Strikes suck

For those of you who don't keep up with the news, the NYC transit union workers are on strike and it's basically paralyzed the city, whose residents, tourists, and workers absolutely depend on public transportation to get around. Let me just say that strikes suck and just ends up hurting everyone. No matter what the outcome, everyone loses and leaves with a bad taste in their mouth. Sure, I understand that unions are designed to protect workers from abusive management practices, but when you screw millions of people and (from what I've read) have pretty reasonable benefits/compensation already, it just seems really selfish, and I'm not down with that.

Having gone through a strike experience at my old job, I can def tell you it sucks. I went from my office to working on my feet in the factory for 10 hour days, doing work that I had no business doing. And it was so demoralizing and disheartening, coming just a couple months after the September 11th attacks, when the nation was all about unity and sacrifice.

Regarding the NYC strike, decide for yourself. The following came from an AP article:

"The union said the latest MTA offer included annual raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent; the previous proposal included 3 percent raises each year. MTA workers earn between $47,000 and $55,000 annually.

Pension issues have been a major sticking point in the talks. The MTA wants to raise the age at which new employees become eligible for full pension from 55 to 62, which the union says is unfair.

But Toussaint said the union wanted a better offer from the MTA, especially when the agency has a $1 billion surplus this year."

btw, $1 billion surpluses are not normal and not to be expected every year.