Piqued Post Pans Prodigious Payback Proscribed Picket Precipitated

There’s no mistaking the Post’s take on the new transit worker contract — “TWU’s Greedy Gloating”:

The Transport Workers Union was gloating yesterday that its damaging, illegal three-day strike resulted in a better contract for 34,000 subway and bus workers.

“Was the strike worth it? Yes,” read a large headline over a letter to union members from TWU head Roger Toussaint’s office.

“It’s about respect, and it’s about results.”

The letter continued, “We came back with more than was on the table before the strike . . . The 2005 transit strike was a big success. We went out strong. We came back stronger.”

Toussaint was particularly giddy about a hefty pension rebate that will be given to more than half the 34,000 members who made alleged “overpayments” toward their retirement from 1994 to 2000.

“We said we need pension justice. We got it,” Toussaint said on a Web site statement. He added that the refund will mean $8,000 to $14,000 for some 20,000 members.

Marvin Holland, a TWU executive board member who represents station agents, crowed, “The pension refund will be 10 times more than any fines we will get from the strike.”