Seems pretty clear to me. I guess I don't understand the union mentality (I've never been in one, nor needed one for that matter). When basically unskilled workers (that are EXTREMELY replacable), make unreasonable demands (and break the law in the process)...bye bye!

retiree pensions are what's happening. If they allow new workers only 401k then it'll spread to other NYC unions.

Bloomberg may try to charge the union the City's $30M/day ot etc cost.

And Al Sharpton. Where's Al ?

Wait...

Has anyone ever seen Eliot Spitzer and Al Sharpton together?

I think they are THE SAME PERSON.

These guys suck. Making very good money with a high school education, retiring earlyw/ full medical, retiring at 1/2 pay. The son-of-a-***** who runs the damn thing is only talking about "respect" and "dignity". I say pull 1000 names a day out of a hat and start firing them right away. I am in this for the for the long haul. I walked 3 hours yesterday and 1-1/2 so far today. Then I am off till the weekend and getting my bike fixed.. And what the f@#k is with management? What are they doing? Every pencil pusher should be driving the city buses 10 hours a day!

From the WSJ - Best of the Web Today - December 20, 2005

Crush This Union
We won't be traveling today, because of "a blatantly illegal act of economic sabotage by a union so selfish that it is willing to destroy one of the most important business weeks in the city in a last-ditch attempt to preserve privileges that most private sector employees can only dream of--like the ability to retire at age 55 with a full pension, or the ability to not to contribute at all to health insurance costs," as the New York Sun aptly describes it.
On calling the illegal strike, Roger Toussaint, the French-sounding boss of the Transport Workers Union, declared, "This is a fight over dignity and respect on the job, a concept that is very alien to the M.T.A. [Metropolitan Transportation Authority]. Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected." Well, we're unfailingly polite to bus drivers and subway conductors, but somehow we don't think that's what Toussaint has in mind. "Respect" is a euphemism for "greed."

The Sun offers some good advice to state officials:
If the MTA moves even a scintilla toward the union's negotiating position as the result of this strike, it would reward the union's illegal behavior and send to the dozens of other unions who do business with the state, the city, and the public authorities a message of appeasement--that if you want a better contract, go on strike, even if it is against the law. . . . The right move for the MTA now--the only move, if it is going to avoid a strike every time a contract is up for renegotiation--is to take an extremely hard line with the Transport Workers Union Local 100. As a first step, the MTA could refuse to negotiate with this union until the workers are back on the job. If that fails, the authority can begin hiring and training permanent replacement workers. The strikers mustn't be permitted to escape the full penalties of the Taylor Law, which include docking workers' pay and jailing the union leaders.

Over the long run, Sun columnist John Avlon notes, many of these scofflaw workers could be replaced by machines:
Already, trains in Paris, Cairo, and Calcutta operate with computerized or automated systems. In Paris, the Meteor Project was launched in 1998, with an automatic piloting system that controls the train line's traffic, regulates speed, manages alarm devices, and allows for traffic of automatic and traditional conductor trains on the same line. There have been no serious accidents reported since this system deployed in the late 1990s, and more than a billion people have been transported. Computers make the trains run on time and they don't threaten to walk off the job. All of us are replaceable, but some are more quickly replaceable than others.

New York's Gov. George Pataki, though not seeking re-election next year, is said to be eyeing a presidential run in 2008. As John Fund notes in today's Political Diary (subscribe here):
The rest of the country will be watching to see whether Mr. Pataki has the nerve to face down a rebel union that is sowing havoc in the country's financial nerve center. In 1981 a determined President Ronald Reagan stood up to the striking air traffic controllers union and set the tone for the remainder of his presidency. The governor could do worse than to read up on that history.
If you live in "the rest of the country," count yourself lucky, for you almost certainly have a car. Spiking gas prices may be an annoyance, but at least you know you can always get where you want to go.

I really can't see how anyone can support this strike. If you want to support the union then fine, but they are breaking the law. Period. All you liberals who are trying to jump on Bush for his wiretaps should take a hard look in the mirror if you are supporting this union.

Physicians are prevented from formally unionizing because a doctor's strike would be a disaster. So we get hammered by HMOs, hospitals, etc because we cannot collectively bargain. I'm not *****ing, but if the law says you can't strike then you can't strike, PERIOD.

Having lived in NY and having used said mass transit. I am glad I do not live there right now. I am also glad I live somewhere that has no mass transit in place where I would grow dependant on it. I cannot fathom the mess NYC is right now.

This is an argument to computerize the entire subway system as mentioned in the WSJ. I would not be suprised to see steps being made after this debacle.