All because the union blokes want cheaper health care and earlier retirement than the rest of us.

The strike, the first to shut down the city’s mass transit system in 25 years, pits transit workers in a direct confrontation not only with the MTA, but with the state and city governments, the Democratic and Republican parties, and New York’s ruling establishment of Wall Street financiers and corporate CEOs. It also pits them against the trade union bureaucracy. Demonstrating the treacherous role of the union hierarchy, the president of Local 100’s parent union intervened after the breakdown of negations to urge that the MTA’s takeaway offer be accepted and warn that the strike would receive no support from the international union. ... The walkout represents the biggest class confrontation in the US in a generation. The issues at stake are not peculiar to transport workers or public employees, but reflect the general drive to destroy wages, working conditions and benefits of workers throughout the economy, from the airlines to the auto industry.

Yes, other working people will suffer. That is unfortunate.

the general drive to destroy wages, working conditions and benefits of workers throughout the economy

The workers have the power, they make the trains run. They are the ones dodging the third rail and the rats in the tunnels.

1 billion dollar surplus.

at least we know who you're willing to throw under the union bus.

They want an 8% increase EVERY YEAR for three years. They want their retirement age cut by FIVE YEARS to 50 years old.

for police, fire fighters, some transit, and certain other units, mediation is followed by interest arbitration

The final step of the impasse procedure for police, fire fighters, some transit and certain other employees, provides for compulsory interest arbitration. If the dispute is not resolved in mediation, either party may petition the board to refer the dispute to a public arbitration panel. In all cases, the arbitration panel is made up of: * One member appointed by the employer. * One member appointed by the employee organization. * One public member selected jointly by the parties, who serves as chairperson. Should the parties be unable to agree upon the chairperson, PERB will provide a list of qualified persons from which the parties must select the chairperson through an alternate striking process. Parties bear the cost of their designee and share in the costs of the public member. The panel may: * Hold hearings. * Take written and oral testimony and other evidence. * Upon joint request of the panel members representing the parties, refer an issue back to the parties for further negotiation. * By majority vote, make a determination and award which is final and binding on the parties for a period of time up to two years from the expiration date of any previous collective bargaining agreement.

if you fire the MTA employees, you will have no one to operate the trains.

I have seen nothing that indicates the union wants to lower the age to 50.

The city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority opposes a union demand to reduce the retirement age from 55 to 50...

How many of us can say we have that? How many of us will have the benefits that these workers have at 55? How many of us pay NOTHING for our health insurance?

The World Socialist Web Site salutes the 34,000 transit workers of New York City, whose courage in the face of draconian threats has provided an inspiring example of determination and solidarity to the working class throughout the United States and, indeed, internationally. The strike by transit workers is an event of international significance. Defying massive fines and even the threat of jail, the strike represents a direct challenge to a super-rich Wall Street elite that is accustomed to imposing its economic interests and its will not only on New York City, but on the world.

And the reforms came...

When's Kenny-boy up for parole? Have they even given up the pretense of prosecuting him and his like

I have seen ambulances caught in the gridlock on some of the side roads here in Queens

If they traet their workers so poorly and with so little respect that they walk off the job, it is their own fault.

They pay a feller $40k a year, full health, retirement at 55 to scrape gum off a wall or $50k to sleep in a booth and occasionally hand out Metro cards. These workers should be offering to shine the shoes of MTA officials while thanking them for the new contract

You think it's so easy...you do it.

So you believe that the already pampered TWU Local 100 members are the equivalent of the striking workers Henry Ford hired thugs against? I'm willing to bet Henry's strikers would have accepted a near $50K average salary, gold plated insurance, and early retirement and sang his praises to St. Peter when they died. Got any more examples that actually happened in this country?

As I said above, there are plently of people in NYC who would happily take the current deal the MTA is offering.

Good to hear from you. Toussaint is not my local's president. I am not in Local 100. The Queens and Staten Island Division are in the ATU, which also got fined today by the courts. Local 100 is running the show. I can't stand Toussaint, and I don't think our people are much better, but we are stuck with it. I am slowly going out of my mind. Sitting in the house all day is killing me. I am supposed to do picket duty, but I have no way of getting there. I would have to walk to Shea Stadium-picket for 6 or 8 hrs. and then walk home. I can't do that any more. I am very depressed about this whole mess. The politicians should have had this resolved in November. Everyone is getting screwed. All the Mayor is doing is adding fuel to the fire. I hope they resolve this before Christmas.

After imposing a daily fine of $1 million against the union, Transport Workers Union Local 100—an amount that will bankrupt the organization within days—New York State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones indicated that by Thursday he might impose the astonishing penalty of a $25,000 fine against each striker, with the amount to be doubled for each additional day on the picket line. This is a measure designed to turn workers and their families into homeless paupers. The transit workers already face severe sanctions under the state’s anti-labor Taylor Law, which makes public employee strikes illegal. The law calls for them to be penalized two days’ pay for every day on the picket line. Judge Jones also ordered Local 100’s lawyers to bring the union’s president, Roger Toussaint, and other top officials to his courtroom Thursday, warning that it was a “distinct possibility� that he would throw them in jail. These measures amount to state terror against a significant section of the working class of New York. They are comparable to the tactics employed by police-state regimes to crush opposition.