The wind cried uncle

Well that's over with. Now we can all stop complaining about our contingency plan nightmares, and get back to complaining about our shitty subway commutes. Order is restored.

I purposely didn't weigh in on the strike. It's darn hard to pick a side when one greedy, corrupt corporation is trying to take advantage of a mismanaged, equally corrupt organization. They all can suck it as far as I'm concerned.

I will say, however, that I can't totally get on board with those who are of the opinion that the workers were demanding too much. The whole, "Who do they think they are...NOBODY gets guaranteed pay raises, full benefits, pension plans..." line of thinking. Just because big business has made it their hobby to pay people as little as they can get away with and not provide any reliable security for their future; have outsourced and freelanced and automated the career professional into obscurity; doesn't mean we should all roll over and accept abominable wage and job insecurity as our fate. Yes, some MTA employees make more than and have better benefits than, say, teachers. Which is why the teachers union should continue to fight like hell for above subsistence wages, better benefits and full pensions as well. Is a teacher's job worth more than a subway conductor's? I don't know...how much did you enjoy your six mile walk to work? Should the transit workers have been satisfied with their whopping 45-60k a year salaries? Well, let's see; they live in a city where a studio apartment costs a third of a million dollars...hmmmm, you tell me.

My problem wasn't with WHAT they were asking for, it was when, and how, and why, and through whom. And I would have been all Yay Union! and Down with The Big Meanies! if I thought for a second that their goal was to fight the good fight to restore what have traditionally been (and damn-well should be) basic provisions for the career employee.

But then again, I'm just a socialist commie type who thinks things like health care and Social Security are the right of every American. So what do I know.

Posted by Antigeist at December 23, 2005 11:13 AM