Both sides claim victory in settlement of NYC transit strike?

"UPDATE II (Dec 24, 5:15am): In Memoriam…Organized labor in America is dead!

I was wrong about the determination of the ostensibly powerful TWU to match wits with the MTA – not only for the benefit of its members but also for the sake of laborers all over America who corporate managers today regard as all too dispensable. Because, as it turns out, the TWU blinked and abandoned this principled standoff – for naught - in the face of derisive and imperious insults from the MTA (and Mayor Bloomberg) and uninformed and misdirected scorn from the just-wanna-go shopping public!"

This is the lamentation I wrote after leaders of the NY Transit Workers Union (TWU) called an abrupt end to their strike last week. In the article to which it was appended, I expressed complete solidarity with the TWU and even predicted that:

"This strike will be over by the day after Christmas and all of the TWU demands will have been met, more or less...."

But when it ended, the TWU seemed to have gotten nothing it demanded and even less respect for its principled strike from political leaders like NYC Mayor Bloomberg who called its leaders “greedy [and] thuggish” or from fellow New Yorkers who considered them little more than Christmas Grinches!

Of course, news reports indicating that TWU strikers returned to work in shame, with their tails between their legs, did little to resuscitate my forlorn hope for organized labor. I also thought it an ominous sign that brother unions around the country offered virtually no public support for the TWU. But when a member of its own executive board said on TV at the time that “it’s ridiculous, we got nothing…Christmas was our only leverage and we caved”, the strike seemed an abject failure…

However, given the terms of deal, as reported yesterday in the New York Times, it is not at all disingenuous or misleading for both sides to claim victory. Because, from my reading, Roger Toussaint (right) – the ridiculed and maligned TWU leader who announced the strike – can be lauded for standing firm on pensions since:

“The MTA scrapped a proposal to raise the retirement age for new hires or require new employees to contribute more to their pensions.” (ie. The TWU pension plan remains unchanged!)

Indeed, Toussaint seems to have stayed true to his word that he “would never accept a contract that would sell out our unborn - one that treats future workers worse than current ones.”

Conversely, I suppose the MTA (already sitting on more than $1 billion in profits generated by TWU members this year alone) can be commended for extracting increases in premium payments from TWU members to help “rein in its fast-rising benefit costs.” Indeed….

Nonetheless, it is clear that the TWU proved more than capable of matching wits with the MTA. And, I am happy to concede that my declaration that organized labor in America is dead was somewhat exaggerated: It’s actually still on life support. But hope springs eternal….

Note: If you think my reading of the settlement is suspect, click here to read the art of the TWU-MTA deal and see if you can determine a clear winner.

News and Politics