Current wind chill: 16F on bridges it feels like 6F

NYers are feeling lots of anger, frustration, and tremendous resentment towards the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the Transit Workers Union (TWU) and it's sister unions, such as the Railway Workers Union who have vowed to not cross the picket line and bring in residents from NJ and Connecticut into the city. They will only travel as far as the city limits which for most will still be too far away.

As for me, my boss asked me to come in tomorrow instead of taking a vacation day, as I had originally planned. But earlier this evening I was informed that due to Railway Union's support of the strike, my son's after school program would not have enough staff to care for all the enrolled students. So, I will be staying home and doing the mommy thing (which I always enjoy) and will drop him off at school and pick him up at the end of the day and will spend some time doing some fun holiday crafts together. I'm really looking forward to this.

So, since I'm done with all my christmas responsibilities (shopping, gift wrapping, mailing of overseas gifts, making cookie dough and pie filliing) I am free to really enjoy my holidays, and no one, and I Mean No One: not the MTA, not the TWU or sister unions, not the Governor (who fell down on the job by not calling in a federal mediator), are going to ruin this holiday for me.

I hope the boneheads at the MTA will learn their lesson and make sure that the next contract ends in the spring and not in winter. Also, next time they have a 1 Billion dollar surplus, since they don't have shareholders to answer to, they might consider using that money to fix the problems in the system and enter in good faith negotiations instead of giving tourists (not those of us who support this system year round) 1 Billion Dollars worth of free rides 3 weeks prior to the strike deadline.

So lets talk about the cost of this strike:
- a loss of 400 million dollars in revenue per day
- a major disruption in the lives of 8 million NYC residents and 5 million out of state residents that travel in to NYC on a daily basis.
- endagering the lives of the sick and elderly who will be unable to get through the incredible traffic to get medical attention they need.
- Children being put at risk as there's no way a parent can reach a child quickly in case of an emergency.

Me, I'm luckier than most, I have the vacation time and it's really slow at work.

Posted by: Michele at 08:27 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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