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T-Minus 1 Hour: Transit Union Walks Out
Unless there's a late night surprise, New Yorkers
are in for an expensive, dangerous, inconvenient day, thanks to the
coordinated illegal activity of up to 33,700 Transport Workers Union
members.
From Bloomberg:
NYC Transit Union Rejects MTA Contract Offer, Leaves Talks
Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- New York City transit union officials rejected the latest contract offer by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and have left the negotiating table, an MTA spokesman said.
"The MTA has put a fair offer on the negotiating table,'' said Tom Kelly, an MTA spokesman. "Unfortunately that has been rejected by the union. They advised us they would leave the building and go to the union hall.''
Of some consolation is the fact that the city will accrue fines receivable of up to $843.5 million ($1 million from the TWU and $25,000 from each striking employee), which will double every day they remain on strike. That's more than $12 billion by week's end.
Sure, the illegal strike will compromise the city's tourism, public safety, and the daily lives of its millions of citizens, but at least it'll offset those nasty deficit projections.
Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg didn't mix words in their comments earlier today.
"A strike is illegal. Let me just reiterate that," said Bloomberg. "A strike is illegal, and the city and state, courts, everybody is going to enforce the law. And anyone that thinks that they can just go break the law is sadly mistaken."
"There's a reason it's illegal, because of its impact on the people, eight million plus people who need our mass transit system to get around, not just to get to work but to get to see a doctor or to respond to an emergency," said Pataki. "That's why the law makes it illegal and that's why the law has very real penalties for those who break it."
Here's hoping Bloomberg and Pataki draw inspiration from Ronald Reagan, Ed Koch, and Rudy Giuliani in their continued resistance to the union's brazenly illicit tactics.
Further: Official contingency plan resources:
Previously:
No Progress on Transit Negotiations
Bracing for Bedlam
Bloomberg Steps Up
New York's Looming Illegal Transit Strike
Handcrafted by Flip on December 20, 2005 |
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Photo Courtesy: Yahoo.com/AP Staff JULIE JACOBSONIt looks as if the New York Transit Workers Union, part of the ever-thinning AFL-CIO, is going to strike tomorrow, raising ninth-circle-type chaos across the five boroughs. I'll have a tough time getting... [Read More]
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