Update: We are still not in a good place here in NYC, but most of us are at work, the Mayor still has a temporary residence in Brooklyn, and the Governor is inexplicably in New Hampshire. At 7:15 a.m. TWU Local 100 leader Roger Toussaint announced “a series of strikes” that would begin with two private bus lines in Queens, Jamaica Buses (with 217 workers) and Triboro Coach (with 490 workers). The TWU set a new general strike deadline for Tuesday, December 20, at 12:01 a.m. Between now and then, the MTA and TWU will be able continue contract negotiations. Bruce Shaller, at the Gotham Gazette, has a good summary of the current situation, the stakes, and the controversies.
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Gary J. Dellaverson, the MTA’s lead negotiator, offered this assessment last night. The New York Times goes on to quote him as follows: “We should be closer now. There should be more progress, and I can’t stand here and say that I’m comfortable with the negotiations where they stand at this instant.”
As the midnight deadline approaches, all of NYC is buzzing with speculation as to whether the Local 100 of the Transit Workers Union (TWU) will go out on strike.
In this morning’s news Newsday refers to the negotiations as “urgent.” The Post editorializes against the strike. The Amsterdam News strangely covers a December 10 TWU rally. While the Daily News describes Mayor Bloomberg’s invoking of New York State’s Taylor Law, which forbids public employees such as transportation workers from striking, as a “preemptive strike.”
One overheard opinion on the matter is both succinct and wise:
Toussaint is not strong enough to strike and he is not weak enough to strike.
That is: Toussaint is not strong enough to lead the union out and keep the full membership together but he is also not weak enough to throw caution (and his career) to the wind and call a strike.
So expect a settlement at the last hour—or maybe a few more hours after the last hour, but certainly before 7 a.m. and the beginning of the morning rush.
Obviously some people are pro-labor and support the TWU no matter what. And there are some people who cannot be bothered with labor issues and see the likely inconvenience of the strike as a clinching argument against the TWU. In between, the rest of us—your average New Yorker but also many in the rank-and-file of the TWU—are sorting out the strategic benefits and risks, the legal questions, and the basic contractual matters. The Gotham Gazette’s Wonkster has a nice summary of the differing opinions on the impending strike. The general sense is that both labor and management have some PR problems, and New Yorkers have no obvious sympathy with one side or the other.
On the main page of the Gotham Gazette you will find links to sites providing information (including the City’s own Alternative Transportation Information Center) on how to get to work or otherwise get around the city if the MTA’s buses and subways are not in operation tomorrow.