NYC Transit Strike
I don't commute, and I've already done my December trips into Manhattan, so this isn't a personal gripe. But this transit strike is .....stupid.
I usually find myself taking management's side of most labor disputes, but not always.
The crux of the problem right now is that the MTA wants to make long-term systemic changes to the pension system. This is necessary, and the way they are seeking to do it, by not touching present member's benefits but only implementing the changes on new hires is fair. I know Unions hate two-tier systems, as it theoretically erodes the Union's power, but the truth is at least when a woman applies for a toll booth position, she'll know what she's getting.
The deal on the table is more than fair, and the Union is wrong in not taking it.
That said, if I was a Union member I'd have voted to strike,
Why?
Because the MTA, in one of the dumbest and most arrogant moves I've seen in a while, squandered a billion-dollar-plus surplus it found itself with at the end of this year. And I mean squandered.
You're the MTA. Your Union contract is due. Your system, while vastly improved from the pre-Giuliani days, always needs more work. Your bathrooms, your employees facilities, etc. are in bad shape. You have billions in outstanding bonds, and you know your out-year projections are for deficits, regardless of the new contract.
You have a billion dollars.
What do you do?
Do you discount regular rider fares for a month, giving back to your customer base? Nope.
Do you set up a sinking fund for your bonds, to pay them off as they come due? Nope.
Do you dangle a one-time bonus to your employees to get the pension and retirement concessions you want? Nope.
Do you clean up workplace conditions, spending the money on making the bathrooms useable or fixing a station or two? Of course not.
What do you do if you are the MTA? You spend hundreds of millions of dollars of the surplus by slashing off-peak and weekend fares for December. Meaning, you give a bunch of the money to tourists and day-trippers.
Now, seriously, given the expense of visiting Manhattan anyway, did some moron at the MTA think that saving a potential tourist a buck or two per ride was going to spur tourism?
I wish they would have just made a big pile of cash in the middle of Central Park, and let the dogs and joggers come by and piss on it for a week or two, let the pile dry and burn it.
At least we would have had a show-- one that would have brought more tourists in than an imbecilic fare cut.
I usually find myself taking management's side of most labor disputes, but not always.
The crux of the problem right now is that the MTA wants to make long-term systemic changes to the pension system. This is necessary, and the way they are seeking to do it, by not touching present member's benefits but only implementing the changes on new hires is fair. I know Unions hate two-tier systems, as it theoretically erodes the Union's power, but the truth is at least when a woman applies for a toll booth position, she'll know what she's getting.
The deal on the table is more than fair, and the Union is wrong in not taking it.
That said, if I was a Union member I'd have voted to strike,
Why?
Because the MTA, in one of the dumbest and most arrogant moves I've seen in a while, squandered a billion-dollar-plus surplus it found itself with at the end of this year. And I mean squandered.
You're the MTA. Your Union contract is due. Your system, while vastly improved from the pre-Giuliani days, always needs more work. Your bathrooms, your employees facilities, etc. are in bad shape. You have billions in outstanding bonds, and you know your out-year projections are for deficits, regardless of the new contract.
You have a billion dollars.
What do you do?
Do you discount regular rider fares for a month, giving back to your customer base? Nope.
Do you set up a sinking fund for your bonds, to pay them off as they come due? Nope.
Do you dangle a one-time bonus to your employees to get the pension and retirement concessions you want? Nope.
Do you clean up workplace conditions, spending the money on making the bathrooms useable or fixing a station or two? Of course not.
What do you do if you are the MTA? You spend hundreds of millions of dollars of the surplus by slashing off-peak and weekend fares for December. Meaning, you give a bunch of the money to tourists and day-trippers.
Now, seriously, given the expense of visiting Manhattan anyway, did some moron at the MTA think that saving a potential tourist a buck or two per ride was going to spur tourism?
I wish they would have just made a big pile of cash in the middle of Central Park, and let the dogs and joggers come by and piss on it for a week or two, let the pile dry and burn it.
At least we would have had a show-- one that would have brought more tourists in than an imbecilic fare cut.
posted by A Red Mind in a Blue State at 6:50 AM
