------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 26, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
Thousands of NYC workers shout: UNION POWER! By G. Dunkel New York Thousands of Transport Workers Local 100 members marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in the early evening of Dec. 16. They chanted: "Who's got the power? We've got the power!" and "What kind of power? Union power!" The deal to avoid a transit strike in New York, which would have disrupted the city's economic activity and put a big dent into holiday sales, was reached shortly after a militant rally of transit workers and their supporters ended. The workers chanted, "Make the crooks open the books," referring to the Metropolitan Transit Authority's budget deficit that ballooned from $400 million in October, before the elections, to $1.1 billion in November. The MTA is a state agency that controls the buses and subways in New York City, the Long Island Railroad, the Metro North commuter railroad to the northern suburbs, and some bridges and tunnels. As they marched around City Hall, they also chanted: "Shut up, Mike. Where's your bike?" Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York, had ostentatiously bought a fancy bike to ride during the threatened transit strike. At the rally after the march, workers spoke bitterly of anger at the way management treats them, and its lack of respect for them. Leaders from other unions--from firefighters to university professors and teachers-- brought messages of solidarity. Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, which represents professors and professional staff at the city university, pointed out that tax cuts, mainly for the rich and wealthy, had cost the city and state $13 billion in the 1990s. She proposed solving the fiscal crisis by taxing the rich instead of trying to squeeze the workers and the poor. The tentative contract must still be ratified by the union's executive board and the membership. The MTA's original proposal was zero raises over three years in addition to pension and health-care givebacks that would have cost the members about $10,000 each. The tentative contract provides a $1,000 lump sum in the first year, followed by a 3-percent raise in each of the next two years, a reported $280-million payment to the workers' health plan, and improvements in discipline procedures and sick-leave policy. n - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
