[Mpls] Now the Governor has the strike he wanted

[WizardMarks]

Bill Cullen wrote:

>I doubt anyone *wants* a strike.
>
WM: I have to disagree. In this morning's Strib, Nick Coleman said that 
ATU 1005 going out was a Pawlenty engineered strike. Smelled like that 
to me a few days ago as well. It's especially interesting that the union 
did it's level best to seek compromise and each time the answer was 
"no." If I were an MCTO employee, I'd wonder what kind of management is 
it that wants to take over $2,400 out of my paycheck each year. If I'm 
the employee, show up for work every day, pull out on time, stay on 
schedule, pick up and drop off my passengers, and etc., how can my 
employer say I'm worth less this year than I was last?

As a person who does not use the buses and is not presently a union 
member in any union, but who relies on the buses to carry people, I'm 
honked as all get out at the governor and Bell. They're going to turn my 
city into a quagmire for however long, bring in rookie drivers (rookies 
on routes if not rookies in licensure), and generally screw up activity 
in both Mpls. and St. Paul and suburbs of both. Some ones who do that 
are egomaniacal and certainly lock-step opposed to understanding the 
needs of a metropolitan area and its citizens.

If the transit strike gets sympathy strikes, work slowdowns, etc. from 
other unions, this whole region could be tied up three ways from the 
middle. If the teamsters also go out, knowing this move is the camel's 
nose in the tent for their health care, we'll be in a considerable hum.

>Unions do a marvelous job of protecting workers rights. 
>
WM: Actually, ATU 1005 has only done a so-so job of protecting workers 
rights. They did a good job of protecting access to health care for 
people who suck diesel 10 hours a day, get pummeled in knees, hips, 
back, neck, bladder, kidneys, and liver year in and year out. It was in 
the mid-1980s when the MTC finally toted up the cost of worker's comp 
cases and ordered new buses with power steering. They didn't install 
hydraulic driver seats till even later. The bus company has been penny 
wise-dollar foolish.
I think it was Medtronic, a leader in the field, who, in the 80s, 
restructured their whole manufacturing configuration in order to lower 
the number of worker comp cases. The MTC's reply to drivers was an 
option for chiropractic care.

> However, it seemed
>to me that the Met Council has some points in their position:
>
>http://www.metrocouncil.org/labor/METCposition.pdf
>
>Before we condemn the Met Council (and encourage assaulting replacement
>workers) maybe a discussion on the facts is merited?  According the Met
>Council, the bus drivers already receive wonderful benefits and top pay.
>Are they wrong?
>
WM: They had good benefits, but I wouldn't have called them wonderful. 
Drivers who were single had a better deal than married-with-children or 
single-with-children drivers. Top pay doesn't mean much when the 
difference between the top and the average is only about a buck to a 
buck-fifty and the take away amounts to over $200/mo. What the state 
wants to do is claim that transit workers are out of line. They are not. 
Bus driving is one of the top stress jobs in the job spectrum--right up 
there with airport towers.

>If my friend is correct -- that the Met Council is planning to permanently
>replace striking workers -- I wonder how many qualified people will apply
>for jobs at the offered compensation package?
>
WM: Everyone who doesn't have a job and doesn't want her/his children to 
go hungry. That only makes sense. Of course he/she is willing to work 
for less. They've seen what happens to those who insisted they are worth 
more as experienced employees to the bottom line than are newcomers. 
However, I am personally offended as a working person with the 
Republican "let them eat cake" routine. No one, but no one was elected 
Emperor.

>WizardMarks, Central
>
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