature]article[/url] is interesting and makes me want to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. Heh. As for my own personal beliefs about whether 45k is enough to raise a family in NYC, i can’t be absolute one way or the other. But I can say this, 45k + state given benefits are more then most families use to raise their kids. This is just for one spouse. My parents raised me and trey in various locations on sometimes 20k between the both of them. The bottom line is, some people raise families on 33k in new york city (elementary school teachers for instance). 45k for not having devoted any part of your life to college is nice. It is middle class America, perhaps not upper middle class but middle class none the same. It is exactly what the MTA should be paying the transit workers, and i’m not arguing for a pay cut. Mainly i’m just astounded that they expect an 8% raise every year for three years. Ok i’m going to figure this out numerically. If the person making 55,000 gets an 8 % raise every year for the next three years, Year one: 55,000 * .08 = 4400 + 55,000 = 59,400 Year two: 59,400 * .08 = 4752 + 59,400 = 64,152 Year Three: 64,152 * .08 = 5132.16 + 64,152 = 69,284.16 THIS IS IMPORTANT I am not against the strike. I support it because i think their voice should be heard. No one likes playing by the rules for 34 years and finding out that due to MTA regulation changes you will need to work 5-6 more years longer to qualify for a pension you have been working you ass off to obtain. Thats the reason i believe the people are fighting. I will say this though. Class wars aside, the MTA happens to play a fundamental part of survival for a lot of the lower class in Manhattan. When the MTA strikes, the people who are hurt are not the upper class decision makers. They are the hourly wage earners who can’t devote three to four hours walking into the city to make 10 dollars an hour working at a bloomingdales or a mcdonalds. If they miss work, they don’t get paid for that. Rhetorical sway: Their children starve and die. does the MTA want to be responsible for the death of a child? lololol god that fallacious logic was fun. No but honestly i support the ability to strike, as long as those who strike take into account everyone that it will effect and they believe that the rights they are fighting for outweigh the negative effects of those who rely on their services. The best strikes for state run agencies and employees are the strategic strikes. The strike that is performed once or twice in a row at random intervals to show how horrible the world would be without you. This way you have room to bargain while minimizing the damage caused. I think the transit strike could last one more day for maximum effectiveness and then abandon it. That would be four million dollar fine though. Primary education teachers should strike for a few days. Their pay sucks, and it is by far not even close to 45k starting pay. And to think, they go to college for that job.
December 22nd, 2005 at 11:05 pm
Are you serious that in New York the primary education teachers only make 33k in New York? Finding a place to live must be unreal for teachers. I make a less than that, but I do not have the cost of living they have. I truly feel for them now.
December 24th, 2005 at 9:04 pm
[quote:ffc9b165bb=”dramke”]Are you serious that in New York the primary education teachers only make 33k in New York? Finding a place to live must be unreal for teachers. I make a less than that, but I do not have the cost of living they have. I truly feel for them now.[/quote:ffc9b165bb] I am wrong a bachelor’s without any teaching experience can teach and make 39k… At least this is according to teach nyc.