The Happy Death Row
So on Day 3 of the Strike I am on Day 12 of My Torrid affair with Oriana.
As Torrid Affairs go, its pretty good.
She is heading back to Colombia to go on with her life on Friday the 13th. As I'm not into the long distance thing then well be over. Well write, well chat now and again on the phone. But I am convinced it will be done. She is in her first year of 6 in Med school down there.
Thems the breaks.
To those of you who remember my comment saying that there would be no romance between us, what can I say. I'm always flirting and if it hits it hits and theres nothing I can do about it. Usually it doesnt hit thats why I was pretty sure it wouldnt happen.
Don't be happy for me. Cuz its gonna end.
Don't be sad for me. Cuz its just what I needed.
So anyway yah, thats what that is.
On the Topic of the Strike, it sux, but what sux more is jackasses who think just because alot of these workers do semi-unskilled labor that they dont deserve pay raises.
If you love America and the American way then this is just a basic economics lesson. The more important you are in terms of the most production you cause the more you get compensated. These workers are the lifeblood of this city and this strike has proven it. They work down underground and deal with all kinds of shit all day. Tons of people want to be cops and teachers and would agree to less pay to be able to do a job they love.
NO ONE SAYS I want to be a subway cleaner when I grow up. But they do the work, day in day out, many of them at grave personal risk.
THE MTA IS CORRUPT and has been fuking over their workes and ALL NEW YORKERS with their rampant mismanagement. I am glad that the union finally took a stand.
Now you can sit there and spin the numbers all you want but the fact is the TWU is asking for numbers that are there, they are asking for what they can get. WHen I negotiate my salary I am gonna look at the best that I can get, make a case for it and take what ever actions necessary. I cant strike, because I am just one man and strikes are for large groups of workers, BUT I can simply jump ship when I get someone to pay me what I am worth. Transit workers cant jump ship. There is only one ship. There is only one entity that employs them to do what they are trained to do. THEIR ONLY ECONOMIC WEAPON IS STRIKE.
Suck it up New Yorkers, and don't hate the workers for trying to get what they can get. Having a mass transit system like we do is a privilege, not a right, and this privilege is delivered by the TWU workers.
Dont' Believe me?
STRIKING FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS
by Andy Stettner
Today, 34,000 members of Transit Workers Union Local 100 that work for New York
City Transit running the city's trains and buses went on strike. Most of the
media coverage has focused on the minutia of the final contract deal and the
inconveniences of stranded straphangers. As I sit in my office after biking
over the Brooklyn Bridge on a clear December morning, I know they have missed
the true meaning of this contract debate: the future of the middle class in New
York City, and more broadly in the United States.
Our mayor, Michael Bloomberg, perfectly framed this meaning in today's New York
Times (December 20th)
Mr. Bloomberg said that a walkout would hurt many workers in the hotel,
restaurant and garment industries who earn less than the transit workers. The
transit workers average $55,000 a year with overtime.
"You've got people making $50,000 and $60,000 a year - are keeping the people
who are making $20,000 and $30,000 a year from being able to earn a living,"
Mr. Bloomberg said. "That's just not acceptable."
Here you have the 'unacceptable' vision of our Mayor for working class New
Yorkers ? jobs that pay less than $35,000. New York City's economy is
growing strongly ? but it is growing like a donut, with high paying jobs and
lower paying jobs increasing at the same time. From 2000 to 2004, New York
City's middle class (families earning between $35,000 and $150,000 per year)
declined at a rate that was four times the national average according to New
York's Fiscal Policy Institute.
The problem is that a family cannot really live on $35,000 in New York City.
Among other things, housing costs for both rentals and especially for home
buyers have increased astronomically. Take a look at the meticulously
prepared self-sufficiency standard for New York City prepared by the Women's
Center for Education and Career Advancement. In none of the five boroughs of
New York City, could a family with one adult and one child meet the basic
minimum daily expenses (housing, child care, food, transportation) on such a
salary. Between $55,000 and $60,000 per year should meet the minimum needs of
a family of four, but after living here for 10 years I don't know exactly how.
Middle Class Life at Stake in New York City
That's what makes jobs like those at New York City Transit so vital to the
city's health. According to most media reports, the average New York City
Transit worker earns between $47,000 and $55,000, while many start at as little
as $33,000. While the earnings are modest, the job comes with strong health
care benefits and a traditional defined benefit pension.
What do middle class jobs provide our city? At these wages, working families
don't have to depend on publicly funded work supports like Medicaid or Child
Health plus that are being stretched by a shrinking tax base. Middle class
families bring stability to communities and schools, and have an opportunity to
send their kids to college and even out the wealth distribution over the
long-term. Most deeply, the existence of good middle class jobs ensures that
the promise of opportunity that New York once provided to immigrants and
domestic migrants is not lost in the 21st century. New York City Transit
Authority jobs have provided such opportunity, first for Irish-Americans and
other Europeans, and now increasingly for Caribbean-American and Latino
communities. Contrary to the Mayor's assertions, low-wage workers generally
support the existence of middle-class better paying jobs because it does
provide a ladder up?rather than begrudging their better position.
What Wages Do Transit Workers "Deserve"?
Bloomberg and Governor Pataki (who actually controls the MTA) have decided to
make an all out assault on these jobs. They have basically stated that New
York City Transit workers don't deserve the salaries that they are making. Do
transit workers deserve these wages? Transit workers do thankless and dangerous
work. Bus drivers face hostile customers and murderous traffic all day.
Subway workers toil in dark, vermin-infested, century-old subway tunnels. A
mistake by a New York City transit worker can be a life-or-death mistake for
riders or for themselves. Since World War II, 132 track workers have been
electrocuted or killed by trains in the New York subways, 21 in the last two
decades.[i][i] Basic necessities, like the ability to go to the bathroom, are
a luxury for transit workers. So, too, are days off. The New York Daily News'
Errol Louis reports that NYCT workers engage in annual ritual of sleeping on
cots to request Thanksgiving Day off in person 30 days in advance as required
by their contract.
On this basis, it seems clear that these NYCT workers deserve some kind of wage
premium for this kind of "dirty job." But wages are set in the market and in a
power dynamic between labor and capital?and the question is whether TWU
members have a realistic shot at maintaining their middle class lifestyle.
Obviously, middle class life for working people is under attack in the U.S.
because of the pressures of globalization?with the most visible symbol of
this assault being the 30,000 plus workers of Delphi auto parts who are facing
massive wage cuts or layoffs (initially posed as a cut from $27/hour plus to
$12/hour or less). But, New York City Transit workers should be exactly the
kind of workers who should be able to hold on to a middle class way of life in
the 21st century. Knowledge-driven, high-wage, service-sector economies like
that of New York City depend on a web of effective mass transit. Indeed, the
recovery of the subway from its graffiti-ridden and violent past has part of
New York City's rise from the fiscal crisis of the 1970s. Because of a surge
in population and public transit usage, the MTA now has a nearly $1 billion
surplus this year. (This is even before they have finalized deals to sell
extremely valuable land development rights above train yards in downtown
Brooklyn and the West Side of Manhattan). The MTA can afford to sustain a
fair living wage for the workers they need to operate the system, and
competitive pressures should be tilting in the favor of the workers.
The Contract on the Table and Its Repercussions
The union reports that the MTA's final offer is 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5
percent. Because this represents an improvement over an initial deal of 2
percent, the media has been reporting this as a better deal than what was
initially presented. This "raise" proposal is really no raise at all. Inflation
is running at 3.5 percent in Northeastern cities, so this salary increase would
leave workers treading water. In exchange for a zero percent real raise, TWU
has been asked to accept cuts in retirement security (an increase in the
retirement age from 55 to 62) for future workers, a year after the State
Assembly passed a bill to lower the transit worker retirement age to 50.
(Indeed the union has argued that pension issues should be off the table
because they are generally the jurisdiction of the Legislature, which is an
argument backed by the Republican head of the New York State Senate). Increased
health care contributions were on the table early in the negotiation, and it is
unclear what the final deal included on this side. This contract offer comes
after the MTA accepted a three year contract that featured no raise in year one
(only a one-time $1,000 bonus) and a two percent (less than cost of living) in
2003 and 2004. That contract represented a sacrifice that many municipal
workers made during the 9-11 recession. So, the MTA has asked the TWU to stand
still on wages and accept cuts elsewhere. It is really no offer at all for an
agency with a billion dollar surplus.
If TWU accepted this contract, it would set the scale downward for all upcoming
New York municipal contracts. Other municipal workers have less leverage with
the city because their salaries are tied directly to tax revenue as opposed to
user fees. TWU should be lauded for defending conditions not just for
themselves but for future generations of transit workers, and the rest of
unionized labor in New York.
The biggest target for the MTA and their allies in city and state government are
pensions. These defined benefit pensions do represent a large liability - - but
also are a crucial bulwark against the slide towards retirement insecurity for
lower wage workers. The 401(k) model of defined benefit pensions can work for
higher wage workers who can manage to save towards a million dollars by the
time of retirement and then live off of annuities and interest. This model is
not working well for working class people and African-Americans and Hispanics.
Only 40 percent of African-Americans and Hispanics age 47-64 can expect to have
retirement income equal to fifty percent of their prior salary.[ii][ii] So, the
kind of pension security achieved by TWU is worth defending.
So, where do we draw the line in defense of middle class living and retirement
security? If the MTA gets their way, we can expect a slide in living standards
for a whole range of municipal workers. And, we can expect the race to the
bottom to continue in service sector jobs like health care and building
services that have a chance to pay decent wages to working people in a
globalized age. For this analyst and activist, at least, in New York City,
the Transit Workers Union is a place where this line is being drawn. It
remains to be seen whether the TWU will be able to organize enough external and
internal solidarity and favorable public opinion to win this battle. This is
especially true since they face stiff fines under the state's Taylor Law for
engaging in an illegal strike. But, all of us who profess a concern for living
standards and values of economic opportunity and fairness seem to owe them our
solidarity. Please do all you can ? visit www.twulocal100.org to find out
about opportunities to express solidarity. Most importantly, when your friends
and colleagues whine about the commute try to tell them what is at stake.
Andrew Stettner
Brooklyn, New York
HAVE SOME FUCKIN RESPECT.
Big Ups:
Roger Toussant, THe TWU Workers, The Ladies on the Line at JAMAICA STATION, Oriana, Ma, Skip, Los, Lida, Sa, JD, Maritza, Pa, Elsa, Liana, Sally, Fern and the LIRR.
As Torrid Affairs go, its pretty good.
She is heading back to Colombia to go on with her life on Friday the 13th. As I'm not into the long distance thing then well be over. Well write, well chat now and again on the phone. But I am convinced it will be done. She is in her first year of 6 in Med school down there.
Thems the breaks.
To those of you who remember my comment saying that there would be no romance between us, what can I say. I'm always flirting and if it hits it hits and theres nothing I can do about it. Usually it doesnt hit thats why I was pretty sure it wouldnt happen.
Don't be happy for me. Cuz its gonna end.
Don't be sad for me. Cuz its just what I needed.
So anyway yah, thats what that is.
On the Topic of the Strike, it sux, but what sux more is jackasses who think just because alot of these workers do semi-unskilled labor that they dont deserve pay raises.
If you love America and the American way then this is just a basic economics lesson. The more important you are in terms of the most production you cause the more you get compensated. These workers are the lifeblood of this city and this strike has proven it. They work down underground and deal with all kinds of shit all day. Tons of people want to be cops and teachers and would agree to less pay to be able to do a job they love.
NO ONE SAYS I want to be a subway cleaner when I grow up. But they do the work, day in day out, many of them at grave personal risk.
THE MTA IS CORRUPT and has been fuking over their workes and ALL NEW YORKERS with their rampant mismanagement. I am glad that the union finally took a stand.
Now you can sit there and spin the numbers all you want but the fact is the TWU is asking for numbers that are there, they are asking for what they can get. WHen I negotiate my salary I am gonna look at the best that I can get, make a case for it and take what ever actions necessary. I cant strike, because I am just one man and strikes are for large groups of workers, BUT I can simply jump ship when I get someone to pay me what I am worth. Transit workers cant jump ship. There is only one ship. There is only one entity that employs them to do what they are trained to do. THEIR ONLY ECONOMIC WEAPON IS STRIKE.
Suck it up New Yorkers, and don't hate the workers for trying to get what they can get. Having a mass transit system like we do is a privilege, not a right, and this privilege is delivered by the TWU workers.
Dont' Believe me?
STRIKING FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS
by Andy Stettner
Today, 34,000 members of Transit Workers Union Local 100 that work for New York
City Transit running the city's trains and buses went on strike. Most of the
media coverage has focused on the minutia of the final contract deal and the
inconveniences of stranded straphangers. As I sit in my office after biking
over the Brooklyn Bridge on a clear December morning, I know they have missed
the true meaning of this contract debate: the future of the middle class in New
York City, and more broadly in the United States.
Our mayor, Michael Bloomberg, perfectly framed this meaning in today's New York
Times (December 20th)
Mr. Bloomberg said that a walkout would hurt many workers in the hotel,
restaurant and garment industries who earn less than the transit workers. The
transit workers average $55,000 a year with overtime.
"You've got people making $50,000 and $60,000 a year - are keeping the people
who are making $20,000 and $30,000 a year from being able to earn a living,"
Mr. Bloomberg said. "That's just not acceptable."
Here you have the 'unacceptable' vision of our Mayor for working class New
Yorkers ? jobs that pay less than $35,000. New York City's economy is
growing strongly ? but it is growing like a donut, with high paying jobs and
lower paying jobs increasing at the same time. From 2000 to 2004, New York
City's middle class (families earning between $35,000 and $150,000 per year)
declined at a rate that was four times the national average according to New
York's Fiscal Policy Institute.
The problem is that a family cannot really live on $35,000 in New York City.
Among other things, housing costs for both rentals and especially for home
buyers have increased astronomically. Take a look at the meticulously
prepared self-sufficiency standard for New York City prepared by the Women's
Center for Education and Career Advancement. In none of the five boroughs of
New York City, could a family with one adult and one child meet the basic
minimum daily expenses (housing, child care, food, transportation) on such a
salary. Between $55,000 and $60,000 per year should meet the minimum needs of
a family of four, but after living here for 10 years I don't know exactly how.
Middle Class Life at Stake in New York City
That's what makes jobs like those at New York City Transit so vital to the
city's health. According to most media reports, the average New York City
Transit worker earns between $47,000 and $55,000, while many start at as little
as $33,000. While the earnings are modest, the job comes with strong health
care benefits and a traditional defined benefit pension.
What do middle class jobs provide our city? At these wages, working families
don't have to depend on publicly funded work supports like Medicaid or Child
Health plus that are being stretched by a shrinking tax base. Middle class
families bring stability to communities and schools, and have an opportunity to
send their kids to college and even out the wealth distribution over the
long-term. Most deeply, the existence of good middle class jobs ensures that
the promise of opportunity that New York once provided to immigrants and
domestic migrants is not lost in the 21st century. New York City Transit
Authority jobs have provided such opportunity, first for Irish-Americans and
other Europeans, and now increasingly for Caribbean-American and Latino
communities. Contrary to the Mayor's assertions, low-wage workers generally
support the existence of middle-class better paying jobs because it does
provide a ladder up?rather than begrudging their better position.
What Wages Do Transit Workers "Deserve"?
Bloomberg and Governor Pataki (who actually controls the MTA) have decided to
make an all out assault on these jobs. They have basically stated that New
York City Transit workers don't deserve the salaries that they are making. Do
transit workers deserve these wages? Transit workers do thankless and dangerous
work. Bus drivers face hostile customers and murderous traffic all day.
Subway workers toil in dark, vermin-infested, century-old subway tunnels. A
mistake by a New York City transit worker can be a life-or-death mistake for
riders or for themselves. Since World War II, 132 track workers have been
electrocuted or killed by trains in the New York subways, 21 in the last two
decades.[i][i] Basic necessities, like the ability to go to the bathroom, are
a luxury for transit workers. So, too, are days off. The New York Daily News'
Errol Louis reports that NYCT workers engage in annual ritual of sleeping on
cots to request Thanksgiving Day off in person 30 days in advance as required
by their contract.
On this basis, it seems clear that these NYCT workers deserve some kind of wage
premium for this kind of "dirty job." But wages are set in the market and in a
power dynamic between labor and capital?and the question is whether TWU
members have a realistic shot at maintaining their middle class lifestyle.
Obviously, middle class life for working people is under attack in the U.S.
because of the pressures of globalization?with the most visible symbol of
this assault being the 30,000 plus workers of Delphi auto parts who are facing
massive wage cuts or layoffs (initially posed as a cut from $27/hour plus to
$12/hour or less). But, New York City Transit workers should be exactly the
kind of workers who should be able to hold on to a middle class way of life in
the 21st century. Knowledge-driven, high-wage, service-sector economies like
that of New York City depend on a web of effective mass transit. Indeed, the
recovery of the subway from its graffiti-ridden and violent past has part of
New York City's rise from the fiscal crisis of the 1970s. Because of a surge
in population and public transit usage, the MTA now has a nearly $1 billion
surplus this year. (This is even before they have finalized deals to sell
extremely valuable land development rights above train yards in downtown
Brooklyn and the West Side of Manhattan). The MTA can afford to sustain a
fair living wage for the workers they need to operate the system, and
competitive pressures should be tilting in the favor of the workers.
The Contract on the Table and Its Repercussions
The union reports that the MTA's final offer is 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5
percent. Because this represents an improvement over an initial deal of 2
percent, the media has been reporting this as a better deal than what was
initially presented. This "raise" proposal is really no raise at all. Inflation
is running at 3.5 percent in Northeastern cities, so this salary increase would
leave workers treading water. In exchange for a zero percent real raise, TWU
has been asked to accept cuts in retirement security (an increase in the
retirement age from 55 to 62) for future workers, a year after the State
Assembly passed a bill to lower the transit worker retirement age to 50.
(Indeed the union has argued that pension issues should be off the table
because they are generally the jurisdiction of the Legislature, which is an
argument backed by the Republican head of the New York State Senate). Increased
health care contributions were on the table early in the negotiation, and it is
unclear what the final deal included on this side. This contract offer comes
after the MTA accepted a three year contract that featured no raise in year one
(only a one-time $1,000 bonus) and a two percent (less than cost of living) in
2003 and 2004. That contract represented a sacrifice that many municipal
workers made during the 9-11 recession. So, the MTA has asked the TWU to stand
still on wages and accept cuts elsewhere. It is really no offer at all for an
agency with a billion dollar surplus.
If TWU accepted this contract, it would set the scale downward for all upcoming
New York municipal contracts. Other municipal workers have less leverage with
the city because their salaries are tied directly to tax revenue as opposed to
user fees. TWU should be lauded for defending conditions not just for
themselves but for future generations of transit workers, and the rest of
unionized labor in New York.
The biggest target for the MTA and their allies in city and state government are
pensions. These defined benefit pensions do represent a large liability - - but
also are a crucial bulwark against the slide towards retirement insecurity for
lower wage workers. The 401(k) model of defined benefit pensions can work for
higher wage workers who can manage to save towards a million dollars by the
time of retirement and then live off of annuities and interest. This model is
not working well for working class people and African-Americans and Hispanics.
Only 40 percent of African-Americans and Hispanics age 47-64 can expect to have
retirement income equal to fifty percent of their prior salary.[ii][ii] So, the
kind of pension security achieved by TWU is worth defending.
So, where do we draw the line in defense of middle class living and retirement
security? If the MTA gets their way, we can expect a slide in living standards
for a whole range of municipal workers. And, we can expect the race to the
bottom to continue in service sector jobs like health care and building
services that have a chance to pay decent wages to working people in a
globalized age. For this analyst and activist, at least, in New York City,
the Transit Workers Union is a place where this line is being drawn. It
remains to be seen whether the TWU will be able to organize enough external and
internal solidarity and favorable public opinion to win this battle. This is
especially true since they face stiff fines under the state's Taylor Law for
engaging in an illegal strike. But, all of us who profess a concern for living
standards and values of economic opportunity and fairness seem to owe them our
solidarity. Please do all you can ? visit www.twulocal100.org to find out
about opportunities to express solidarity. Most importantly, when your friends
and colleagues whine about the commute try to tell them what is at stake.
Andrew Stettner
Brooklyn, New York
HAVE SOME FUCKIN RESPECT.
Big Ups:
Roger Toussant, THe TWU Workers, The Ladies on the Line at JAMAICA STATION, Oriana, Ma, Skip, Los, Lida, Sa, JD, Maritza, Pa, Elsa, Liana, Sally, Fern and the LIRR.