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  #41  
Old 12-22-2005, 12:36 AM
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Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

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How do you propose that they bargain for pay raises? If they can't strike, WHY SHOULD THE CITY PAY THEM.

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Guess what NON-LAZY people do, they find ANOTHER job
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  #42  
Old 12-22-2005, 12:49 AM
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Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

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If they could fire them an replace them, don't you think they would have done that already.

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The MTA is trying to negotiate a settlement without acting as irrationally as the union. The union better hope that higher authority doesn't step in, or they are toast.

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MTA work is [censored] [censored] work that usually causes health problems for workers. Most people don't want to do it, and certainly not for bad pay.

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You cite this without evidence. Another poster earlier cited 30 applicants for every MTA job opening, also without evidence. I believe him, also without evidence. Somebody is getting $50K a year for sitting in a toll booth making change and selling subway tokens. The major health threat he faces is gluteous-more-maximus. You think it would take more than a New York minute to find a replacement for him?

The TWU has gotten away with this crap before, in a time when the economy was fat and happy, and no one wanted to offend anyone. Times have changed, and the rare enlightened labor leaders are changing too. The cavemen in charge of the TWU are obsolete.

If they started firing illegal strikers, the only problem would be people getting hurt in the stampede of applicants for their jobs.
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  #43  
Old 12-22-2005, 12:52 AM
lehighguy lehighguy is offline
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Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

Just because something has been a law for a long time doesn't make it a good law. Take an objective look at the law, what purpose it serves, what problems it causes.

Does the law achieve its objective? Why or why not?
Should it continue to be in existence?

Clearly, in my mind, it has failed because the law is fundamentally flawed.
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  #44  
Old 12-22-2005, 01:08 AM
lehighguy lehighguy is offline
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Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

Think of the following. The city decides it isn't going to buy fire resist gear for firefighters. Its going to close down firehouses. It is going to get rid of death benefits for firefighters who die on the job.

Should they still be forced to go to work? What determines if a union is being greedy or if they are making reasonable requests? You? Or maybe the union and management should be able to negotiate since they actually have a clue about the work and conditions. Maybe we should butt out of thier business. If union demands get completely out of control, they can replace the laborers with scabs.

Meanwhile, with the law in place, why shouldn't the city do all of the above things in the first paragraph. What is the consequence if the union isn't satisfied? Nothing. Give them one reason to give up on a single point.

If my company could force me to work under penalty of huge fines and jailtime, then they would probably cut my pay in half. After all what would I do about it?

Your right, when people took the job they knew this regulation was in place. But they also had a different contract. The whole reason this is a problem is their contract is up and they have to renegotiate. I don't think anyone would have a problem if the law stated, "if you sign a five year contract you aren't allowed to strike during those five years." People have no clue what the contract will be like five years after they start work, and it is very difficult to just up and leave a job after working there for five, ten, or fifteen years. A major portion of thier compensation is retirement and medical benefits that are closely linked to years of service. If they quit, they lose everything.

Knowing this, the employer has major power over future contract negotiations. Conditions that were once acceptable can be withdrawn by management with virtual impunity. The worker is caught in a jam. The new contract is different then what he signed on for, he can't quit, and he can't strike. When you put people in a situation like that, there isn't a whole lot they can do.
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  #45  
Old 12-22-2005, 01:20 AM
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Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

LOL are freaking kidding me, tell me lehighguy that this is bad pay and benefits....

SUBWAY-TRAIN OPERATOR starts
(yes green means go, red means stop, ok thats end of day 1 of your training)$52,644 a year,

5% RAISE EACH OF THE NEXT 2 YEARS
0000000000000 out of pocket for health insurance

and oh my god you have to wait till your 55 get your pension


these people are real freaking pathetic.....

http://www.nysun.com/article/24530
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  #46  
Old 12-22-2005, 01:36 AM
lehighguy lehighguy is offline
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Posts: 590
Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

I don't know the specifics of thier contract or specific jobs. But I do know about my grandfather that worked for the MTA most of his life.

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. A lot of these guys don't make it long after 55 because it screws up thier health. But I haven't seen any cameras going down into the pit or the tunnels.

I suspect that maybe the best people to determine if pay and benefits for the work are sufficient are the actual employees, union officials, and MTA officials. We should let them do this without interfering.
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  #47  
Old 12-22-2005, 01:48 AM
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Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

sorry last time i was in NYC i don't remember seeing the train operators looking like they came out of a coal mine
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  #48  
Old 12-22-2005, 01:53 AM
lehighguy lehighguy is offline
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Posts: 590
Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

You didn't see much of anything then. You really don't know what a majority of the 33,000 transit workers do. You haven't been in the pit or in the tunnels. Is the conductor job part of a rotation, is it based on senoirity, how does one get it? Do you have to do other jobs first? Is it done by lottery?

You don't have a [censored] clue do you. You've never done the work. You don't know any of the union regulations. You don't know how people get what jobs or how compensation is determined. You don't know about accident rates of health concerns.

For someone that knows jackshit about the situation, you sure think your a freaking expert. Why don't you let the actual experts, the union and the MTA, who actually know what they are talking about, come to an agreeement without interference by people without a freaking clue.
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  #49  
Old 12-22-2005, 02:08 AM
Andrew Fletcher Andrew Fletcher is offline
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Default Re: Walking the Picket Line

As an aside, I think working at McDonalds most likely sucks really hard core. You'd have to pay me a ton of money to do it.
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  #50  
Old 12-22-2005, 02:15 AM
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Default Re: Walking the Picket Line



Union worker having their cake and eating it [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
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