Hope This ISN'T A Dupe... Question To Those In NYC...

Now, I DON'T want to get you into ANY wire-tap trouble so don't answer if you are fearful, but is anyone willing to tell me what it's like with the Strike going on??

Are 70% of the people REALLY against the Strikers??

Down here in Florida, where traffic is a NIGHTMARE this time of year... WE don't have Subways or anything like it! Wish we did. Where I live we don't even have over-passes! It's Clog, Clog, Clog all the time!

Oh, I forgot... we have a Bus System that sort of covers "some" areas!

I'm listening to a couple of city employees arguing the issue right now. It's a visceral issue.

Despite everything, I don't miss Florida ...

and it would help if the local murdoch "news" rags weren't so blatantly biased right wing.

mostly, i imagine, many new yorkers are pissed at the personal inconvenience. i mean, it is F*CKING FREEZING up here....

The union would end the strike if Pataki's hand picked a*holes who run the MTA weren't just tryin to make a name for themselves in the Puke Corporate world. The union offered to end the strije if Pataki took the pension issue off the table. Pataki said he won't deal with lawbreakers so the strike goes on. Corporations are pounding on their workers all over the country. If you want the strike to end and let the Pukes once again hack off benefits and security for working people because your personal schedule is way more important, then go ahead and join the Pukes. Of course the strike sucks for people who can't afford to pay for cabs or who earn a minimum wage. Hasn't affected the wealthy pukers at all, except they get more arrogant about being served at Tiifanys.

And it is fuc*ing freezing.

Why did the MTA get rid of one billion dollars right beforew negotiating with the TWU (union). There was more than enough money to meet even bigger demands. The TWU just asked for once to be treated fairly. That hasn't happened ini twenty five years in NYC.

I'll just buy gifts for the holidays from small stores throughout NYC after the holidays.

Granted I just had to walk 40 blocks to go to an eye appointment.

These labor union people are fighting for every worker. People have died for the right to strike against employers. I support the TWU.

NYC media is working overdrive to demonize the workers, the TWU, and it's president.

but all I'm hearing is some pretty horrible things being said about the Strikers!!

I do realize that there are handicapped people who need help, but given the fact that America only has 15% of it's people belonging to a Union, THEIR rights are terribly important.

Were it not for the Union my husband belonged to, I'm afraid he would not have been able to retire when he did with his 401K and pension plan. Since he left, Verizon took over and I understand those who had to make the switch with the company aren't as happy as they were before. Certain benefits were cut, and some simply dropped!

Some grumbling. The worst was from a guy who was pretty clearly a winger.

I am completely tolerant of the strike, even though I've had to get up much earlier than usual to catch my ride into Queens and have lost my freedom to stay as late as I usually do. Tomorrow I'm working at home. Friday and Monday we get days off for the holidays. I'm not being terribly inconvenienced. But it is a little like missing a limb, especially for those of us who have no car or bike. It's amazing how liberating public transit is in this city.

Good timing, right?

I'm going to be staying on the UWS. Any advice from the natives on what to do if the strike is still going on??

There are lots of cancellations, so same-day tickets are available w/great seats for some of the hottest shows. As long as you're already in the city, you'll be okay. It's getting from the airport that could be an issue, but traffic on the weekend shouldn't be the nightmare it is today.

Stupid me, I hadn't really thought about all the cancellations. I usually buy at the half-price tix. Downtown will be out sans subway, but I'll be within walking distance of Times Square. Any other ways to get the good tickets?

I'm flying into Islip which, under the circumstances, may actually be a lot better than LGA. LIRR will take me to Penn Station, I guess I'll need a cab to get uptown.

Find the shows you like and stop by TKTS in Times Square or phone the theatre directly.

http://www.tdf.org/index_default.html

Walking NYC streets ain't as bad as it sounds. 20 street blocks = mile or 10 avenues.

If you're getting into the city at Penn Station, you should find a cab in no time (midtown is being kept clear with the traffic restrictions) - just keep in mind that you'll have to share and you may have to negotiate the fare instead of relying on the meter.

Or bring lots and lots of cash just in case you can flag a crowded, gouging taxi.

Bring really good walking shoes, warm scarf, warm hat, ear muffs, warm gloves. Leg warmers.

It's an exciting way to see the city and NYC is actually more fun in a crisis.

I'm bringing luggage, I think I'm too old to handle that on a bike. It shouldn't be too hard to get a cab on Sunday evening, December 25th, no? I read it'll be a flat rate of $15 from Penn Station to 82nd Street where I'll be.

say, in midtown.

It should be quiet those days, anyhow, so I wouldn't worry too much. You'll probably get into some great restaurants, though. :)

Second, most people don't understand what the fuss is about. They don't get that a two-tier system is a union buster. They just don't. But, essentially, it's the same as what the Republicans are trying to introduce in American citizenship...a nationwide I've got mine, screw you system. The current employees experience no change. New hires are screwed. In citizenship, our immigrant parents had children who became American citizens by birth, but new (illegal) immigrants won't. It's the same deal.

Not to mention, once the two-tier principle is accepted, the next contract makes a third tier, then a fourth, and why should we care if the news guys get screwed? After all, we've got ours.

That's what you are not hearing. That's what the public is not hearing.

E pluribus unum. Out of the many, one. Either we all hang together or we all hang separately. Once we allow different classes of employees to work the same job......the unions are destroyed and so is the future of the American worker.

So, yeah, it's a bitter bitter pill and it will destroy too many small businesses...but this is NOT a frivolous issue.

Just remember: Republican governor, Republican mayor. Screw you, I've got mine.

Pataki, however, wants to be president. To do that, he better carry New York State. Bush couldn't. Either one. Because of New York City. If he had a brain in his head, or a smarter advisor, he'd be planning on a Christmas miracle to bring transit back to NYC.

I don't actually think Pataki is that smart, however. He's probably thinking he has to appear strong.

Let's face it, people hear the news and think they make up their own minds but their reasoning is framed and limited by the news and the people they interact with. People interact with each other a lot here--it's a vital city. The pro-striker talk is dripping out into the mainstream through a few little rivulets. But the main media channels are all freeze-dried Rightist dogma.

However, the mayor, the governor, NY1 television and FOX (not to mention WABC radio) are all blaring the "Illegal" strike mantra and painting the strikers in the darkest possible colors.

Most people know we're only hearing one side of the story, but for people to actively support the strikers they need to know more about the strikers specific demands. The mainstream is keeping this out of the news (incredibly.)

Joe sixpack says, "Everybody else has to accept increased insurance premiums, why shouldn't the Transit Workers have to?" Or, they make $45/hr., what are they complaining about (the greedy pigs!)?

But a lot of us know this is the governor doing union-busting. The Transit Workers are important people--Very Important People. To continue to attract highest level workers, the union needs to offer highest level benefits. The state is attempting to have the MTA shift costs onto the workers. The workers don't have to accept it, and most people would agree. We're "inconvenienced," though.

shouldn't they be given a "livable" wage?? ESPECIALLY since THEY do have a Union to represent them!

I heard most make an annual salary of $55,000.00 a year, that doesn't seem like "high living" to me considering WHERE they are!

In Po-Dunk, TX it would be good money, but New York, I don't think so.

That's a middle-class salary in NYC. My parents live on less than that in the Bronx. It's not high living, as you put it, but it's certainly livable. Living in Manhattan would be out of the question, but the outer boroughs (especially the Bronx and Staten Island) would be comfortable at that salary.

Keep something in mind - the starting salary for transit workers (about 35k) in New York is higher than that of the cops (26k) and not much less than that of a fully-certified new teacher (39k). Not bad for a job that requires no real physical labor, no undue workplace hazards, and no real education other than a high-school diploma.

Making $26,000.00 a year sounds pretty meager to me!

What do I know, my husband retired a couple of years ago and we're on SS now. Fortunately we did invest in our 401K and we did invest in 5 acres of Florida real estate some time back. I feel pretty lucky, considering.

We have decided to sell our vacant land though. In fact, it's for sale right now and I have my fingers crossed that the bubble won't pop before it goes.

Wanna move to Florida?? Have money, will sell!

Couldn't resist that!

LOL.

Right.

Because the dumbass cop union, that tends to lean right, sacrifices their new hires, every other union should too?

You mean like the freezing, rusting, non-secure bathrooms that female transit workers are forced to use? The high voltage cables and power that the lines use? The fact that half of the workforce has been disciplined in the last year (which says some nasty things about the working conditions...)

Being a transit worker is no picnic. You're exposed to every germ on the planet, a lot of the jobs require contact with chemicals of dubious nature, and while it may not require a bachelor's degree, it's still a job that requires OTJ.

if you can find it. Forget about kids if you make less than 75K a year. Oh, and if you retire

Manhattan is (generally) for the moneyed elite. The outer boroughs (and extreme upper Manhattan) are where the working-class people live. 55k/yr is a living wage for a family in NYC, just not in Manhattan. One bedroom apartments in a decent, blue-collar area of the Bronx go for about $800/mo, with 3BRs around $1500.

completely, but they're trying real hard. The problem is that the further outside of Manhattan you are, the longer the commute to most of Manhattan. Since the majority of jobs are in Manhattan, it becomes very difficult. There are still lots of working people in Manhattan, we're just getting crushed by the expenses.

Sure, it's inconvenient. And it's more expensive. But I still support the strikers. Fuck Bloomberg, and all of his phony walks across the Brooklyn Bridge to show he's "one of the people." Dickwad.

All the cabs in the city are running with their vacant lights on, even when they have passengers, and are taking more than one passenger at a time. The cab-sharing seems to be working pretty well, albeit with some isolated incidents of price-gouging. I've had some nice conversations with other NYers today by virtue of sharing a cab with strangers.

Don't believe the hype.

People hate the inconvenience, but they need to remember that every time workers give in we all loose. If you enjoy that 40 hour work week and OT pay then wish them well.

work week and removal of OT pay proposal was.

Not saying I do or don't side with them, just that the statement seems a bit overblown to me.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

I grew up in the Bronx, and moved away 10 years ago. I just talked to my cousin a little while ago - apparently, one of my mom's neighbors (in the Bronx) needed to go to the hospital this morning for one of her last doses of chemotherapy - and couldn't. The bus isn't running, and she can't get a cab, because the drivers are all out gouging people who were left stranded by this strike. Most people in my mom's project can't afford cars, so asking a neighbor isn't an option, either. This poor, sick woman might as well be on a desert island.

Whether you support the union or not, that's fine - that's your personal choice. But I would like to see someone acknowledge that public transit is more than a convenience in New York City - it's a lifeline. I've only seen one New Yorker post in a thread about this strike, and that person (a Manhattan-dweller) didn't seem to think it was much of a problem because she walked to work rather than taking the train. It must be nice to have the money to live that close to the central business district, and to be healthy enough to walk, but it's pretty fucking elitist to assume that everyone can.

I understand that this strike is about 33,000 workers, and the pension fund for future employees, and everything else, but they are SCREWING WITH THE LIVES of 8 million people to get what they want, and it's just not right.

and that puppy needed to get to the vet, but the MTA isn't running, and cabs are fuLL, and wiLL peopLe pLease think of the PUPPY!!?

ps: do you mind if send that story out as a chain maiL to show eviL unions are?

Are you serious? Did you even read what I wrote?

Please don't take this personally. I've just heard too many wealthy, apolitical people tell me their solutions to problems that their lack of attention or caring have allowed to grow to lethal proportions/

Who exactly is the they? The Governor, Mayor and the Board of the TWA all are multimillionaires. They could care less about the TWU or anyone in NYC for that matter. THEY could have prevented a strike in the first place. They and their friends in the House and Senate and the Republican Party will continue to make everything look like someone else is bending the people over. Congress just cut billions of dollars in Student Loans. Congress just cut billions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare. They just took a billion dollars and squireled it away before even considering negotiating with the union. They are not only screwing with the lives of 8 million people, they are screwing with the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans.


Talk about fucking elitist. People in your mom's project can't afford cars? That's the WHOLE POINT of what they are doing. If THEY really cared about you they wouldn't allow taxi drivers to charge the outrageous amount of money they do to select who they gonna pick up. We didn't get to elect the a*holes that run the MTA. The Mayor could write a check right now and make the strike go away. get real. It always sucks for the poor in NYC, and everywhere else. Guess what, thousands of people are gonna die because Congress passed a bill that allows hospitals and pharmacists to TURN AWAY people who can't make the new co-pays that will be required of people on Medicaid. Bet no one in those projects will be able to afford that, now will they? Those poor sick people might as well be on a desert island. Just like in NO and everywhere else - like in Texas where they pulled the plug on a woman because the family could no longer pay the bill - people are going to die.

Just wake up? You don't know angry,babe, and it's not at a union that's trying to protect people who will probably not have a pension at all if corporations keep doing what they are doing.

I've got mixed emotions about it. I live in Brooklyn, but I have a car, so I'm not 100% reliant on public transportation. (Though it's much more convenient than driving into Manhattan, which I did yesteray.)

Anyhow, I'm concerned about this for many reasons, but primarily for all the people who are not fortunate enough to have their own means of transportation. There will be elderly and infirm people who will suffer as a result of this strike. (I blame BOTH the MTA AND the Union for that.) I think that they should have kept negotiating for a few weeks. (Not years, like the teachers had to do.) Get mediation. If that didn't work, then strike. It just seemed that they jumped on this strike very quickly, without trying everything that they could. Call in a massive "sick-in," which is what my husband's Union did.

Right now, however, I just hope that the whole thing gets settled soon. I don't like to see businesses suffer, particularly the ones on Fulton Street in Brooklyn (just down Flatbush Avenue from where I live) that are down 90% in sales since this strike started. They are all small businesses, owned by individuals. They aren't "greedy" corporations. I just really want to see both sides sit down to the table and start negotiating once again.

On the SE it's even worse. And it's not going to get any better.

You're in Miami... SE, yes? Me? I'm SW... but we're talking Florida. And $55,000.00 in THIS town ain't that much! THIS town ranks #3 per capita in Florida. I think it's Naples, Ft. Myers... then the city I live right next to. I could be wrong about the chronology, things could have changed. Land here in my area has sky-rocketed!

But I'm not sure you're talking to me. But I do agree with you regardless if we're talking NY OR Florida... it ain't gonna get any better!

I'm talking how Florida never had any foresight to impliment some kind of efficient public transportation system.

It's just chaos!! As soon as my 93 year old mother-in-law passes away (she has Alzheimer's) we are getting an RV and to THE WOODS somewhere for some ADVENTURE!

She's been with us for almost 7 years now and We're READY!!

My husband was born here!

Just want to get away for a while... I'm still going to be around for the FIGHTING!

:evilgrin:

I was born and raised in Miami and left for ten years, living in Europe and in the SW USA. I moved back right before the 2004 election to volunteer for Kerry.

I felt so helpless watching the 2000 election while living in Arizona. Remember, it came down to 538 votes.

I recall when Florida was called FOR Gore... I was ELATED, ran next door screaming into my neighbor's window, We Won, We Won! Jumping and twirling and just beside myself... AND then....

And NOW! The Idiot and The Corrupt Ones have obliterated my vision of an America I once knew!

I will NEVER FORGET, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to EVER FORGIVE! I used to believe you should always try to forgive. It's gonna take a long, long time!

I've been a "worker bee" for many Democrats ever since McGovern! For those of us who were activists back then, what we see now is extremely difficult to swallow! Too many jagged edges and whirlwinds of nothingness! Many days it's hard to keep fighting, but it's an addiction I can't kick!

THEY NEVER won Florida either time! Sorry for the late reply, took my labrador for a late night walk. She likes this cooler weather... me too!

I couldn't believe The Daily News this morning (www.nydailynews.com) -- although they have bashed just about every other union in town up to and including teachers and hospital workers, so I guess after the shock of the front page it shouldn't have surprised me.

I hate the idea of being stuck up in Washington Heights over the weekend, but I hate the way the city, the MTA, Bloomberg and Pataki have handled this negotiation and the strike. They were out today playing nicer, but still.

I support the strike. $55,000 is a living wage in NYC for one person with a low rent and a manageable debt situation. And I oppose creating a two-tier pension/health care system. I have seen that approach in places where I have worked, and it causes a lot of resentment, and resentment eats away at productivity.

I depend on public transportation not only to get to work, but to all the other things you do in life -- classes, museums, movies, get-togethers with friends, medical appointments, etc. So I'm not going to say it has a low impact. It's massive. I have to go to sleep pretty soon because I'll gave to get up at 4;30 tomorrow morning, leave my apartment by 5:30, to get to the place where the shuttle bus my firm offers at 6:00, or, if the shuttle doesn't show, to find a gypsy van to take me downtown. Hopefully, it will get me near my place of business, and hopefully the driver will not decide to pay off all his debts at once. I'm due at my office at 9:30 and I work until 5:30. The shuttle bus leaves downtown at 6:00. Yesterday, it took us a full hour to move about four blocks.

I find most the people I talk to are pretty ambivalent: they support the union (especially when they're "educated" a bit about the workplace issues) but of course are irked by the inconvenience and, as other posters have mentioned, it has been {{{{REALLY}}}} cold here.

If you got sixty seconds of audio from most NY residents about the strike, you could probably edit it to sound negative.

Hope that helps ...

people don't like getting SCREWED all the time!

I mean we HEAR it everyday right here, so add what the WH corrupt ones are doing on top of everything else, it's bound to be frenetic!

I WON'T tell you what the temperature is where I'm living, although I did run my heater a little last night! But then down here 75 is cold to some!

All I can add is PEACE.... PEACE ON EARTH.... Good Will Toward All!

And you are right about the sixty second audio from NY residents at some point sounding negative. I sat next to two people at lunch who were talking sympathetically about the Union, but then they'd go into bitter rants about the inconvenience of it all. It was kind of funny.

If you would like to know why, check out these threads...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5662788&mesg_id=5662788

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=180516&mesg_id=180516

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=180521&mesg_id=180521

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5662640&mesg_id=5662640

I figured there HAD to be more discussion about it!