Jan 18 2013
New York City School Bus Drivers Strike To Protect Union Jobs
On Wednesday 8,000 New York City school bus drivers and aides went on strike in the nation’s largest school system. The city has offered public transit Metrocards and taxi cab reimbursements to over one hundred thousand school children who are being affected by the strike. The workers, who are part of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, are protesting an attempt by the city to open up bidding for new bus routes without ensuring union jobs for current employees.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose personal net worth is about $25 billion dollars, is claiming that the city is spending far too much money on busing students compared to other major school systems. The average New York City school bus driver makes about $35,000 dollars per year. The cost of running the entire bus program is about $1 billion dollars out of a total school budget of over $24 billion.
Critics have pointed out that the cost of busing has increased in large part due to Bloomberg’s own policies which increased school choice and allowed parents to send children to schools which were outside their area. Another factor has been the large increase in the number of special-ed kids who are more likely to use the buses.
The last time bus drivers went on strike was over thirty years ago in 1979. At that time workers were able to put in place an ‘employment protection provision’ after a very similar attempt to eliminate union jobs. Michael Cordiello who is the head of Local 1181 has promised to continue the strike until job security can be guaranteed.
GUEST: Larry Hanley, International President of the Amalgamated Transit Union
Visit www.atu.org for more information.
5 Responses to “New York City School Bus Drivers Strike To Protect Union Jobs”
Geez, Mayor Bloomberg, could support student transportation for 25 years, on his own!
However, all that money can’t buy him the likeability he seems to crave. He is the grinch of NYC, & out of touch with the average citizen, & certainly the average worker! It’s a disgrace that he would wage war on people charged with ensuring such services as transporting the children of NYC!
Mayor and his administration want to remove the EPP clause that was put into the contract in 1979 by “judge” Mollen for their own hidden agenda to break the unions. this out of touch billionaire is totally disregarding the blue collar workers that he is hurting by doing this, since most of the workers have made their jobs a “career” by responsibly being on the job for over 20-30 years, and now he simply wants to toss them aside with no care that they will loose their benefits & pensions. His plan is to find people that will do the work for much less, even though the average yearly salary ($35,000) for these workers is well under an amount that will allow them to keep up with the high cost of living in NY! It’s a shame & heartless to treat these blue collar workers that are just trying to make ends meet in this manner. this Mayor is trying to make it for these really believes workers to have no choice but to work for much less then what they presently earn but what he doesn’t realize as a billionaire is that most of these workers are barely able to support themselves & their families as is. As many know NY that is considered “Bloombergs City” has one of the highest cost of livings and many of these workers either pay high NY rent, or many have mortgages, their kids tuition to pay, etc… There is no way that these workers will be able to do this work at a minimum wage and/or lower rate and maintain their families. This mayor will force many of these responsible, hard working, law abiding tax paying citizens to go on public assistance if they are unable to find another method of making a living in this very high cost of living city.
Mayor and his administration want to remove the EPP clause that was put into the contract in 1979 by “Judge” Mollen for their own hidden agenda to break the unions. this out of touch billionaire is totally disregarding the blue collar workers that he is hurting by doing this, since most of the workers have made their jobs a “career” by responsibly being on the job for over 20-30 years, and now he simply wants to toss them aside with no care that they will loose their benefits & pensions. His plan is to find people that will do the work for much less, even though the average yearly salary ($35,000) for these workers is well under an amount that will allow them to keep up with the high cost of living in NY! It’s a shame & heartless to treat these blue collar workers that are just trying to make ends meet in this manner. This Mayor is trying to have these workers have no choice but to work for much less then what they presently earn but what he doesn’t realize as a billionaire is that most of these workers are barely able to support themselves & their families as is. As many know NY that is considered “Bloombergs City” has one of the highest cost of livings and many of these workers either pay high NY rent, or many have mortgages, their kids tuition to pay, etc… There is no way that these workers will be able to do this work at a minimum wage and/or lower rate and maintain their families. This mayor will force many of these responsible, hard working, law abiding tax paying citizens to go on public assistance if they are unable to find another method of making a living in this very high cost of living city.
How can a man, with a bank account bigger than the entire sub Saharan Africa, and who bought himself a political office, have any credibility at all?
“Fame and riches are fleeting. Stupidity is eternal”
(Don Williams, Jr)