NYC Transit Workers Union threaten to go on strike

[Breukelen advocaat]

Here's a New York Post editorial page cartoon, from Dec. 15 2005, depicting the NYC Transit Workers Union as King Kong, and the "Commuters" represented by a woman in the grasp of his fist - presumably on the Empire State Building - with the old 1930's planes seen approaching as in the original movie.

As of right now, at 12:35 AM, the negotiations are not going very well - and the midnight deadline has passed. The strike is illegal, and the MTA and the TWU are still locked-in at the Grand Hyatt in NYC.

The good news is that the TWU has not authorized a strike, yet.

Click on image for enlargement.

[RastaKaze]

It's going to be a bitch to get to school tommorow... I guess that's why they're delaying classes a few hours. Oh well, time to blaze...

[Breukelen advocaat]

This is what happened in 1965-66 when the NYC TWU pulled a strike. Mike Quill (below), born in Ireland, started this union before there was an MTA - and the private companies that ran the subways (BMT, IRT, etc,) used goons as enforcers against union people like Quill. He often peppered his Brogue with Yiddish words, and referred to Mayor Lindsay, who was the ultimate NYC upper-class WASP, as "Mayor Lindsley". I remember it well, and it was quite a showdown between two vastly different personalities. Quill said, about the judge who ordered them to halt the strike, "The judge can drop dead in his black robes. I don't care if I rot in jail. I will not call off the strike." He actually had a heart attack in jail, and died a short time later.

http://www.twu.org/about/history/presidents/quill.html

Michael J. Quill, Founding President, 1934-1966

Michael J. Quill, founder of the Transport Workers Union of America in 1934, was also its first International President. Born in the village of Gortloughera in Kilgarvan, County Kerry, in 1905, Mike Quill was nurtured by the Irish revolt against British occupation. Because of his involvement with the rebellion, he had to leave his country and travel to America where he found work building the IND (Independent) subway in New York City. He held various other jobs until becoming a changemaker on the IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit). Times were tough and the 12-hour, 7 day work week was all-too-common.

The new IRT employee prided himself on having worked almost all of the change booths in the system and while he did so, Mike Quill began to organize the workforce. He was assisted by a talented group of transportation workers, many of whom were Irish-born, Irish-Americans. Some were quite radical, but all committed to the union cause.

By 1935, Mike Quill began to agitate openly for the union. He set up his soapbox at lunch hour at the powerhouses or in the shops. It was the famous shopgate meetings which helped make him a popular figure on the transit property. He also appeared on radio in 1936 to bring the union's message across to the widest audience.

Reflecting on those years, Mike Quill once recalled, "we were no experts in the field of labor organization, but we had something in common with our fellow workers -- we were all poor -- we were all overworked -- we were all victims of the 84 hour week. In fact, we were all so low down on the economic and social ladder that we had nowhere to go but up."

1966 N.Y. Transit Strike
What Mike Quill is probably most remembered for, is his role in the 1966 transit strike in New York City. New York transit had always been a political football and in 1966 the issue of who was to pay for transit funding loomed large. An ailing Mike Quill, weakened by a series of heart attacks, would not be daunted by politicians' pronouncements and editorial page attacks. Called an "irresponsible demagogue" and "lawless hooligan" by the press, he only wanted what was fair for his members, even at the cost of a strike.

TWU had made its economic demands known in July 1965, but negotiations dragged on with no movement by the Transit Authority. At the top of TWU's list were wage increases to make up for the rise in the cost of living generated by the Vietnam War inflation.

In November 1965, John V. Lindsay was elected mayor. Unlike his predecessor, Robert Wagner, he did not take an active role in the negotiations. The TA pleaded poverty and without any leadership from the Mayor, they made no offers to the union. In fact, the Mayor-elect decided to take a vacation in Puerto Rico.

As the clock ran down, the union made strike preparations as it had so many times before. Procrastination was nothing new to the transit managers. Only this time, it appeared that the new mayor either did not believe Mike Quill would make good on the strike threat, or he thought he could beat the transit employees down into submission. Whatever the motive, he was wrong.

Drop Dead in His Black Robes
The new mayor showed up at the last minute on New Year's Eve and the Transit Authority finally put a package on the table. It was too little and it came too late. On the morning of January 1, 1966, TWU members finished their last runs and by 8:02 A M., the last train had rolled into the terminal. No buses or subways would run for 10 days.

On that first day, an injunction was issued to halt the strike. In one of his dozens of press appearances, Mike Quill tore up the injunction in front of the television cameras. During the strike, 64 camera crews from all over the world covered the event and its leader Mike Quill. The four major networks kept their television crews on call for 24 hours a day at the Americana Hotel in case of a late-breaking event.

On the second day of the strike, TWU reduced its economic demands. the TA made no response. In fact, the only response was an arrest order issued by a judge for violation of the injunction. Six TWU leaders and three Amalgamated Transit Union leaders were to be arrested at 11 A.M. on January 4. Mike Quill responded: "The courts may have their finest hours, but they'll not break us. We will not settle for one penny less than our objectives."

The next morning, Mike Quill walked into the Americana Hotel ballroom to meet the press, mediators, and TWU negotiators. Clearly, the strike was taking its toll on the TWU leader but brazenly he announced: "The judge can drop dead in his black robes. I don't care if I rot in jail. I will not call off the strike."

Taken to jail, Mike Quill's condition worsened and he was rushed to Bellevue Hospital for treatment. Arrested along with him were International Secretary Treasurer Matthew Guinan, International Vice President Frank Sheehan, Local 100 President Daniel Gilmartin, Local 100 Secretary Treasurer Ellis Van Riper, Local 100 Recording Secretary Mark Kavanagh, and ATU officers John Rowland, William Mangus, and Frank Kleess.

TWU's second line of leaders, headed by Secretary-Treasurer Doug MacMahon, stepped in to head the strike efforts. Negotiations continued and on January 10, City Hall witnessed a massive labor demonstration of 15,000 pickets. Joining the TWU strikers were members from other TWU locals and other New York trade unions. The next day brought movement from both assisted by the mediators. At 1:37 A.M. on January 13, Doug MacMahon announced that the union was recommending settlement. Mike Quill listened to the announcement of the settlement from his room in the hospital.

The package was worth over $60 million and included raises which would increase wages from $3.18 to $4.14 an hour. Included was another paid holiday, increased pension benefits, and other gains. But the cost of the strike could not be measured in dollar amounts. Mike Quill had been transferred to Mt. Sinai Medical Hospital for further care and was finally released three weeks after his jailing. He addressed his last press conference in the Americana hotel ballroom that day. At night he celebrated victory in a speech to thousands of TWU stewards, the troops who helped pull off the successful strike.

Death took the founder and builder of the TWU on January 28, 1966. The TWU EXPRESS reported that month: Mike Quill "did not hesitate or equivocate. He died as he lived fighting the good fight for TWU and its members."

Below: photo of Michael J. Quill

[420kidder]

I bet they strike and fuck up all sorts of shit.

[XTC]

I also heard that you will have to have at least 4 people in a car if you plan on driving in NYC streets. Hahaha Happy Trails

[Breukelen advocaat]

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=traffic&id=3744270
Judge Imposes $1 Million Per Day Fine On Striking Transit Union

First Transit Strike In 25 Years Cripples New York City
Eyewitness News (New York- WABC, December 20, 2005) -

A judge has imposed a $1 million-a-day fine against the TWU for striking.

Late this afternoon, State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones found TWU Local 100 guilty of contempt of court for choosing to strike in spite of the state's Taylor Law prohibiting a walkout by public employees.

Jones announced that the TWU will be slapped with a $1 million a day fine, starting today. The judge called it "a very, very sad day in the history of labor relations in the city. It is a very bad breakdown in labor relations."

Union president Roger Toussaint declared the city's first transit strike in a quarter century at 3:00 a.m., after the union rejected the latest offer from the MTA. Earlier today, infighting between two transit workers unions flared during a Downtown Brooklyn court hearing, when the parent union said it should not be held responsible for this morning's debilitating strike.

Lawyers for the Transport Workers Union of America, TWU Local 100's parent union, told a Brooklyn judge that they are not fiscally liable for the strike because they do not support it and recommended against it.

Michael O'Brien, the president of the parent union, had warned TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint that he could not support a strike because he believed the MTA's offer last night represented real progress.

The state attorney general's office appeared to agree with the parent union as State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones heard from the MTA and union lawyers during a contempt hearing. As the lawyers tried to make their case in court, O'Brien met with his union board in Midtown to plot a way out of having to pay debilitating fines.

In court, Judge Jones rejected TWU Local 100 requests to delay the contempt hearing and their request for a jury trial. Digging in for a prolonged trial, the TWU Local 100 began calling witnesses to prove a pattern of the MTA negotiating in bad faith.

The 33,000 members of Transport Workers Union Local 100 deserve a "very potent fine" for their 3:00 a.m. walkout, said James Henly of the state attorney general's office, representing the MTA. Henly cited the "economic and social cost" of the strike. City officials estimate the walkout will remove $400 million a day from city coffers.

But TWU attorney Arthur Schwartz accused the MTA of provoking the strike - a charge that Gov. Pataki disputed. Citing the steep fines that could be incurred under the Taylor Law, Pataki this afternoon again called on the striking workers to return to their jobs. "All I can say is go back to work, come back to the table," Pataki said.

This morning Mayor Bloomberg put into effect a sweeping emergency plan to reduce gridlock and keep certain streets open for emergency vehicles. Bloomberg was among the throngs of people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge as he walked to City Hall, cheering on the seven million daily mass transit riders now trying to get to their jobs by car pool, bicycle, roller skates and on foot.

In the meantime Newscopter 7 was over the more than 8,200 MTA rail and subway cars now sitting idle. At noontime, traffic was still snarled in gridlock - not a good sign for the evening rush.

Dave Evans is in Downtown Brooklyn With the latest.

A hearing was set to begin at noontime behind closed doors with about 12 lawyers meeting with Judge Theodore Jones. They really can't move forward with negotiations between the union and the MTA until the contempt of court hearing is resolved. We hope that will be for today.
One official told us that it might not last this long but the courtroom has been reserved for the next two days.

Lawyers for both the city, the union and the MTA arrived at state supreme court for a hearing that was supposed to start at 11:00 a.m. Earlier Judge Theodore Jones issued a TRO or temporary restraining order against striking union members, ordering them to get back to work but instead they are picketing across the city, including just outside the court house. They now face the possibility of being fined two days pay for every day on strike.

John Mooney, TWU VP: "We're here to say the union's got the power and we're here to say that we're gunna stand up for our rights. We're not here to be intimidated by these laws that suppress free speech and suppress workers rights so that they can obtain a fair wage. The union's got the power."

Josephine Shepard, Union Member: "We've have to do what we have to do. It's really about respect."

Dave Evans: "Can you afford this though?"

Josephine Shepard: "Of course not, but we have to do what we have to do. It'll work itself out."

In 1980 they went out for a total of 11 days and they were socked with multimillion dollar fines. Earlier former Mayor Ed Koch, who was mayor in 1980, said that obviously these workers did not learn their lesson from 1980 and he said this is a major crisis for the city.

Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki and MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow all say they now want to see these union members punished as much as possible.

Peter Kalikow, MTA Chairman: "I guarantee the public that we will take every necessary step to being this illegal action to an end as quickly as possible."

Eyewitness News' reporter Sarah Wallace is at union headquarters with the latest there.

The scene here is as cold as the weather. There is no sign of any union officials, in fact we are not being allowed inside the building at all. The last sign of Roger Toussaint was at 3:00 a.m. this morning when he called the strike.

The decision to strike by the union executive board was 24 for the strike, 10 against and 5 abstentions. The strike was also against the decision of the parent union of the TWU, which had recommended that they not go on strike.

The latest word from the city comptroller's office is that if this strike goes on for a week, it will cost the city $1.6 billion.
(2005 Copyright WABC)

[eg420ne]

Damn! 1million dollars a day-what a shame

[Myth1184]

Whats funny is the Union Rep could barely speak a word of English..ROFLMAO

[Breukelen advocaat]

Whats funny is the Union Rep could barely speak a word of English..ROFLMAO


He (Local 100 Pres. Roger Toussainnt) may be kicked out of his job as president of Local 100 Transit Workers Union by the Transport Workers Union of America, which is the parent of New York City's TWU.

The rank and file is facing heavy penalties and the union (local) is probably going to have to file for bancrupcy.