Don't like the transit strike?
The NYC transit strike has exposed some interesting inconsistencies; it's proven to be one of those issues, like immigration, that smudges the line between left and right.
Inconvenience will do that. One of the built-in problems of the traditional labor model is that striking relies on knowledge and sympathy. Otherwise, what you're left with is the impression that workers are messing things up, causing the machinery to run less smoothly.
In a city like NY this risk looms large. David Sirota asks this question to pissed-off New Yorkers (of which, it should be mentioned, I'm not one. My commute is roughly 15 feet): "For every New Yorker trying to blame transit workers for striking - are you angry at Goldman Sachs executives and your elected leaders who sold out to them?"
Sirota points out that the Transit Worker's Union's final demands amounted to roughly $20 million as opposed to the nearly $2 billion recently given to gazillionaire firm Goldman Sachs to build its headquarters in Manhattan.
"So I ask again - who is at fault? The billionaire mayor and the bought off Republican governor of New York who handed over $2 billion in taxpayer cash to the wealthiest investment bank in the world, and are now trying to shaft workers who sweep subways? Or are the workers at fault for using their only economic weapon - their labor - to fight for their rights?"Lindsay has a strike roundup [HERE] including a letter from Steve Gilliard calling the mayor out for using the word "thuggish" in reference to the union. A sample:
"But you are using racial code words to demean the working class of the city. Men and women who work day and night, rain and snow and 100 degree heat. To demean them, to question their sincerity is offensive."
"Maybe such language makes you feel like a big man, but to most New Yorkers, you might as well as called then ungrateful niggers."Bonus: A 9-year-old breaks it down. (Sirotablog, Majikthise, Steve Gilliard)
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