NY Transit Strike Illustrates Management’s Power over Labor

For three days, New York City had almost no public transportation. A few commuter lines operated, and a couple of privately-held bus operations stayed online. However, there were no subways and no city buses for 7 million people. In the end, Local 100 of the Transport Workers’ Union gave into legal pressure to go back to work. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority still hasn’t provided a legal contract, yet somehow, no one sued the MTA for its negotiating position.

After a similar strike in 1966, the New York State legislature passed the so-called Taylor Law. This prevents public sector unions from going out on strike. There are hefty penalties against the union and against its members as individuals if they do that. Section 210 of that law is pretty clear, “no public employee or employee organization shall engage in a strike.” So, clearly Roger Toussaint, the local president, and his executive board were breaking the law when they voted to walk out. Every TWU employee who withheld his or her labor on December 20, 21 and 22 also broke the law.

Interestingly, the MTA was also breaking the law and doing so long before the union ever walked out; yet, the national media said nothing about it. Indeed, only Juan Gonzalez of New York’s Daily News mentioned it. The MTA, by insisting on negotiating the pension scheme for the TWU (the main sticking point), broke the law each and every time it mentioned pensions in the negotiating room. In Section 201 of the same Taylor Law, it says, “no such retirement benefits shall be negotiated pursuant to this article, and any benefits so negotiated shall be void.” The state legislature deals with the pensions, not the MTA.

So, what does this tell the world about American labor relations and American labor law? Local 100 faces $1 million in fines for every day of the strike, for a total of $3 million. Each worker is penalized 2 days pay for each day he was on strike. Moreover, criminal contempt fines may add to that burden, especially for Mr. Toussaint and a few other officers. There is still no contract, yet the union has returned to work.

As for the MTA, its Chairman Peter Kalikow has instructed his negotiators to insist on an “impermissible subject of bargaining.” His penalty is – nothing. It appears that all are equal before the law in America only until such time as the governor’s appointees are the ones breaking the law. The sooner the state legislature comes to grips with this, the better.

© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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