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-   -   Media Coverage of Transit Strike (http://archives2.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=402856)

lehighguy 12-21-2005 03:42 PM

Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
The unions benefits and pay have been pretty widely covered. I read about them in the NYT. I'd say 95% of coverage I've seen has been anti-union.

But do they cover the working conditions? There is a reason they get paid more then joe blow in McDonalds. You have to go into the pit, get under some train, breath in all sorts of god awful crap that [censored] up your lungs, lie there welding some [censored] in the most awful conditions. My grandfather used to come home from work covered from head to toe in black soot. He wouldn't let anyone touch him. It was so ingrained it was impossible to get out.

The health conditions are horrible. The work is horrible. The conditions down in the tunnels are completely unsafe. But I haven't seen any cameras going down into the pit or the tunnels.

The Don 12-21-2005 03:54 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
It is really tough for me to comment on the status quo since I believe the city monopoly on transportation to be an abomination (for obvious reasons which we can see now). I agree in a sense, I don't favor the union, but I agree that the media should stop viewing the MTA workers (the individuals, that is) as slaves -- people who have are forced to work at a job even if they are unsatisfied with their wages/conditions.

Why does the media never mention that the city monopoly is the reason for this mess, not the motives of the workers?

lehighguy 12-21-2005 04:50 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
When I quit my job a few weeks ago, I didn't have to pay a $25,000 a day fine for not comming into work. I don't see how you can't consider it slavery when you either come to work or they destroy your entire life within a week.

12-21-2005 05:00 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
The major media outlets are all owned by huge multi-national corporations.

Of course they are anti-union.

As labor loses more and more of its power, the super rich will get richer while the middle class will disintegrate.

12-21-2005 05:02 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
So you are generally a free-market guy unless the issue hits home? Would you become anti-free trade all of a sudden if a family member lost a job to foreign competition?

lehighguy 12-21-2005 05:03 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
Some of us are trying to have a conversation. We don't think there is a massive corporate conspiracy. We think the world is complex.

Riverman 12-21-2005 05:05 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
This is a pretty hollow appeal given the tone of most of your posts, in which your tone is one of pragmatism with a splash of arrogance. Typical of economic conservatives: free market is the best until it negatively affects me or someone I care about.

lehighguy 12-21-2005 05:07 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
Huh????

12-21-2005 05:08 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
[ QUOTE ]
This is a pretty hollow appeal given the tone of most of your posts, in which your tone is one of pragmatism with a splash of arrogance. Typical of economic conservatives: free market is the best until it negatively affects me or someone I care about.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was this response meant for me? I was questioning lehigh's devotion to the free-market because he switched sides on unions just because he has family members in them.

lehighguy 12-21-2005 05:18 PM

Re: Media Coverage of Transit Strike
 
Switched sides on unions? What side? Unions and labor in general are part of the free market. The negotiation of wages is a vital part of capitalism.

When the government comes in and FORCES one side to capitulate that is interference in the free market. The problem here isn't the free market, it is governmental interference. The union and management, in any situation, should be allowed to negotiate without interference.


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