New York City transit worker speaks: “They’re churning up the next American revolution”

The sudden calling off of the strike was followed by a news blackout on ongoing negotiations between the TWU and the transit authority. It is being widely reported that the TWU has offered to impose greater out-of-pocket expenses for health care on their members in exchange for management curtailing or dropping its demand for the rolling back of pension protections.

Among many transit workers, there was not only a suspicion over the actions of the TWU leadership, but also a sense that continuing the strike on the present course was futile, particularly without the support of the rest of the New York City labor movement and a direct appeal to working people throughout the city. At the same time, workers felt they had taken a courageous stand and that future battles lay ahead.

In his comments, Horace, a bus mechanic from Brooklyn, discussed the calling off of the strike and what type of struggle is required to defend New York City transit workers and the working class as a whole.

“I understand what happened, and I’m not totally in agreement. The city and the state were refusing to negotiate while the strike was going on. I think we should have stayed on strike at least two more days, though. Then our message would really have been well sent. We did send a strong message, however.

“The mayor is saying we backed down, but that is just happy talk to convince the public. If the talks fail, the logical thing would be for us to go back out. I don’t know if the union will do that, but we should. I don’t care what the mayor says, I want to win and defend our pensions and our rights.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/ints-d24.shtml