Message to New York City Transit Workers: Work or Get Fired

by: Steve Yuhas

At 3am Tuesday morning transit workers belonging to the Transport Workers Union began shutting down New York City and stranding workers in other trades at their homes and offices making them unable to earn a living or return home because union demands were not met.  America’s largest city relies heavily on public transport and for a group of union workers to be able to have such a large impact on a city’s economy and the economy of every person who counts on the system to get to and from work is beyond reason.  Transit workers in New York City should be given a choice: return to work immediately or forfeit your job forever.

The strike in New York City is a symptom of a larger problem when labor unions organize in municipalities and brandish more power than those they are supposed to serve and who pay their salaries.  The days of unions should have been gone when the rust belt in the Midwest began rusting, but for cities, states and even the federal government there are unions at the helm who can affect every person’s way of life and the New York City transit strike should shine a light on the problem of government employee unions.

It would be one thing if the florists of New York City decided to get together and form a union because people can go without flowers for months and the absence of florists would not have an effect on the lives of other people.  The same would be true of burger flippers, cashiers at one grocery chain or discount store or any of the other services not offered by the government for the benefit of the people; particularly when it is the average commuter who is paying the bloated salary of the typical public employee.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the strike by transit workers and subsequent sympathy strikes by private bus lines would damage the New York City economy by some $400 million a day and leave New Yorkers stranded.  Bloomberg added that the strike was "a cowardly attempt by Roger Toussaint [of the union] and the TWU to bring the city to its knees to create leverage for their own bargaining position."

While commuters lined up at various subway stations across New York; transit workers held signs saying "We Move NY. Respect Us!"  So what do they consider disrespect?  The transit authority offered to give raises to transit workers amounting to 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent annually, but the real issue is that transit workers want platinum plated pensions versus the gold ones they already have.

For their part the striking workers are taking a huge risk at striking because it is illegal for transit workers to strike and a court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon when a judge could order workers back to work or begin the process of fining them what amounts to two days wages for each day they strike.  It is a gamble that striking workers seem willing to take; at least for the day, but New Yorkers are not sympathetic to striking workers.

WNBC, the New York City NBC affiliate, quoted Eddie Goncalves who lives in Queens and works in Manhattan, “they should all get fired,” he told the reporter.  And they should.

But what of those people who cannot afford alternate ways to work?  It is my feeling that if the transit workers are found guilty of breaking the law and begin incurring fines after putting so many New Yorkers out of work or making the young unable to attend school or the old unable to get to doctor’s appointments; or even regular Joes who need to get to work – a class action suit should be filed against the workers as individuals for all that individuals lose to this ridiculous strike.

It is quite likely that a judge will order the workers back to their jobs, but in what has become common place in cities across America there are far too many public workers deciding public policy and throwing districts, cities and authorities into debt.  San Diego is such a city where billions of dollars are at play in a pension system that rivals the golden parachute for secretaries who work for the city for 20 years and now the transit workers in New York have decided that they will make it impossible for people and tourists to make it around the city – simply because they want to.

Public worker unions should be abolished and the inmates should stop running the asylum into the ground.  If people who drive trains and buses or those who work at the motor vehicles department do not want to work there to serve the people of the city or state, they should get a job in the private sector making widgets and earning the money they deserve for their unskilled labor.  If they do not like their pay, benefit packages or retirement accounts they can and should leave the employ of the people and work a regular job like most people do.

The days of busting up unions are long overdue and the strike in the New York City transit system is evidence of that.  Employees in New York should be fired and workers who would like to be over paid for taking tickets or driving trains that monkeys could drive should immediately be brought in to take their place.

There is a sign in one subway system in New York City that says that the subway is closed due to the strike and it ends with “Happy Holidays,” well the people of the transit system should get coal in their stocking by way of a pink slip while people who are out of work take their place and then the unions of all public sector works should be dissolved.

It is time for the people to take back the employees and the systems that they pay for and there is no time like the present to begin doing it.

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego.  He may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com