Strike!

Today is the first transit strike in NYC in 25 years. That meant all the cabs are booked solid and Sarah and Saejin couldn't get a cab to the airport to fly home today. Instead they had to walk about 50 blocks south to Grand Central to try to get a shuttle bus to LaGuardia.

Their flight isn't until 6 p.m. tonight but they decided to start walking before lunchtime, just to make sure they got a bus in time for the flight.
Here they are bundled up for that long walk.
















I did pretty well in my MBA negotiations class and I have to say that in my educated opinion, the MTA and the city are doing a lousy job.
First of all, the MTA had about a $1 million surplus heading into negotiations and instead of putting that toward the emergency training the union wants ... or just shutting up about it ... they made a big, public display of giving half-price rides for the holiday season. Why? It's unlikely that cut rate rides will encourage more people to ride, or that it's even a goal to get more people onto an already busy system.
Second, I've read that the average salary of the union workers is $55-62k a year, and their position was demanding 8 percent annual raises. They also haven't had to pay anything for their health care, or for their pension, and they've been eligible for full pension at 55 years old. Seems to me the MTA could easily say "These people are making a good living for a low skill job, and nobody gets free health care and free pension any more, particularly government employees."
Third, Bloomberg had weeks to prepare for this strike. His contingency plan is an elaborate pricing structure for taxis. Since it's illegal for the transit workers to strike, why didn't he have thousands of replacement workers trained and ready to work? Instead, they keep talking about how they can fine strikers $25,000 a day, but that doesn't keep the city moving.

If this is how they've handled it so far, I'm not optimistic this will be settled soon.

Making it a bigger drag, John had a lunch meeting today with one of the editors of the New Yorker -- and he had to cancel because the strike is lousing up his commute and he doesn't have time to take a lunch.

Guess we'll be staying close to home today. I have a breakfast meeting scheduled in the Village tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers that something's happened. Otherwise, I think it's going to be a 20 dollar cab ride down there, assuming I can get a cab.





Key issues in the NYC transit strike

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Key issues:

PENSIONS: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority originally wanted to raise the age at which new employees become eligible for a full pension from 55 to 62. The union objected. The MTA later agreed to allow pension eligibility at 55 for new employees, but asked that they contribute 6 percent of their salaries for their first 10 years of employment.

WAGES: The MTA had proposed annual raises of 3 percent. The union wanted considerably higher pay increases; a later MTA offer included annual raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent.

HEALTH: The MTA wants new employees to contribute 1 percent of their salary to pay for health insurance. Transit workers currently do not have to pay anything for health insurance.

SECURITY: The union wants disaster-preparedness training, following transit system bombings in Madrid and London.

HOLIDAYS: The latest MTA proposal added the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.