Tuesday, December 13, 2005
TWU Head To Mayor Bloomberg: Butt Out
Mayor Bloomberg, who has no official role in the neogtiations between the Transit Workers Union and the MTA, stuck his nose into the impasse between the two sides the other day on his radio program. Here's the story from the Daily News:
That's our Mayor, sticking his muppet mug into negotiations that he's not a part of in order to make a political point, which is: the City and the State has no money for cops, fire personnel, nurses, teachers, or transit workers.
Of course, if you're a multi-billion dollar corporation threatening to move from downtown to New Jersey, then the City and State's got millions in tax breaks for you.
And if you're a billionaire owner of Johnson & Johnson and you want a billion dollar stadium built for you on the West Side, then the City and State's got millions in tax breaks for you and millions more in "construction costs."
And if you're a real estate mogul who wants to construct more than a dozen luxury buildings over in Brooklyn along with a sports arena for the New Jersey Nets, then the City and State's got millions in tax breaks for you and millions more in "construction costs."
But if you're just a poor schlub who takes his or her lunch pail to your police, fire department, nursing, teaching, or transit job, the City and State's got no money for you.
In fact, if you're a poor schlub working a City or State job, not only does the City and State not have money for you, they need money from you.
So you schlubs need to up your productivity. Grab a broom and sweep that train as well as drive it. Grab a mop and clean that bathroom next to your classroom. And you need to pay 2% or more of your "raise" to your health care, despite the fact that you work in mostly horrendous conditions, especially if you're working in the NYC subway system.
Yup, that's the Mayor of Money for you. An arrogant, wealthy bully who has no idea what it's like to struggle to make a living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
So here's to Roger Toussaint for telling the mayor to butt his muppet mug out of the negotiations and mind his business.
Had that been me, I would have told the mayor to shut his fucking muppet mug up. But I'll take someone telling him to "butt out" too.
The contract between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the more than 33,000 bus and subway workers expires at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Workers have authorized a strike, which would be illegal under the state's Taylor Law and would mean huge fines.
...
The daily financial toll on the city would be extreme, according to the city, with businesses suffering loses between $440 million and $660 million.
The city would lose an estimated $12 million in tax revenues, and police would have to spend $10 million on overtime.
City Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo told reporters the city "will take appropriate steps to recoup its losses" from the union.
The union charges the MTA has a year-end surplus of $1 billion. But Mayor Bloomberg said on his Friday radio show that the extra money was "mythical."
Toussaint warned the mayor to butt out. "Mayor Bloomberg is not a participant in these negotiations and it should stay that way," he said.
That's our Mayor, sticking his muppet mug into negotiations that he's not a part of in order to make a political point, which is: the City and the State has no money for cops, fire personnel, nurses, teachers, or transit workers.
Of course, if you're a multi-billion dollar corporation threatening to move from downtown to New Jersey, then the City and State's got millions in tax breaks for you.
And if you're a billionaire owner of Johnson & Johnson and you want a billion dollar stadium built for you on the West Side, then the City and State's got millions in tax breaks for you and millions more in "construction costs."
And if you're a real estate mogul who wants to construct more than a dozen luxury buildings over in Brooklyn along with a sports arena for the New Jersey Nets, then the City and State's got millions in tax breaks for you and millions more in "construction costs."
But if you're just a poor schlub who takes his or her lunch pail to your police, fire department, nursing, teaching, or transit job, the City and State's got no money for you.
In fact, if you're a poor schlub working a City or State job, not only does the City and State not have money for you, they need money from you.
So you schlubs need to up your productivity. Grab a broom and sweep that train as well as drive it. Grab a mop and clean that bathroom next to your classroom. And you need to pay 2% or more of your "raise" to your health care, despite the fact that you work in mostly horrendous conditions, especially if you're working in the NYC subway system.
Yup, that's the Mayor of Money for you. An arrogant, wealthy bully who has no idea what it's like to struggle to make a living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
So here's to Roger Toussaint for telling the mayor to butt his muppet mug out of the negotiations and mind his business.
Had that been me, I would have told the mayor to shut his fucking muppet mug up. But I'll take someone telling him to "butt out" too.
