Planning for the Strike

New York City is steeling itself for a transit strike. The thought of this shutdown causes stress from the tip of the Bronx to the far edges of the Rockaways; in response, many local papers -- the New York Post in particular, but also the Daily News and the Times -- have called on the transit workers union to reconsider, pointing out repeatedly that the strike is illegal, insisting that union leadership compromise its demands, and asking for Governor Pataki to intervene. Michael Daly, a columnist for the Daily News, implied that striking is akin to the terrorist act that killed nearly 3000 in the World Trade Center:

The conductor returned to her cab. You remembered that two of her comrades had recently been killed maintaining the system. You hoped for everyone's sake that her TA blues will remain the uniform of decent working people who keep the trains running and not the uniform of strikers who shut down the system Osama Bin Laden could not.

Finally, the NYC MTA home page has placed large banner graphics on its pages emphasizing that this is an illegal strike. In other forums, the connection is being made between the strike and a totally unrelated proposed fare increase (as a result of Bloomberg, and the state, initiating budget cuts) to $2.00 from $1.50. In general, the press, government sources, and city agencies are pointing their fingers at the union, telling working people throughout the city that, should a strike occur, the problem is not with the MTA, but with its employees.

So what does the union want? Not a strike. According to the Socialist Worker:

Major contract demands include increased health care funding, childcare, higher wages and reform of what transit workers call the MTA's "plantation mentality" disciplinary system. About 30,000 "disciplines" have been levied against transit workers in the last two years, which makes the MTA's disciplinary rate 10 times that of other transit systems. Workers in job positions held predominantly by minorities are disciplined at two to three times the rate of workers in jobs with fewer minorities.

Now the TWU is asking for 6% raises for 3 years -- down from their original request of 8%, which would have put salaries in line with the Long Island Railroad. In addition, the TWU wants a promise of no layoffs. In general the package seems to be a fair one, particularly when the MTA has been consistently unclear about the size of its budget deficit, increasing its projections in light of the strike and the proposed fare increase.

With the costs of striking extraordinarily high on all sides, there is very little real incentive for a work stoppage. No one knows this better than the TWU, which will be faced with stiff fines for striking and a nationwide wave of bad press, along with a backlash from many of NYC's citizens, who are perhaps the most reliant on public transit in the US. The country is not sympathetic to TWU's cause, or to unions in general, and they must tread carefully.

Regardless, TWU has real issues which are being ignored by MTA administrators. Striking is the only weapon -- and proving to be an effective one -- left to a Local which lost a great deal of power during Giuliani's autocratic administration, an administration that refused, summarily, to even consider a transit strike and threatened any transit workers who suggested striking with legal action. The union is showing its strength - even when the Taylor Act will dock each striking employee two days pay for every day on strike.

Ultimately the poor and middle class may pay the greatest price for the strike, although employers who do not arrange transportation for workers, then penalize them for not appearing at work during the potential strike could likely be sued for discrimination and unfair practices. But perhaps those same people can take heart in the idea that other working people, in a situation they feel is unfair, have decided to call the bluff of management and insist on better treatment.

With the press coverage is almost uniformly in favor of the MTA, not the union, it is certainly easiest to blame the workers. But even if it's easy, it's wrong. The workers are us: worried about health care and safety, trying to provide for their children. They are wielding the only stick left to them, their last line of defense against demoralizing cuts in pay and benefits. The workers of the MTA, who run trains, manage token booths, and repair tracks, are responsible for the well-being and safety of millions daily -- a job at which any subway rider can tell you they mostly excel. Cost per rider has declined throughout the system in the last few years and productivity has gone up: the direct result of human effort.

Solidarity has a personal cost -- I've got to get to the airport on Monday, and I have no idea how I'll get there without the train, and with every car service potentially booked. But the right of unions to strike is far more important, in the long term, than my ability to get to JFK on time. I'll work something out. And while I hope the MTA and TWU can work out a compromise before a strike occurs, I'll fully support a TWU strike if they have one, illegal or not, and I hope that their example -- of sticking up for the individual worker in the face of harsh criticism, of tough negotiation and clearly expressed demands -- is one that's emulated in the years to come.