Transit dispute exposes New York City’s class divide

The contract dispute between the transit authority and Transport Workers Union Local 100 has once again exposed the immense class divide that exists in New York City. Workers who risk—and all too frequently lose—their lives keeping the trains and buses that carry some 7 million passengers running are being offered a wage increase that does not even keep up with inflation. Even this has been put on the table only in exchange for sweeping concessions entailing job cuts, heavier workloads and workers being forced to continue working until they die or their health is broken.

As always, leading the pack in the vilification and threats against the TWU is Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, which reflects the right-wing views of the Bush administration and predominant sections within New York City’s financial elite. The newspaper, which has its own long record of union-busting, calls for the destruction of the union if a strike is called.

“Most riders would kill for the wages, benefits and retirement plan already enjoyed by TWU members,” the Post editorialized Friday. The MTA’s contract offer, the newspaper added, “is pretty reflective of the economic circumstances of an overwhelming majority of riders.”

But not everyone in New York shares these “circumstances.” While transit workers—who on average make approximately $40,000 a year—are being offered a two-year contract with a miserable 3 percent raise the first year and 2 percent in the second—contingent on reducing use of sick leave—what is on offer for Wall Street’s bankers and traders is quite a different story.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/twu-d10.shtml