posted on Dec, 20 2005 @ 03:44 PM
New York transit workers went on strike this morning threatening to throw the city into commuter chaos. A spokesman said that transit workers were
tired of not being treated with respect. A court ruled that the strikers were breaking the law and the union will be fined one million dollars a
day.
www.boston.com
The city's subway and bus workers went on strike Tuesday for the first time in more than 25 years, stranding millions of commuters, holiday shoppers
and tourists at the height of the Christmas rush. A judge promptly slapped a $1 million-a-day fine on the union.
State Justice Theodore Jones leveled the sanction against the Transport Workers Union for violating a state law that bars public employees from going
on strike.
Attorneys for the city and state had asked Jones to hit the union with a "very potent fine" for defying the law.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
In the eighties, when air traffic controllers went on strike, Reagan fired them all after giving them a forty-eight hour warning to return to work.
I'm not sure that Mayor Bloomberg will react as severely, but the union is not gaining very much sympathy among New Yorkers, by some reports, by
taking this action. Some experts note that the transit workers contract is far better than what the average American can expect in these times and is
really an anachronism. Many much more highly educated and more highly skilled workers don't have benefit packages that even approach what these
workers receive.
Yet, we have to consider if this strike is about more than just pay and benefits and goes to the heart of unions in America and the decline in their
overall power over the last several decades. Some would argue that rampant corruption in the unions has caused their decline, while others would
argue that this is a plot designed by corporate America.
Related News Links:
abcnews.go.com
www.forbes.com
today.reuters.co.uk
economictimes.indiatimes.com
[edit on 2005/12/20 by GradyPhilpott]