Well, Well, Well!

I suppose the union was serious about that whole “strike” business after all — “Transit Union Walkout Follows Collapse of Contract Talks”:

The transit workers’ union ordered a strike this morning, shutting down New York City’s subway and bus system after contract talks with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority broke down – a disruption that will prevent people from going to work, cause millions of dollars in economic damage and seriously upend the life of the city in the week before Christmas.

Meanwhile, I’m not necessarily saying, “He’s saying what we’re thinking,” but . . . hmm, I’m just saying:

At the corner of Cedar and Nassau Streets in the downtown financial district, Christian Kerr, 28, a foreign currency analyst, was assessing his options for getting to his office adjacent to Grand Central Terminal in midtown.

“I don’t know how I’m going to get to work, honestly,” he said. He thought he might take one of the ferries to the 30’s and walk.

“It’s a pain in the neck,” he said. “I’m very anti-union, especially this time of year. It’s ridiculous. If you look what they’re asking for, that’s 50 years ago. Pensions don’t work like that anymore. I’d kill for what they’re asking for.”

And it’s worse than you think. The MTA dropped its most expensive demands:

The transportation authority’s 11th-hour offer included a 3 percent raise in the first year, 4 percent in the second year and 3.5 percent in the third year of a new contract, representatives on both sides said. Before yesterday, it was offering 3 percent a year for three straight years.

The authority dropped its demand to raise the retirement age for a full pension to 62 for new employees, up from 55 for current employees. But the authority proposed that all future transit workers pay 6 percent of their wages toward their pensions, up from the 2 percent that current workers pay.

The transportation authority asserts that it needs to bring its soaring pension costs under control to stave off future deficits. But union leaders vow that they will not sell out future transit workers by saddling them with lesser benefits.

Wait a second . . . they’re striking over a four percent contribution to their pension plan . . . for future employees?! You know what? [*Expletive in verb form deleted] you and your stupid strike you overpaid pieces of [expletive in noun form deleted]. That’s not a [expletive in gerund form deleted] bad deal.

Plus, the later retirement age is off the [expletive in gerund form deleted] table. Cops, firefighters and sanitation employees deserve to retire early — because those jobs are either physically taxing or dangerous. Selling tokens is not the same thing. Get your [expletive in adjective form deleted] asses back to the bargaining table. Jerkoffs [expletive preserved to reinforce how pissed off some of us are].

*Expletives deleted lest we, the riding public, be accused of “not respecting” the TWU.