NYC Could Face Transit Strike Friday

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
He takes the subway everyday himself -- he knows what he is asking of them.

But he did pay for the building I work in everyday (which is, by coincidence, named after him ) so I can't make too much fun of him...

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by GePap
The City and State have asked a judge to impose $1000 a day penalties on the union leaders, and the judge would have all the power to do so.

Leaders, yes. Membership, no.

[Dinner]

Why not? The voted to illegally strike, didn't they?

I'd support the Reagan option of just firing them all and making sure they can't be rehired.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Why not? The voted to illegally strike, didn't they?

Doesn't matter.

a) Not all of them did
b) You can't fine somebody individually for a collective action unless they're in a leadership position. Each individual worker staying off the job is not breaking the law; the collective act of them all staying off the job is.

[KrazyHorse]

The city always has the right to fire all striking workers.

Good luck replacing them in any reasonable timeframe.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Why not? The voted to illegally strike, didn't they?

I'd support the Reagan option of just firing them all and making sure they can't be rehired.

Yeah ... um ... who is going to work on the subways and busses then?

[Dinner]

How hard is it to drive a bus? Subways might be a bit more difficult but we replaced the air traffic controls in a timely manner. How much harder is it to find a bus driver?

[DanS]

It would probably be tough to arrange in a relevant timeframe. If the gov't would have girded for battle, then it might have been able to replace them quickly. On the other hand, the gov't might have looked heavyhanded and like they were negotiating in bad faith.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Oerdin
How hard is it to drive a bus? Subways might be a bit more difficult but we replaced the air traffic controls in a timely manner. How much harder is it to find a bus driver?

What abgout the mechanics? The track repairmen? The signallers? The guys running the control center?

If anyone died from an inexperienced driver dying cause the MTA had to replace fired workers quickly, well, this is NYC, home to more lawyers than anywhere else save DC... You figure it out.

[Dinner]

Automechanics can fix buses as well as cars. Like I said the trains will be more difficult but there are likely people in cities other then New York who have those skills and who would relocate if they knew there were a bunch of openings especially since there wouldn't be anyone with senority over them.

[Edan]

Union Says NYC Transit Strike Is Over

[DanS]

What did the union accomplish other than getting people pissed off at them?

[Zkribbler]

Probably not much. It looks like the union leadership caved.

The only glimmer of victory would be, once the parties return to the table, if management doesn't negotiate in good faith, the union could then point to management's stonewalling and argue they have to walk off the job again.

[snoopy369]

Replacing bus drivers is a lot harder than you'd think. Not only are you talking about a LOT of people, but they have to be:

• Trustworthy - you're trusting them with an expensive vehicle, not easy to steal perhaps but easy to use illicitly, especially late at night
• Safe drivers - a bus driver takes months to learn how to be a SAFE driver. Not just the run-of-the-mill safe driver like myself, no tickets and no self-caused accidents, but to drive a much larger than typical vehicle without ANY accidents that aren't totally unavoidable.
• Know their routes - in Chicago at least, drivers take a week or two to learn the routes driving with a regular driver who knows the route they're going to be primarily on. Even experienced drivers who switch routes drive it a few times with another driver. Just starting from scratch would involve a lot of missed turns and other issues.
• Know how to stay on time - a bus must not only not be late to a stop, but not be early either. Late is better than early, but neither is good... and only an experienced driver knows what areas he can make up time in, what parts of her route are slower due to stops etc. Your transit system would run horribly for months with all rookie drivers, even if they imported them from other cities.

And that's just a few, from someone who rides but doesn't know the inner worknigs of transit - I guarantee you there are much more complex issues than I've mentioned at hand here.

[Edan]

Something unusual about this strike, from what I understand, is that the main unresolved issue is pensions for people who haven't been hired yet. Which means that the strike doesn't benefit anyone who striked.