[PEN-L:33076] A NYC transit strike?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

It is entirely possible that NYC's bus and subway workers, organized by
TWU Local 100, might go on strike this coming Monday. This would be the
first time since 1980 that they have struck and it would constitute one
of the more important labor actions in the city for some time.

The president of the union is Roger Toussaint, who ran on the New
Directions slate. In prior elections, the New Directions candidate was
Tim Schermerhorn who was an open socialist and frequent speaker at
Brecht Forum events in NYC.

The New Directions caucus has attracted all the serious radicals doing
work in this strategic union for decades now. In the 1960s, the union
was led by Mike Quill, who was close to the CP. In 1966, the aging Quill
led a militant strike against charismatic liberal Mayor John Lindsay.
When a judge jailed Quill and his lieutenants (Mayor Bloomberg is now
threatening jail against Toussaint), he replied, "May he drop dead in
his black robes . . . I'll rot in jail . . . I won't appeal . . . I
don't give a damn." He called Lindsay a "pipsqueak" and a "juvenile".
Perhaps with the gutsy Quill in mind, Toussaint was featured on all the
news outlets last night telling Bloomberg to "shut up".

Just as the 1966 strike took place in the shadow of a momentous war, so
does the current strike. The big difference, however, is the economic
leeway that the ruling class can work with. In 1966, the US economy, and
NYC in particular, was booming. Municipal unions in NYC, including the
welfare workers and teachers union that I went out on strike with
respectively in 1967 and 1968, won big salary increases. Because of the
aftermath of 9/11 and a collapsed Wall Street, Bloomberg is pleading
poverty.

It will be interesting to see how things turn out.

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NY Times

Angry Workers and Militant Union Leaders vs. Cash-Poor M.T.A.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Invariably, union contract talks begin with bluff and bluster and
outlandish demands that both sides know they will have to compromise on.
Despite such sharp differences early on, 98 percent of contract disputes
reach a settlement without a walkout, labor surveys show, as the two
sides hear each other out and recognize what is achievable and affordable.

But many labor experts say New York's transit negotiations could end up
as part of the unhappy 2 percent that result in strikes, even though
state law bars transit walkouts.

There are many reasons why the talks involving 34,000 subway and bus
workers are so volatile: the smoldering resentment that transit workers
feel toward management, fueled by the recent deaths of two subway
workers; a deficit-plagued transportation authority that cannot, as
usual, turn to the city and state for money to seal a deal because they,
too, are drowning in deficits, and a militant, new union leadership that
is intent on showing union members just how tough it is.

Another factor is the combative history of Transport Workers Union Local
100. In 1966 and again in 1980, its members defied state law, fines and
jail sentences and shut down the nation's largest transit system.

David L. Gregory, a labor law professor at St. John's University, said,
"They might go on strike because they are probably one of the most
militant labor unions in any municipality in the United States, and they
have a long history of demonstrating that militancy."

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/12/nyregion/12ASSE.html

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