The San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) is a vital service to the people of San Francisco serving over 700,000 riders a day. In the current economic environment, that is affecting all public services across the country, workers and the poor are being forced to bear the brunt of the crisis. There is no end to money to bail out the banks but when it comes to essential services there is none. The San Francisco MTA has waged a vicious campaign against the TWU in attempt to weaken the union and to cover their own mismanagement in creating MUNI’s financial mess. They have called for cuts in service, hikes in fares and for the lay off of 176 TWU operators. At yesterday’s rally in front of the MTA offices the union was asking for independent accountability of the money. SFMTA has a budget of $783 million of which only $200 million is spent on operational costs.