Any member of an essential service that illegally strikes should have their slips handed to them, period. There is a reason it\'s called an essential service, and it\'s illegal for them to strike.
The fact that they decided to walk right before Christmas for extra pressure just makes it all the worse. They had other options, job actions they could take.
In its last offer before negotiations broke down, the MTA had proposed maintaining a retirement age of 55 but increasing what new hires contribute to the pension plan. It would require new employees to pay 6 percent of their wages for their first 10 years, rather than the current 2 percent. Union officials said that such a change was unacceptable.
The union said the latest MTA offer included annual raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent; the previous proposal included 3 percent raises each year.
No reduction in pension. Just making the younger generation chip in more to the pot, which is going to be happening everywhere. All pension plans and social nets are finding it harder to deal with longer-living-more-expensive-medicine-consuming retirees.
The next legal step?
The MTA asked the Public Employment Relations Board to formally declare an impasse, the first step toward forcing binding arbitration of the contract, said James Edgar, the board\'s executive director.
Expect to see union leaders who called for the strike (ignoring the law, their parent union, which is against the action, and ignoring the public)
in jail if they don\'t go back to work.
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As an example of the \'right way to do it\', here in Ottawa, OC transpo is arguing with the city for thier raises. The city was offering I believe 3, 5, and 7% over the next five years or some such, and they wanted 7, 8, and 10. They were in a legal strike position (after months), but because it was mid-terms time in university, they opted to wait, and use job-action (ie, no uniforms, no overtime) for a few weeks, and wait to strike for a while. In any event, they promised that essential services, like handicap transpo would continue to run.
I frankly think they\'re asking for too much, since they are comparing their salary/job to the Ottawa police (who have more training and a harder job), but in any event, THIS is how you strike. You make sure the public knows about your plight, and you strike legally, but you also consider how actions affect them. Waiting for mid-terms to finish was a classy move, keeping the handi-transo running, was a classy move, and everyone who rides public transit knew about the problems (because of the job action), but were not completely screwed over by (and hating) the union. I believe the union is now voting on an agreement reached, so strike averted (at the last second).
