Wednesday, December 21, 2005

TRANSIT STRIKE = GREAT LEGS

The Illegal Transit Strike is what the media is now calling it. I call it a great work out!

This is the first strike in over 25 years and it is leaving a city of 7 million without mass transit searching for alternate routes and means of transport.

Today, I walked from Ground Zero to the British Consulate on 52nd Street and 3rd ave. (Exactly 10 miles r/t) NICE!


If I had foresight I would have learned to drive.

Man, you know I support it, but heck if you wanted to strike against the pizzerias in town ‘cause they put too much cheese on the pie, I would support you.

Unfortunately, not all New Yorkers think like me so you have many people saying nasty things about the TWU for wasting their time and money.

But lets not forget that the workers get docked 2 days pay for every day they strike along with the hefty fine of a million dollars per day charged to the union. The TWU would not strike if they felt they were getting properly compensated, especially at a time with Christmas and Hanukah around the corner and with the MTA claiming a billion dollar surplus.

Now I am not telling you whom you should side with, but I don’t think the workers deserve to be described as “selfish” and “thuggish” by Bloomberg during his live CNN speech yesterday. The Mayor calculates the strike in dollars and how many millions the city has lost in revenues compared with last years profits ($400M a day he claims). I think New Yorkers finally wisened up and were planning on doing their christmas shopping next week.

Also, since Mayor Bloomberg called the strike illegal, he is not holding negotiations with the TWU until they all go back to work. This folks, means find yourself another way to work 'cause this strike isn't over…

If you do decide (or your boss decides) you must get back to work here is some advice:

∑ Wear comfortable shoes
∑ Carry petty cash
∑ Start your daily routine 2 hours early
∑ Or pretend you did and show up 2 hours late
∑ Befriend strangers with cars
∑ Rent a minivan and start charging for rides during lunch break


Top 5 reasons the strike is beneficial to NY’ers:

∑ Because it’s a good workout
∑ Now we really appreciate the MTA workers
∑ Your old excuse “There were no trains” finally works
∑ Its pissing off Bloomberg
∑ Hitching rides with strangers is so much fun


What to avoid:
∑ Rush hour
∑ The Path Train (‘cause everyone else already knows the secret)
∑ Taxis charging 15 dollars per passenger per mile
∑ Getting on the bridges with less than 4 passengers – cause they will turn you away

Top 5 Best ways to get around the city during the strike:

∑ Roller-skate
∑ Bike
∑ Skateboard
∑ Scooter
∑ New York tour buses – hop on and off for 24 hours

5 reasons why the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer off the strike

∑ Rich people already live in Manhattan and have drivers or can afford ludicrous prices for cabs
∑ Poor people live further away and lose their hourly wages or job if they cannot make it in to work
∑ Poor people can’t afford $5 dollars each way EVERYDAY
∑ The MTA workers need better pay and pensions (meaning they can’t possibly have been making that much)
∑ The MTA claims hardships with a surplus of 1 billion dollars– NY’ers are not seeing a touch of that money and neither are the trains, stations or workers? Not even the subway rats are getting fatter off that billion-dollar cheese.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

well, there is much i agree with you on this srtike...it is great that
a mass amount of people are pulling together in an aim to protect their
future livlihoods....it also makes for a inspiring, frustrating, vivid, & cardiovascular dynamic for any of us living here in the city. it is
just one more of those factors that brings us closer and, without a doubt, pulls many of us apart. there is one thing that upsets me, though, and you kinda hit on the point. is that this strike has a huge negative impact on the poor of nyc. those that can only afford to live in the farthest outskirts of this
city. those who ultimately depend on public transit. those who have
huge familes & whose kids need to go to school b4 parents can go to work,
and in many cases were taken on trains. It is these folks that bite the bullet on this one...they're the first to loose their jobs if they arrive late to work. what upsets me is the slogan of the TWU "fight the workers fight"...it simply isn't true.
-g

23 December, 2005  

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