The New York Transit Strike

I'm talking a stand on the transit strike in New York City: I support it.

Why? Why support a bunch of overpaid transit workers who want more benefits? Because contrary to popular "wisdom," MTA employees actually start out making $35,000 a year - before taxes - which is hardly enough to support a family in New York. The union is demanding a six percent pay raise, which would help its members make ends meet, while the MTA is trying to cut starting pay for new workers in their first ten years. Also, the Transport Workers Union was trying to protect health care benefits and a pension plan its members already have. With the MTA running a $1 billion surplus - an astonishing feat for any public authority these days, never mind a transit authority - there's no reason why they can't afford it.

The politicians and the bankers who run the MTA are trying to pit the transit workers against other working people to get a contract deal that would hurt working people. Also, this war against the strikers smacks of racism, as most transit workers are black and Hispanic. Don't believe me? Next time you ride a bus in an American city, take a good like at the driver - he will not look like Ralph Kramden, and female drivers won't look like Alice either. The media have been very crafty in making Transport Workers Union president Roger Toussaint, who is black, look like the bad guy; on one television newscast I saw, the video of Toussaint looked grainy, and the sound quality was poor due to to light static. (The fact that Toussaint has a Caribbean accent, though that shouldn't matter, doesn't help much.) Mayor Bloomberg was then shown speaking on the strike, enunciating his words in clear king's English, the audio and video both flawless.

Toussaint probably has more leverage than most transit labor leaders. Face it, Los Angeles is so autocentric that if transit workers there went on strike, no one would notice or care. In New York, where public transportation is more of a necessity than a car is, people are greatly inconvenienced when the buses and subways don't run. This should encourage transit patrons there to support the workers, but the city and its moneyed interests are attempting to deflect the blame from themselves to the union - a union that has seen workers get the short end of the stick for far too long and has had enough. They're not going to take it any more.