Bus Driver Unions of New York city go on strike, shut down schools

[krazen1211]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2263344/New-York-City-school-bus-drivers-strike-thousands-schoolchildren-stranded.html

More than 8,000 New York City school bus drivers and matrons went on strike over job protection this morning, leaving some 152,000 students, many disabled, trying to find other ways to get to school.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the strike started at 6 a.m. Wednesday. About 200 bus drivers and bus matrons were assembled on picket lines in the Queens section of the city.


Parents have made plans to use subways, carpools and other alternatives, hitting slippery roads as sleet turned to rain around the city and temperatures were at or above freezing.
The city has put its contracts with private bus companies up for bid, aiming to cut costs. The Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union says drivers could suddenly lose their jobs when contracts expire in June.


Amazing! New York City spends $6500 per student per year on transportation costs, or, well, roughly $36 per day.


Why hasn't anyone busted the union yet?

[freepcrusher]

Why hasn't anyone busted the union yet?

because this is New York

[krazen1211]

Even New York must have something nice to do with $36 per day.

[patrick1]

Why hasn't anyone busted the union yet?

because this is New York

They are trying to and that is why they are going on strike.

-It must be noted that the city bus situation is a huge mess and the problem has many fathers- the unions being one of them.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

How did I know this was a krazen thread before clicking on it?

[RogueBeaver]

Even Joe Klein was scathing about this yesterday. I can't remember the last time I (mostly) agreed with him, but this was one of them.

[opebo]

How did I know this was a krazen thread before clicking on it?

Lets see - oppressive class war child-killing agenda masquerading as concern for children?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

See, if the US had a half-decent transportation policy, this wouldn't be an issue as the kids could just walk or bicycle to school.

[Franzl]

See, if the US had a half-decent transportation policy, this wouldn't be an issue as the kids could just walk or bicycle to school.

^^^^^^^^

Indeed.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I always walked to school in elementary and middle school.

[opebo]

See, if the US had a half-decent transportation policy, this wouldn't be an issue as the kids could just walk or bicycle to school.

^^^^^^^^

Indeed.

Guys, its America - they'd all be shot if they went  that-a-way.

[patrick1]

A couple things to point out: the explosion of special ed students has led to this, many NYC public students go to schools quite far from their home, OMFG! child abduction is always an element at play. I walked/biked home from Catholic grade school when I was older aged because it was just around a mile and city didnt provide bus anyway.  High School was 16 miles away so that wasn't doable...

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Why hasn't anyone busted the union yet?

Because it's a free country perhaps?

[DC Al Fine]

How did I know this was a krazen thread before clicking on it?

Lets see - oppressive class war child-killing agenda masquerading as concern for children?

Child killing?

[opebo]

How did I know this was a krazen thread before clicking on it?

Lets see - oppressive class war child-killing agenda masquerading as concern for children?

Child killing?

Reducing one's serviles to below-subsistence penury leads to the death of a larger and quite predictable percentage of them and of their children, DC.  And those who commit this genocide are quite aware of what they are doing.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Fantastic news!

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Going on strike is a constitutional right. I don't care what anybody says.

[DC Al Fine]

How did I know this was a krazen thread before clicking on it?

Lets see - oppressive class war child-killing agenda masquerading as concern for children?

Child killing?

Reducing one's serviles to below-subsistence penury leads to the death of a larger and quite predictable percentage of them and of their children, DC.  And those who commit this genocide are quite aware of what they are doing.

According to this http://www.childdeathreview.org/nationalchildmortalitydata.htm, over 3/4 of children's deaths are caused by:

1) Perinatal conditions
2) Congenital anomalies
3) Motor vehicle accidents

So what, paying the poor $8 an hour is causing their kids to die in car crashes?

[memphis]

$6500 per child on transit? I'm not at all versed in local NYC politics, but I'm tempted to call shenanigans. Somebody on the right has done some creative accounting. And NYC is one of the few US cities with decent public transit options, so I'm not sure what those comments are about. But you can't blame bus drivers for wanting some job security. Who wants to lose their job?

[opebo]

oppressive class war child-killing agenda masquerading as concern for children?

Child killing?

Reducing one's serviles to below-subsistence penury leads to the death of a larger and quite predictable percentage of them and of their children, DC.  And those who commit this genocide are quite aware of what they are doing.

According to this http://www.childdeathreview.org/nationalchildmortalitydata.htm, over 3/4 of children's deaths are caused by:

1) Perinatal conditions
2) Congenital anomalies
3) Motor vehicle accidents

So what, paying the poor $8 an hour is causing their kids to die in car crashes?

Of course, and the first two as well.  Poors have no access to medical care.

Besides, friend, who could call $8/hour 'living'?  The deceased are the lucky ones.

[Benj]

$6500 per child on transit? I'm not at all versed in local NYC politics, but I'm tempted to call shenanigans. Somebody on the right has done some creative accounting. And NYC is one of the few US cities with decent public transit options, so I'm not sure what those comments are about. But you can't blame bus drivers for wanting some job security. Who wants to lose their job?

It can't even be true because the vast majority of public schoolkids in NYC don't even use the buses--they travel by public transportation. It is true that kids get free rides on the MTA, but that's almost entirely at the MTA's cost, despite the state government originally pledging to fund it.* Only kids in Staten Island, outer Queens and maybe parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn (not sure) get school buses.

*Long story short, state, city and MTA originally agreed to split the costs equally three ways. Then the city and state refused to pay more when more kids enrolled than expected, leaving the MTA on the hook. Two or three years ago the state cut funding for the program altogether. But state law still requires the MTA to offer free transit for kids, so the MTA now bears about three-quarters of the cost, the remaining quarter coming from the city (which has neither increased nor decreased its contribution since the program started).

[LastVoter]

How did I know this was a krazen thread before clicking on it?

Lets see - oppressive class war child-killing agenda masquerading as concern for children?

Child killing?

Reducing one's serviles to below-subsistence penury leads to the death of a larger and quite predictable percentage of them and of their children, DC.  And those who commit this genocide are quite aware of what they are doing.

I believe the proper term for this is "social murder".

[krazen1211]

$6500 per child on transit? I'm not at all versed in local NYC politics, but I'm tempted to call shenanigans. Somebody on the right has done some creative accounting. And NYC is one of the few US cities with decent public transit options, so I'm not sure what those comments are about. But you can't blame bus drivers for wanting some job security. Who wants to lose their job?

You aren't at all versed in much of anything.

Since you are so ignorant I'll just tell you that that number comes from these leftist fiends at the New York Times

Or, alternatively, from leftist Michael Bloomberg

[memphis]

The article says they spend about $1.1B on transit. They have about 1.1M students. That's about $1000/student by non creative accounting.

[traininthedistance]

The article says they spend about $1.1B on transit. They have about 1.1M students. That's about $1000/student by non creative accounting.

Perhaps it's $6500 per student that takes the bus, and some number smaller than $1000 for the vast majority of students that get free MetroCards instead.  Pretty easy to reconcile those two figures.