The End of the NYC Transit Strike

Just as I was writing on how to end the NYC Transit Strike, online news popped up that it is ending.  I hope it is true that the Transit Authority did not negotiate during the strike or make concessions in order to get this illegal action ended.  Such negotiations amount to making concessions in return for ending an illegal action.  This is not acceptable and leads to more illegal actions.

The penalties against the striking workers should be enforced and the fines levied on them should be collected.  Union leaders should still be prosecuted.

I’m not saying all this because I’m a grinch.  If New York and the Transit Authority don’t uphold the law against strikes by public workers, the City will face many more such actions.  It’s significant that, although the Transit Workers Union’s own parent union did not support the strike, the New York City teachers union did.  The City has tough negotiations ahead with teachers, fireman, police and other unionized city workers.  They all have a right to negotiate.  There is a mediation and arbitration procedure for impasse.  But members of all of these groups knew that they waived their right to strike when they took the jobs they did.

Reports that the Transit Authority backed down on most of its pension-related demands are troubling.  The next generation is going to have a huge struggle to make good on the pensions – public and private – which have already been promised. Private companies now have to disclose these liabilities – really loans from the future. The law is changing so that government will also have to make full disclosure of how mortgaged we are.  Politicians and public boards (and private companies) must stop making new unfunded promises so that the old ones can be kept.

Prior to the air traffic controllers strike, the federal government had routinely caved in to illegal strikes and threats of strikes by not only air traffic controllers but also postal workers, customs inspectors, and other unionized federal groups. 

Jailing union leaders doesn’t work.  It just makes them into martyrs.  Not a good plan even if satisfying and just.  Fining striking workers and their unions doesn’t work because amnesty always seems to be a part of the final settlement.

President Reagan gave the controllers a few days to return to work and fired those that didn’t.  These threats have stopped.  BTW, federal workers ARE well compensated nevertheless.

I don’t know the applicable New York labor law (or much other law, for that matter).  It may well be that a court decision would have been necessary to establish that workers who violate a condition of work which they have agreed to – no strikes – can be summarily fired.  In the extreme, it may have been that the City Council and/or the New York Legislature would have had to act.  If laws have to be changed for the next strike, they should be.

I don’t think many striking transit workers would have stayed away if a deadline had been set.  That means that not many would have been fired which is a good thing both for them and for us.  If I’m wrong, New York would have suffered through an extended retraining period in order to replace fired workers.  However, the nation got through a period of training new controllers and, with all due respect, it’s got to be easier to train transit workers.

Despite this rant, I hope you and everyone else has a very happy holiday.

Comments

[Mr. Floyd]

R. Cohen:

First of all, Tom is one of the few bloggers who don't simply rant. ALL of his posts are backed up with evidence to support his sentiments. Secondly, he never professes to be unilaterally correct, and is the first one to illustrate counter points to his positions.

Secondly, Roger Toussaint is desperate to justify his existence. There's no need for this sort of thing anymore. These people HARDLY have a difficult jobs. Many are rude, resentful and down right lazy. They have a false sense of entitlement. You dont like it, too bad - don't take the job. Where's my retirement at 55 - where's yours?

They should all be fired. Then they can bang the table like their leader. Boo hoo.

It's not 1890. There is (for better or worse) a global economy. You need to adjust your views to account or the present day circumstances. That's how companies survive; not by being happy with the status quo. These unions are obsolete. We can't protect pourselves from other countries. I bet there are MILLIONS of folks who'd be happy to operate the rails for miniumn wage, no health insurance, and not feel that they're ENTITLED to retire at 55. These people are absurd. What's worse is that their negligent conduct is endangering the lives of New Yorkers.

There's nothing wrong with being a bus driver. It's a noble profession. But face facts, we live in the reality we create for ourselves. You want the goodies? Then aim higher. If not, be happy with your job, or move on and stop complaining.

I LOVE what yor unions have done to the auto industry in the U.S. The Cadillac -once the crown jewel of GM. Tomorrow, they'll spin it off to a Chinese entity.

Everyday I drive over a small bridge in Weehawken, NJ. The union shop that's doing the work has dragged 2 weeks worth of workout for 8 MONTHS! In all seriousness, I'd be able to chip this concrete away with my TEETH quicker than these idiots can do with machines. I wonder how they feel to look out across at the Empire State building and realize that the most iconic edifice in the world was COMPLETED in the same time that it's taking them to saw-cut and patch concrete?

Change the locks on the subway stations and persoanlly name each o the 37,000 strikers as defendants on the legal papers.

Everyday a little slice o America is lost, and unions have the icing all over their fat, lazy faces!

[Brian Horey]

R. Cohen:

The days of public employee unions being the oppressed working masses have been dead for a long time.

The reason the strike received so little support, and thus the union caved after three days, is that the average working stiff is looking at the average transit worker pay package and deciding they are damn well payed for largely unskilled work. Here are the facts about TWU compensation (source http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/59594.htm ) :

"1) The workers are already well paid compared to their private-sector counterparts. This is true for both wages and fringe benefits.
The most numerous workers are bus operators (paid an average of $23.65 per hour), train operators ($25.02), station agents ($21.91), cleaners ($20.39) and conductors ($22.01). With overtime and other differentials, even the lowest-paid workers average nearly $46,000 a year; the bus operators average nearly $63,000.
These wages are higher than for the same jobs at every other large city mass-transit system in the nation, except Boston. They also are above average wages for private-sector jobs in New York with similar educational requirements. For example, private-sector ticket agents and truck drivers average less than $19 per hour and janitors and cleaners average less than $13."

But, you ask, what about the benefits?

They have first dollar health care coverage for which they pay not a dime. I know of no one in the private sector with health coverage like this. I run a small business in Manhattan and have health care coverage with a $5000 deductible and a $10,000 out of pocket provision and pay a premium of $800 per month to cover my family.

Well what about pensions? They have a defined benefit plan (which is protected against any reduction by the state constitution) that allows them to retire at age 55 with 25 years on the job. Met anyone in the private sector with that kind of deal? Mainstream retirement benefits in the real world (as opposed to the politically protected public sector) is a defined contribution plan with the expectation of retirement at 65. The MTA asked the union to take a baby step toward the mainstream by moving the retirement age to 62, only for new workers, (remember that life expectancy is now approaching 80) so this can hardly be called draconian. The TWU actually had the chuzpah to ask for a retirement age of 50. Do they really expect us to take that seriously?

So how did the negotiations go, who went for the nuclear option? (Abby, please read the link below you will find it very educational) The MTA moved off its original position in every single element of the negotiation, in some cases more than once - here's a summary of how the talks went: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/376411p-319845c.html. And they were essentially negoatiating with themselves as the union never made any formal counter proposals. If there is a charge of bad faith negotiating to be made, it's pretty clear who the culprit is. Here's what the head of the TWA (the local union's parent) had to say: "I personally spoke before the Local 100 Executive Board when it met on the morning of Dec. 20, and told them that I would not approve this strike. I told them that the only road to contract victory for the membership was not by strike but continued negotiation." ( http://www.twu.org/ )

So the average New Yorker is looking at this set of facts and seeing reality for what it is. This is a very well compensated work force whose wages are paid predominantly by an elaborate series of special taxes on a group of people (New Yorkers) who are the most heavily taxed people in the country. The message from the union was we want your taxes raised even more so that we can continue to retire at 55. (Please, no comments about the MTA surplus - it is an accounting fiction - if you think otherwise you are demonstrating your fiscal naivete)

At the end of the day, TWU workers have little if anything to complain about in terms of their compensation and their abrupt decision to stop negotiating and move forward with a strike, despite considerable movement by the MTA in negotiation, shows exactly how little concern they have for the customers who are the reason they have a job in the first place. The characterization of them as thugs by the mayor was quite apt.

You are right Tom, every last dollar of fines and penalties should be collected or we will face similar nonsense down the road. If only the politicians in New York had the gumption to hire replacement workers! It would completely change the labor dynamic in New York and the extortion of people like Roger Toussaint would stop in an instant.

This will surely not be the last time we see labor disputes over retirement benefits in New York. The Citizens Budget Commission, of which I am a trustee, has done excellent work on the state of public employee compensation and benefits. The summary takeaway is that public employees have benefits the rest of us would kill for and generally receive wages that are higher than their private sector counterparts in similar functions. For a deep dive see this link: http://www.cbcny.org/retirementbenefits.pdf

The most positive outcome of this strike is that brought the details of the public sector workers' shangri-la front and center. Private sector workers will rightly ask why their already-highest-in-the-land taxes need to be raised to support an even richer pay package for this group.

PS: Abby, if you think this strike had no impact on public safety you are sorely mistaken. I am very glad that no member of my family needed to make a trip to the hospital this week.

[Abby]

I don't know where I come down on this Tom, but I think that R. Cohen's point is that back when the labor movement was weak, it routinely had to violate the law, because the law was stacked against them. The goons came in to bust up illegal unions when workers had no right to organize. Some people see this as part of a tradition of civil disobedience.

I would be entirely against the police or nurses striking. The MTA is not responsible for public safety in quite the same way.

I am too tired to look this stuff up, but it seems to me that there was some evidence that the MTA was negotiating in badd faith.

[Mr. Snitch!]

Everyone who has posted on this strike has gotten at least one rant from someone like Cohen. We study history, despite the condescending Cohen's accusations to the contrary. We also study the present day labor situation, which is quite different from the 'whitewashed 'history' Cohen and his ilk are mired in.

One more thing. If (and it's a big "if") Cohen really cares for unions, a piece of advice - he won't change many minds with his contemptuous attitude, although he will, for sure, add to the animosity towards them that this strike exacerbated.

Of course, if all Cohen wants to do is demonstrate his moral superiority, why he's certainly proved that, hasn't he?

[Tom Evslin]

R. Cohen:

Always glad to have comments but don't think you read what I wrote very well. I am not anti-union; I am for both employers and employees obeying the law. This strike was illegal even according to the Transit Worker's parent union.

Unions had an important role in American and world history. That certainly doesn't mean that they are above criticism or that they can indulge with impunity in illegal behavior.

[R Cohen]

Do you or did you ever have a five day work week? Do you or will you ever receive social security benefits? How about vacation -- is that something you've ever enjoyed? How about occupational safety protrections?

FYI these were all brought to you courtesy of the struggles of the labor movement. They weren't manna from heaven. Organized labor fostered certain rules and norms that we now take for granted -- ones that we are loathe to surrender. Study a little history instead of just ranting -- and not the official whitewashed history but what really happened.