NYC Transit Strike , part 2

So the strike continues and the TWU is still trying to convince us that they are fighting for their rights becayse they have been, oh, so unfaily treated.
Let's look at the facts:
They were asking for 24% salary raise (ridiculous if you ask me).
They were offered 10.5%, their retirement age would remain 55 years old and all their benefits and health would remain the same. The one point the MTA asked for was that NEW hires would have to contribute 6% to their retirement. Current workers would not be affected.

The salaries of NYC transit workers:

The starting salary for a NYC Transit train operator is $52,644 a year, before overtime. In the new contracts that the city’s municipal unions negotiated this year, the starting salary for a New York Police Department officer will be $25,100 a year.

The average subway or bus operator earns nearly $63,000 per year. The average subway conductor earns about $54,000. The average station agent earns about $51,000. A subway cleaner earns about $40,000

The people most affected happen to be those who need the money the most:

People who live in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, especially those who couldn't afford homes closer to the city and who have been walking 3-4 hours in the middle of the winter to get to work in Manhattan because they will lode their jobs if they don;t show up.

Those who have lost their jobs right before Christmas because they couldn't get to work and whose families will suffer right before the holidays.

The people who sell food and magazines by subway stations, flowers inside the trains, musicians who play underground, plays and concerts who can't sell tickets.

Small restaurants and the waiters and busboys who depend on the tips to make a living.

All freelancers who can't get to work, therefore don't get paid, delivery people who can't make deliveries.

People who live in NJ and are riding their bikes to Manhattan.

Students who can't get to school and parents who can't go to work because their kids would be home alone.

And so many more people who are losing their livelihoods, who can't get to doctors and hospitals even for emergency treatments (like chemotherapy and dialysis) and small stores and business who will go bankrupt without the Christmas sales, all because the TWU decided they want a fuller pocket no matter what.

NYers are strong people. We survived 9/11and a blackout in the past few years. We are used to walking and have been biking, roller skating, or scootering (like me) hundreds of blocks to get where we need to go. People have been offering rides to complete strangers and have been going out of their way to pick up stranded co-workers in the morning.

It's just harder when the problems have been caused by other NYer who are just too selfish to care about their fellow citizens and who believe their own pockets are worth more than the safety and well being of 7 million other people.
Even the TWU international is against the strike. I hope they pay even heftier fines until they stop listening to manipulators like TWU President Roger Toussaint.