Getting There
Work has me in its clutches today despite the MTA's best efforts. My employer provided bus pick up in my neighborhood and will return me the same way. This will probably be the MOT (method of transit) for the rest of the week. For those who have ever ridden the Chinatown bus, it was eerily like that (minus chickens and goats). Ah, memories. Good times.
Now, please don't misinterpret the above statement as begrudging the MTA's strike. Despite the inconvenience and the negative impact on me personally or on the city in general, I think it is great that their union has pulled this off. The specific politics and personal dynamics of the negotiations are a complete unknown. However, I heartily believe in the right to assemble and the right of the worker to unionize. I can only imagine what MTA work might be like. "Difficult" is an easy assumption to make. In the ever growing chasm between the rich and the poor, unions are a powerful and handy leveling tool. This is not to exclude the fact that their power isn't sometimes abused. All power is abused at some point or another. This is the vice of humanity. One could say that the sitting President of the United States is particularly human with is power of late.
As this strike is proving, the New York City subways and busses are superconductors of life and commerce. Bearing in mind the relative wealth of the city, it is only right that being a cornerstone or jugular artery sustaining it, the MTA deserves appropriate compensation. I have no idea if their demands are reasonable. I am sure they are according to some, and to others they probably appear to be outrageous. Fundamentally speaking, this is a societally healthy thing. Call it a balancing measure for Metropolis. It will all work out in the end. My true hope is that it sends a positive message out to the rest of the country and strengthens the labor movement. (Subtext: CEO's shouldn't get nearly as much money as they are getting)
BTW, you would think that w/ my MTA holiday yesterday, I would have been blogging my arse off. Funny how it was just you and it wasn’t me...
Now, please don't misinterpret the above statement as begrudging the MTA's strike. Despite the inconvenience and the negative impact on me personally or on the city in general, I think it is great that their union has pulled this off. The specific politics and personal dynamics of the negotiations are a complete unknown. However, I heartily believe in the right to assemble and the right of the worker to unionize. I can only imagine what MTA work might be like. "Difficult" is an easy assumption to make. In the ever growing chasm between the rich and the poor, unions are a powerful and handy leveling tool. This is not to exclude the fact that their power isn't sometimes abused. All power is abused at some point or another. This is the vice of humanity. One could say that the sitting President of the United States is particularly human with is power of late.
As this strike is proving, the New York City subways and busses are superconductors of life and commerce. Bearing in mind the relative wealth of the city, it is only right that being a cornerstone or jugular artery sustaining it, the MTA deserves appropriate compensation. I have no idea if their demands are reasonable. I am sure they are according to some, and to others they probably appear to be outrageous. Fundamentally speaking, this is a societally healthy thing. Call it a balancing measure for Metropolis. It will all work out in the end. My true hope is that it sends a positive message out to the rest of the country and strengthens the labor movement. (Subtext: CEO's shouldn't get nearly as much money as they are getting)
BTW, you would think that w/ my MTA holiday yesterday, I would have been blogging my arse off. Funny how it was just you and it wasn’t me...
posted by Bourgeois Deviant at
9:53 AM
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