I've been in paper hell for the last two weeks, and remain there now, though I've made progess today. Which is good.
Took a short break at lunchish to walk up to the 36th street Jackie Gleason bus depot (which is very close to my apartment here in Sunset Park) and walk the TWU picket line for a little. Good to get out of the apartment if only for a few minutes. Huge line. People were organizing each other and seemed energetic despite the cold. What the people i spoke to stressed over and over again was that
1.This is about respect, or the lack thereof from "the top" - the governor, the mayor, the pseudo-public corporate bureaucracy of the MTA
and
2. This is about refusing to sell out the future of the transit workers by agreeing to what amounts to a wage cut in the form of pension cost increases for new workers.
The fact is, people and tabloids can demonize Roger Toussaint til the cows come home, but when it comes down to it, the Taylor law is deeply problematic, and the MTA forced this strike by repeatedly trying to play hardball with workers despite the billion dollar surplus. The blame for this strike should rest on the shoulders of the very people who spent yesterday pontificating about how it was a "criminal act," insinuating that the strikers were all al-qaeda fifth columnists, and calling working people willing to sacrifice two days' pay per day out in order to ensure that future generations could retire with dignity "selfish" and "thuggish." Kalikow, Bloomberg, Pataki: get your asses to the bargaining table.
Ok, back to work.
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