Has anyone else heard this? Rumors of a possible transit strike beginning Monday? I heard it on the radio...

-- Arewyn (isitthatlate@lready.com), December 11, 1999

Answers

I'm in NYC at the moment (but only until tomorrow, at which I'll be leaving town for the rest of the year, century, millennium, whatever), so I've been watching this on the news each evening.

The last subway strike was in 1980, so there are a lot of people who may not remember what worked well, and what didn't work well. Also, the last strike took place in the spring, when it was reasonably pleasant to walk to work instead of riding the trains below ground.

Typically, NYC strike situations go right down to the wire, with both sides playing a game of chicken to see if they can negotiate a better deal from the other side. If there is a resolution on this one, you won't hear about it until midnight on the 14th of December.

If the strike does take place, it will certainly throw a monkey wrench into the city's already crowded Christmas celebrations. But I'll be back in New Mexico by then...

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), December 11, 1999.

Strike by NY Transit Workers Looms

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), December 11, 1999.

Thanks, Linda!

Well this oughta be interesting. 27% pay raise over 3 yrs vs. 9% over 3 yrs. Oh, yeah, they oughta be able to settle this one in no time.

Anybody remember the last strike? I was young & oblivious at the time, but I remember the transit strike!

I'm going to go look for more news articles....

-- Arewyn (isitthatlate@lready.com), December 11, 1999.

Yes, I remember the last strike. I slept someplce else and took the PATH, or hitchhiked to work.

Can you imagine? On top of everything else! And predictions of a California earthquake. Woah, what the heck is going on...??

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 11, 1999.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/345095.asp

has another article. Seems the city has a contingency plan. Do they really think all the public transportation riders will fit into cars that will fit into Manhattan???

I see gridlock in the near future....

-- Arewyn (isitthatlate@lready.com), December 11, 1999.

Yep,

I heard if that happens Adolph, I mean Rudolph, I mean "da Mayor" will PROHIBIT cars from entering Manhattan that only have one passenger. He's never been one to care about the legalities of his actions. He just does it.

I have a few friends who work in the city and they said if he does impose that limit, they won't be going to work. Period.

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), December 11, 1999.

---huge state size cities are just about at the end of their planetary usefullness. they worked quite well for awhile, but now already the crime and pollution and concentration of microwaves make city dwelling extremely hazardous, and once y2k hits, that's it, not a whole lotta folks gonna think that manhattan real estate will be worth much. or tokyo, mexico city, los angeles, detroit, alanta, etc, etc.........rural real estate with clean water will skyrocket in value. You physically CANNOT "create" safe, clean rural acreage, it is an extremely finite amount, with ever increasing pressure and desirability. cities, however, can be man made and man screwed up willy nilly any where, any place, any time. It's an artificiality that's about to collapse. Get OUT now why you can and your money is worth something. sell your urban property to some DGI's or something. In my mind, the tradeoff isn't worth it for much longer, pretty soon a big garden is going to be worth a lot more than those ballet tickets and being close to a "sports" bar.

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), December 11, 1999.

27% over three years? Seems a bit excessive. Rather like an opening negotiating position than a coherent final stage bargaining position. Got a bike?

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), December 11, 1999.

zog, I agree with you there. We moved up here about 5 years ago and I swear every time I go into town, the traffic seems to get worse. However, commute hours here are from 4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. There's a lot of people who live here and commute to the Bay Area or Sacramento. There's still property for sale here, but all the good stuff has been snatched up long ago. There's plenty of water, wildlife, and out of the way. If my property doubles in value, I have no idea where I would head to next but I'm going to go look.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), December 11, 1999.

What a weird coincidence - they are going to strike right before the most massive demand on mass transit for the Big Party. Shall we say, "Got them by the balls"?

It's easy to forget about other man made problems in the face of The Big One, but they will maybe mount faster than you can say, "Jack Shit" if pay checks go intermittent. It's just as easy to forget about snow storms, ice storms and the like too. If such storms hit during low fuel availability we may see roads impassable for long periods of time, having a rippling effect on economy, etc.

Strikes, we do not need, but the strikers will not feel that way, being severe DGIs. Let's see now, how do you cancel or scale back the Big Party that night if trains and busses aren't running?

-- paul leblanc (bronyaur@gis.net), December 11, 1999.

Let's see...

Clinton is probably going to run for the Senate in NY against probably Guliani (neither has officially declared yet).

Big labor is in bed with the Clintons.

Clinton is behind in the polls.

A big transit strike during the holidays will make Guliani look bad, perhaps lower his numbers in the polls (especially if the liberal media portrays his response to the strike as thuggish and totalitarian).

Can anyone say this is just a coincidence?

-- wondering what (it.is.all@about.com), December 11, 1999.

wondering-

With all the other "coincidences" there have been over the last seven years, I wonder less and less if it is a "coincidence".

Now, if NYC could drum up a garbage stike, an electrical power workers strike, municipal waterworks strike, and maybe a sewer technicians (whatever they're called) strike, Y2K will be no surprise at all when it does hit.

Oh, don't forget a natural gas workers strike.......

-- (cavscout@fix.net), December 11, 1999.

27% for 3 years? Another example of extortion. Extortion is only illegal when it doesn't pertain to unions. If I was mayor I'd go the same route as the president and air traffic controllers.

Everybody wants to get paid the same as doctors and lawyers but they don't want to go through the same educational hassle. As long as you've got a strong union, a high school education and $25 hr, sure why not.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), December 11, 1999.

I just heard on the radio, they will not let cars with one person go below 96th street, and they will not let same into the city via the tunnels and bridges. All this just before Christmas, maybe the busiest time of the year for mid-town. It could get interesting.

I have a meeting on Wednesday In NYC. I'll report any "fun" stuff back here.

Happy Holidays...

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 13, 1999.