Bus strike in second month
Billionaire mayor resists job guarantees for workers
By G. Dunkel
New York
The 1,500 drivers, mechanics and cleaners at Queens Surface,
Triboro Coach and Jamaica Buses have been on strike since
mid-June. Normally, between 100,000 and 150,000 people use
these three bus lines daily to get to work and go about their
lives.
The workers are represented by Transport Workers Local 100,
which also represents the 35,000 public transit workers in New
York.
While private companies formally own these Queens bus lines,
New York City subsidizes half their income, owns the buses and
many of the yards, and really calls the shots. But since the
bus lines are private, employees can be paid lower wages. And
the city can put pressure on the workers by threatening to
award the franchises to a different company, which could leave
them out of a job.
An increase in wages and pensions for the bus workers was
settled weeks ago. The city will "lend" the company $2 million
to pay for the pay hikes. The sticking point is job
security.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who made his billions selling
financial information to Wall Street, is not prepared to
guarantee the workers their jobs and pensions past the end of
this contract, which expires on Dec. 31. Bloomberg told the
Daily News the city doesn't guarantee job protection to its own
workers, much less to employees of private businesses.
Unless the capitalist economy unexpectedly picks up,
Bloomberg plans fairly substantial layoffs next year, after the
governor's race is over. He doesn't want to cave in to a small
section of a big union now when he has to negotiate a transit
contract next year. New York state's Taylor Law prohibits
public-sector strikes, but Local 100 has struck before. There
would be a strong sentiment for striking again if the city
offered a rotten contract.
On July 24 the City Council passed a non-binding resolution
urging the city to compromise on the issue of job security by
offering the workers a longer contract or some kind of job
protection. Bloomberg scolded the council for meddling in the
Queens bus strike--accusing them of pandering for votes.
Bloomberg couldn't admit that the council might be
representing the wishes of its constituents. The working people
would like to see the strike settled fairly so getting to work
and going shopping is not such a chore.
Reprinted from the Aug. 8, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe to WW by Email: wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Donate to
support pro-labor, anti-war news.
Email
this article
Printable
page