Whinging Wednesdays - Strike Out!

Welcome to another addition of Whinging Wednesdays. This week's edition is the Strike edition. Yes, unless you've been living under a rock, New York City is suffering through day 2 of a city wide transit strike.

Somehow I missed or I can't remember the transit strike of 1980. I have a feeling that I was upstate at our house with my parents, so I have absolutely no memory of that strike. I do however have experience of other transit strikes. I was living in London in 1989, temping for various companies thanks to my six-month work permit. For about two or three weeks, once a week the tube would strike. Not the buses, but the tube and I think British Rail in solidarity. Anyway, they would announce the strike like a week in advance, so everyone was prepared for it. Companies arranged for buses to pick up employees, the buses were still running so people were taking those. And the rest of us walked it.

I lived in Earl's Court at the time, and I had to walk to Southwark which is across the river Thames. It took me a good hour to get to work, but it was summer and the weather was beautiful so it actually was a pleasant walk. Being a New Yorker, of course I had my sneakers at the ready, shoes in bag as I headed off with my flatmates for the day. Things didn't slow down in London. I even remember going to the theatre one night during the strike.

Here in New York things are different. Not just the subways are on strike, but also all the buses as well. Cabs are gouging passengers by charging per head, according to zones, instead of for mileage. So a cab ride that should cost me $10 dollars to get to work, would cost me $25 or more, since where I live is not included in a zone which makes no sense but that's the Taxi and Limousine commission for you.

So for the past two days I walked about 100 blocks to get to work and another 100 to get home. Let's just say the only thing I'm going to get out this strike is being physically fit. It's 26 degrees out right now, so by the time I got to work I basically had no feeling in the lower half of my body, and I couldn't even pick up a bagel when I went to get breakfast this morning.

So why am I at work? Well since I'm a temp, if I don't come to work, I don't get paid. So I'm not being a martyr. Trust me, if it were snowing, I would be at home, check or no check.

Right now, I'm a little ticked off not only at the Metropolitan Transit Authority but also the Strikers and my company. Every other major investment bank in this city has hired buses to pick up their employees around the city. Just this morning, I saw vans and buses for Penguin, Citicorp, HBO, Lehman, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Dresdner Kleinwort Wassertstein. But not my company. The most they've come up with is shuttle vans between the three buildings the company has offices. That's it.

The head of the MTA has now gone to court to have the heads of the Transit workers union fined a $1,000 day for every day they're on strike. Plus the union members are also being fined two days of salary for every day they're on strike. Apparently it's illegal for members of a public works to go on strike. The International Transit Workers union doesn't support their local brethern in this strike either. Meanwhile the city is losing up to $100MMM a day. The head of the Transit Workers union is a hardliner. He's not about to cave, and neither is the MTA at this standpoint. Apparently, neither side has heard of the word compromise. Although the MTA was more willing to negotiate than the Transit workers.

Merry f*&$#@ing Christmas!