The Strike Which Paralyzed New York City:

[ShadowTiger]

Oh Dear Lord. No.

If you've ever been in Manhatten, you would know there are only a few ways to travel around the city. If you're going from somewhere inside the city to somewhere else inside the city, you can just walk, because that's the socially acceptable thing to do, and somehow, everyone appears to be fully able to do it. Driving in the city is almost taboo, and yet there are still drivers and busses anyway.

However, commuting in and out of the city is something else entirely. Queens, just to the east, in particular, will be particularly hard hit if there's an MTA strike. Busses and subways will be totally shut down. Have you any idea how many people -need- the busses to commute to and from their target locations? Geez ...

Like, myself, I take an N4 after a 20 minute walk to Grand avenue all the 45 minute way to a Q44, which takes me after 25 minutes to Main street, where I walk the 5 minute walk to Queens College.

If I didn't have those busses, I would have to walk roughly an hour to the Long Island Railroad station, take a 25 minute train to Forest Hills, and -walk- from there to the Campus. Holy bloody ****, that's a long walk. It's also more than twice as expensive per day. You can't even study on the bus.

Even worse, I'm getting off easy with that route. There are hundreds of thousands of people who have literally no way to get to work under these strike conditions. Imagine what will happen to businesses when its employees can't get to their workstations! -Some- can work from home, but not everybody. Definitely not everybody.

Hell, there are also laws disallowing the MTA from striking, ... and yet here they are, poised and ready to strike. (Little to no pun intended.) Seriously, ... the one company that keeps New York City (And its neighboring cities) alive, and -it- had to strike.

Then again, the MTA does kinda have a 2+ billion dollar surplus. It's just shocking to see that they're not spending it on their members who are quite ready and willing to strike despite everything else.

I really don't know who's the victim here. The MTA is keeping New York shut down, but their employers aren't even paying them for keeping the city alive. Which is the greater of two evils here? :odd:

[MacWeirdo42]

Wow, I remember a couple of years ago when busdrivers went on strike here on Saint Paul, and it was pretty bad, especially for us poor college students who had no other means of transportation. The darn thing went on for several months, and it sucked for a lot of people. Gee, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like in New York. I mean, really, the Saint Paul bus strike'd be peanuts next to that. BH4, you have my sympathies in the event that they do have a strike.

[Ich]

German mass transit is efficient, punctual, ubiquitous, and dependable. They also pay the drivers enough to actually live off of it. In Budapest, it's actually a rather decent job to be a bus driver, because they're also paid enough. I spend 17 minutes on the bus every morning going to the train station, 25 minutes going from Radolfzell to Konstanz, and then another five or six going to my school. It's not possible to really survive without mass transit, especially since the Germans pay over $5.50 for gasoline.

[Machiavelli]

Geesh, It'll be a mess tomorrow if they go through with the strike. I feel for you BH4... and I'm not even going into Manhatten. I do, however, live far from my school and I depend on the bus. There's no way I'm walking tomorrow if there's a strike. In the event of a strike, most schools have a two hour delay, but even so, I'd rather just chill at home. Sleep in late and whatnot.

I was on the bus going home and this lady was trying to argue with the bus driver. He asked her what she planned on doing tomorrow.

[ShadowTiger]

Thanks everyone, the good will is greatly appreciated. :) Yeah, it's ... ... not going to be easy. The whole country will probably be affected in at least a small way, since New York kinda affects a lot of stuff in the country and in the world. O.o'

So far, massive carpool regulations are in effect. Nobody travels in a car unless they have four people in it. That's generally only while passing the city limits though. However, -everyone- will be on the roads. A 45 minute drive will now take roughly three to four times as long. (Bring pee bottles, everyone.... It's gonna get rough X_x' )

I just heard something even worse. Apparently, the Long Island Rail Road may take a "sickweek" or something like that. ... Geez, ... what the hell are you doing to us, MTA / LIRR? :shakeno:



All your NY are belong to them...

[Archibaldo]

I remember when I went to NYC, in November, if you would look out onto the street, you would see and endless river of yellow. But I didn't get to see Queens unfortunately :(. Sucks about the strike though.

[Prrkitty]

Good luck BH4 :) May the strikes be short and the answers come quickly :)

[ShadowTiger]

Manhatten is more people, taxis, cars, and more people. Queens is more cars, busses, people, busses, and people. (All are in that precise order.) Definitely, the main way to get around Queens is to take the bus. No doubt about it.

[copsgotguns]

i live in queens and take the train to manhattan to go to school. if the strike does go through im screwed.

[MottZilla]

Fuck New York. I can't wait till that shit hole gets blown up or hit by a natural disaster. ;p

[Machiavelli]

And...nothing. No strike.

They were still in negotiations last time I checked the news, though.

[copsgotguns]

wow, what hype...and was just a regular day...except for the 10000000 people outside of k-rock for howard sterns last show

[Goat]

You know, completely off subject, but last night, me and my buddy were heading to a bar, and we watched a state trooper pull over a RTA bus. RTA, being the city run busses. I fucking lost it, hilarious!

[Machiavelli]

There were talk of a strike yesterday, but I didn't think much of it. I mean, it's not the first time the MTA said they were going to strike. This time, however, they followed through. Theres a strike today. No school/ work for many New Yorkers. Going outside, one can expect: gridlock and lots of closed stores. I hear that taxicabs must have 4 passengest to be able to drive across the bridge. The amount of people walking across is crazy. I'm not walking to school, and it isn't nearly as far as Manhatten.

Good luck to all those affected.

[ShadowTiger]

Thanks Mach. :scared: QC did NOT cancel their finals! My sister is being driven to school as we ... I ... ... speak type, ... and ... oh god, it's not pretty. ._.' Not pretty at all.

However, I heard this morning that they're taking the MTA workers to a judge to try to get them "in contempt of court" to force them back on the job. Doesn't mean it'll work though. They could simply just not drive. Pretty much what they're doing now, in fact.

I'm amazed though, that they don't just start firing people left and right and get some scab workers up. I mean, this is just about -THE- most critical structure of the city. It's not that hard to get drivers for busses, really. :odd: (At least not in theory.)

[AtmaWeapon]

It all depends on your perspective.

On the one side, the strike will cripple the transit system and cause problems for thousands of citizens of NYC.

On the other side, the employees have received no raises for several years despite the fact that fares have increased significantly and the transit company has reported a surplus this year. On top of this, the employees are being docked 2 days of pay per day of the strike, something that is illegal as far as I know.

The strike is supposed to get the citizens angry at the mistreatment of the workers. Notice how all NYC officials are focusing on how the employees are hurting the city, and the employees should be ashamed, and we hope the employees come around, and so forth.

In other words, the officials want you to focus on how cruel the strike is, not whether employees are being mistreated or not.

I've seen testimony from several citizens that while the strike will be inconvenient, they feel it is justified.

[MottZilla]

If you don't support Unions you can go straight to hell. You realize striking is one of very few things workers can do. And without unions, you are really fucked.

Anyways, I say good for them. Besides, fuck NYC. ;p

[ShadowTiger]

You know, ... ... there's something nagging at the back of my head. ... Doesn't it seem like this is what the terrorists would want? :odd: New York City has been shut down, and by its own workers, even. (Not only that, but the Senate just shot down a chance to drill for oil in Alaska, which would mean we still rely on the Middle East for oil. =/ ) I know it's (at the moment) somewhat cliche to talk about terrorism, but this is -just- what the terrorists would want.

It's nice to see New York so resilient though. My train ticket was free today. ._.' You know that? The entire train schedules may be totally messed up and indecipherable, ... there may be an immeasurable amount of people there, but, ... damnit, my train ticket was free, as was everyone else's. ... Rawk on. \m/,

[MottZilla]

You realize it would take years before we'd actually get any oil from Alaska, and it wouldn't really help with the energy costs. But it would help destroy what little of nature still exists.

[Mr. 207]

You realize it would take years before we'd actually get any oil from Alaska, and it wouldn't really help with the energy costs. But it would help destroy what little of nature still exists.

The nature will be destroyed eventually. One way or the other, whether they do it this year, or 10 years from now, that untapped oil reserve WILL be mined. Might as well just do it now and get it over with.

[MottZilla]

No, we might as well wait, and eventually die and not have to see how shitty things get. ;p

[AlexMax]

If you don't support Unions you can go straight to hell. You realize striking is one of very few things workers can do. And without unions, you are really fucked.

Anyways, I say good for them. Besides, fuck NYC. ;p

As if unions were perfectly angilic little organizations. Just ask Jimmy Hoffa or any Union boss rolling in dough.

[Monica]

All I can think about this, is that those strikers basically destroyed Christmas for people in New York, and that is just so utterly mean and heartless, I can't describe it. :( They aren't even supposed to strike, they striked illegally and wrecked New York's holliday, shopping, getting around to visit family, everything! They should deffinately pay those fines and go to jail. :(

[Machiavelli]

All I can think about this, is that those strikers basically destroyed Christmas for people in New York, and that is just so utterly mean and heartless, I can't describe it. :( They aren't even supposed to strike, they striked illegally and wrecked New York's holliday, shopping, getting around to visit family, everything! They should deffinately pay those fines and go to jail. :(Yes, and no.

Yes, the strike was very inconveniant, but also very necessary. Ant trust me, Christmas is far from destroyed. Businesses may have suffered a bit, but people are making up for lost time. I went downtown today and it was PACKED. MTA workers were getting fucked and needed to strike, one of the few things thay can do (legally or otherwise).

[copsgotguns]

the best 4 days of no school in recent memory. the train stations were abandoned wastelands..and were skateboarded on very thoroughly by myself and others.

[AtmaWeapon]

All I can think about this, is that those strikers basically destroyed Christmas for people in New York, and that is just so utterly mean and heartless, I can't describe it. :( They aren't even supposed to strike, they striked illegally and wrecked New York's holliday, shopping, getting around to visit family, everything! They should deffinately pay those fines and go to jail. :(Think about it from the other perspective.

You have to look at it from both sides of the issue.

The workers have been mistreated. The transit companies have been making more and more money, but the workers' wage has not increased in several years. However, cost of living has increased. Because of this, their wage has technically decreased over the years while fares have increased by quite a bit.


They are not by any means illegally striking. A strike is the only way the workers have to hurt the company aside from class-action suits. Sure, Christmas is an inconvenient time for the strike, and it was probably chosen on purpose. However, the point is supposed to be the workers' demands are not being met and the company is not working with them and they have no other choice.

It has backfired because the media has accused them of being the Grinch that stole NYC's Christmas and people who like to be told what to think have swallowed the story. One should never depend on the American public to think for itself.

I hope several city businesses see horrible profits and as a whole the city suffers. It is horrible that the workers have been mistreated but even more horrible that when they have complained the city has blamed them and turned the public against them. This is the very reason unions were created and I had thought there was no need for them anymore until now.

[Trevelyan_06]

Yes, heaven forbid that those nasty union fellows take it upon themselves to strike in an attempt to get better wages and living conditions for themselves and thier families. Why, they might actually incovience someone for five fucking minutes.

I work in transportation, and I'm in the United Transportation Union. Unions are there for a reason. We strike for a reason. But, if you'd rather have a bunch of untrained, non-union guys who are getting only minium wage to be driving the trains carrying 100 tank cars full of a melody of dangerous chemical, then by all means keep not showing support for the unions. If maybe you'd like guys who are trained and paid a decent wage to haul this stuff, then maybe you could show a little support for Unions.