Labor Issues, History Behind New York Transit Strike

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

Pressure increased on striking transit workers today as New Yorkers made their way through day two without subways or buses. The city sought a temporary restraining order today to force union members back to work, but strikers on the picket lines, led by Transit Workers Union leader Roger Toussaint, were defiant.

Mr. ROGER TOUSSAINT (Transit Workers Union): There is a higher calling than the law, and that's justice and equality. Had Rosa Parks answered the call of the law instead of the higher call of justice, many of us who are driving buses today would still be in the back of the bus. So we want to drive the bus today with some respect, with some dignity, and that's what this contract fight is about.

SIEGEL: Well, the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, didn't see it that way.

Mayor MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (Republican, New York City): Working people are the ones that are being hurt. Busboys are getting hurt, garment industry workers are getting hurt, owners of mom-and-pop businesses are being hurt. No one is being spared. And the people that get hurt the most are those that can least afford it. They are the people starting up the economic latter who are basically living day to day. And if they're got paid, they can't eat.

SIEGEL: In a moment we'll hear about the travails of New York businesses and their employees all trying to make do without subways and buses. First, some of the why and wherefore of this strike. Reporter Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times covers transit issues and joins us by phone.

And, Steve Greenhouse, first, I'd like you to tell us about the big issues in this strike: pay. How big--how far about are the union and the MTA over pay?

Mr. STEVEN GREENHOUSE (The New York Times): The differences over pay aren't so great. The real big differences are over pensions.

SIEGEL: But when it comes to retirement, just about everything seems to be an issue. First of all, at what age can one retire?

Mr. GREENHOUSE: Under the current rules, subway and bus workers can retire at age 55 with a half-pension, half of their pay once they have 25 years on the job. The proposal was to raise that to 62 years of age, but then on Monday night, right before the strike deadline, management greatly changed its offer and said, `OK, we're not changing the retirement age, but from now on all new workers will have to pay 6 percent of their wages to help finance their pension.' That's up from 2 percent for current workers.

SIEGEL: And was that the issue that sent Mr. Toussaint out on strike?

Mr. GREENHOUSE: Yes, it was. Mr. Toussaint, the president of the union, has long said, `We will not sell out our unborn,' and by that, he said, `We will not agree to a contract that treats new transit workers worse than current transit workers.'

SIEGEL: Labor relations between New York public officials and transport workers, leaders, have at times been poisonous. What's the dynamic here between the heads of the MTA and the Transport Workers Union?

Mr. GREENHOUSE: It seems that every generation, there's a new strike, a new rancor, you know, every generation, a new set of leaders. Forget how painful the strike was years before. The union has a new, fairly militant leader who wants to show he's tough, who faces a lot of pressure for dissonants who are trying to outflank him and show they're even tougher, so he has to dig in.

Now there was a big transit strike in 1980 that lasted 11 days, that created huge pain, that led to large fines for individual members. Mayor Koch did a wonderful job of rousing the public against the union. Those days were, in ways, Mayor Koch's finest hour as mayor.

And in 1966, there was another famous strike that shut down the city with the famous labor leader Michael Quill, who founded the Transport Workers Union. He was an immigrant from Ireland; he was called the "Leprechaun From Hell." When, you know, judges ordered him arrested, he said, you know, `May they drop dead in their black robes.' He was a fierce character. And this union, over the last, I guess, three, four, five decades, has been a particularly militant union, you know, much more stubborn, much prouder than many of the other labor unions in the nation. And they have a very strong weapon, much stronger than many other unions: They can shut down the nation's largest subway system, where millions and millions of people ride each day.

SIEGEL: Steven Greenhouse, reporter for The New York Times, has been covering the transit strike there.

Thank you very much for talking with us.

Mr. GREENHOUSE: You're very welcome. Thanks.

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