strike this
boy it's been a real joy these last 2 days--
i couldn't get a cab to save my life yesterday morning and, given that it was 25 degrees and windy, i refused to walk the 4 miles to get to work. i was on hold with skyline car service for 30 minutes when i decided to wait until 11 a.m. to get a cab. while i waited, i watched the news and saw the hoardes of people walking across the brooklyn bridge, including the mayor. kudos to them but in the same breathe, i thought--stay home! i managed to get a cab to work but had to pay $15 on a fare that would normally cost me $7. apparenty, the TLC has a contingency plan where each passenger pays $10 and $5 for each additional zone in manhattan--apparently during a strike, manahattan is zoned. sounds like a fucked up way to try and make some extra cash to me but what could i do?
i arrived at work, only to work well after midnight. luckily, it was easy to take a car home and the driver and i waxed our philosophies about the strike. here's the thing....i completely support unions and their ideals. there's a reason they were established--to make sure the city or big businesses or whatever do not march over the rights of the worker. i do not, however, support this specific instance. first of all, it's illegal. the entire city is crippled because 1 group is too selfish to compromise. and when you think about it, they've asked for A LOT and gotten quite a bit offered:
-they wanted an 8% raise in increase every year. WHAT???!!! Most people are LUCKY to get that kind of increase, usually when they're promoted. it's certainly not on a yearly basis. and they didn't specify the number of years this was to occur....come on!!!!!!!! so, the MTA agreed to give them a 3.5% wage increase for the next 3 years....pretty decent. so, basically, you can do your job with an average rating and STILL get a raise. this means they can close the doors on those of us running to get into the train and be rewarded for it.
-local 100 union was peeved that the retirement age was moved to 62. so, the MTA agreed to knock it down to 55. so, you can do a medicore job, get a raise every year (by the way, most yearly raises average in around 2-5%) and retire earlier that the national average age. WOW!
-the MTA workers have been asked to contribute 1% of their wages to health insurance. So, if you make $65,0000 a year, you contribute $650 a year, about $54 a month (most likely, pretaxed). oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! let's remember how many people, WHO WORK, who do not have ANY HEALTH INSURANCE. or, who are covered but have to make a very large contribution. the politicians don't rank healthcare and costs in their top 5 campaign topics because they have an interest in medicine. WAKE THE FUCK UP!
-apparently the deal breaker was the authority's request that the MTA workers contribute 6% of their wages to their pension for the next 3 years. this sounds like a lot but, hello, you're contributing to a pool of money that goes to----you. when you retire. at 55. after doing mediocre work and getting a 3.5% raise every year. and getting good medical care coverage at a great prince.
damn, sure sounds like a reason to strike. and let's see what this strike has gotten you and the rest of the city since we are now part of your fucking problem:
-a 1 million dollar-a-day injuction for each day of the strike PLUS additional fines that will be added on. but the union only has a 3.6 million dollar surplus...hmmm
-millions of people walking and carpooling to work, waking up at god-awful hours in the morning just to get there on time--and right before christmas...ho ho ho
-thousands of businesses losing money each day because people can barely get to and from work, let alone do anything else
so the city will go further into debt. and we will pay for this watered-down strike that is more like a very expensive temper tantrum than the valid union strikes of yesteryear.
the sad thing is, the majority of local 100 disagrees with this strike. but the greed of the few has overthrown the ideals that unions were founded.
ok, back to work.
i couldn't get a cab to save my life yesterday morning and, given that it was 25 degrees and windy, i refused to walk the 4 miles to get to work. i was on hold with skyline car service for 30 minutes when i decided to wait until 11 a.m. to get a cab. while i waited, i watched the news and saw the hoardes of people walking across the brooklyn bridge, including the mayor. kudos to them but in the same breathe, i thought--stay home! i managed to get a cab to work but had to pay $15 on a fare that would normally cost me $7. apparenty, the TLC has a contingency plan where each passenger pays $10 and $5 for each additional zone in manhattan--apparently during a strike, manahattan is zoned. sounds like a fucked up way to try and make some extra cash to me but what could i do?
i arrived at work, only to work well after midnight. luckily, it was easy to take a car home and the driver and i waxed our philosophies about the strike. here's the thing....i completely support unions and their ideals. there's a reason they were established--to make sure the city or big businesses or whatever do not march over the rights of the worker. i do not, however, support this specific instance. first of all, it's illegal. the entire city is crippled because 1 group is too selfish to compromise. and when you think about it, they've asked for A LOT and gotten quite a bit offered:
-they wanted an 8% raise in increase every year. WHAT???!!! Most people are LUCKY to get that kind of increase, usually when they're promoted. it's certainly not on a yearly basis. and they didn't specify the number of years this was to occur....come on!!!!!!!! so, the MTA agreed to give them a 3.5% wage increase for the next 3 years....pretty decent. so, basically, you can do your job with an average rating and STILL get a raise. this means they can close the doors on those of us running to get into the train and be rewarded for it.
-local 100 union was peeved that the retirement age was moved to 62. so, the MTA agreed to knock it down to 55. so, you can do a medicore job, get a raise every year (by the way, most yearly raises average in around 2-5%) and retire earlier that the national average age. WOW!
-the MTA workers have been asked to contribute 1% of their wages to health insurance. So, if you make $65,0000 a year, you contribute $650 a year, about $54 a month (most likely, pretaxed). oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! let's remember how many people, WHO WORK, who do not have ANY HEALTH INSURANCE. or, who are covered but have to make a very large contribution. the politicians don't rank healthcare and costs in their top 5 campaign topics because they have an interest in medicine. WAKE THE FUCK UP!
-apparently the deal breaker was the authority's request that the MTA workers contribute 6% of their wages to their pension for the next 3 years. this sounds like a lot but, hello, you're contributing to a pool of money that goes to----you. when you retire. at 55. after doing mediocre work and getting a 3.5% raise every year. and getting good medical care coverage at a great prince.
damn, sure sounds like a reason to strike. and let's see what this strike has gotten you and the rest of the city since we are now part of your fucking problem:
-a 1 million dollar-a-day injuction for each day of the strike PLUS additional fines that will be added on. but the union only has a 3.6 million dollar surplus...hmmm
-millions of people walking and carpooling to work, waking up at god-awful hours in the morning just to get there on time--and right before christmas...ho ho ho
-thousands of businesses losing money each day because people can barely get to and from work, let alone do anything else
so the city will go further into debt. and we will pay for this watered-down strike that is more like a very expensive temper tantrum than the valid union strikes of yesteryear.
the sad thing is, the majority of local 100 disagrees with this strike. but the greed of the few has overthrown the ideals that unions were founded.
ok, back to work.