When unions work against themselves; Philly transit goes on strike ON ELECTION DAY!

[Barack_America]

They walked away from the negotiating table at 3 am this morning, giving the city's workers no notice. The earlier news was that a deal was imminent.

Can anyone explain the logic of such a decision?

With the scramble people are making getting to and from work, who will have time to vote?

What a disaster.

Couldn't this have waited until tomorrow?

Philly is a pro-union town, but being blind-sided by this strike has people fuming. Even members of the transit union are pissed by this news. They weren't told either and many showed up for work today.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20091103_SEPTA_workers_going_on_strike.html?page=1&c=y

This was a bad, bad move.

[JackintheGreen]

1. I was a bad move, but

people were hardly blind-sided, and if they were they weren't paying attention. Words been out in west Philly that it might well go down since last week.

[Barack_America]

3. The media was talking about how well the negotiations were going.

Agreement had been made on several measures and was supposedly getting close on the last one.

Guess not.

Everyone assumed that considering they hadn't walked out this weekend that they weren't going to. In hindsight, they may have planned this all along but waited until the World Series went back to New York. Too bad the union leadership doesn't think municipal elections are as important as baseball.

[drm604]

2. They couldn't have waited one day?

This is just dumb. What the hell were they thinking? Not only will people have less time available to go to the polls, many will go with anti-union thoughts in their heads.

[Barack_America]

4. It seems they waited out the World Series, but not election day.

Just dumb.

Hopefully union members will consider this next time they vote on their leadership.

I'm hoping election hours are extended to accommodate workers who need to vote this evening.

[drm604]

6. They should extend them in the 'burbs also.

SEPTA's regional rail isn't on strike but it will be running late since a lot of city residents will start using it for in-city transportation. That will hold up the suburban commuters.

It may even affect Jersey, although I can't say how much NJ Transit will be affected by this.

A lot of SEPTA riders are low paid blue collar workers. They won't risk their jobs in order to vote. Many of those who do vote will go to the polls feeling some anti-union resentment.

It makes one wonder if management didn't try to game the timing of this.

[Barack_America]

7. Wow. That's a great point about New Jersey.

Many people from New Jersey travel into Philly to work via regional rail. They might not make it home before the polls close either.

And you're right, this will affect the suburbs too.

I don't worry about Philly not electing Dems as a result of the strike, but the impact on the suburban elections is much scarier.

I'm left questioning either the union leaders' intelligence, or their political leanings.

[drm604]

8. To be honest

I don't know what percentage of suburban residents work in the city, or what percentage of those use public transit, so I have no idea if it's enough to have a major effect or not. At the very least, it may affect some of the smaller local elections.

[Barack_America]

25. It had a major effect.

Lots of Republican judges elected to the state courts today, with about 15% turnout in Philly.

Thanks SEPTA union!

:grr:

[drm604]

27. Do you really think the turnout would have been a whole lot higher?

When I went to vote here in Norristown it didn't seem like a stellar turnout either. It's a sad fact that when we're not electing a President or at least a Senator or a Representative, people just aren't that interested.

[KamaAina]

11. SEPTA regional rail does not go into NJ

PATCO, which does, is a separate system, as is NJ Transit (buses and Atlantic City rail line).

re-edit: except for two stops in Trenton, the larger of which is used mostly as a connection to Amtrak and NJ Transit trains to NYC

[Barack_America]

12. Both the R3 and the R7 go to NJ.

Does PATCO go along those tracks too?

I was only aware of PATCO coming across to go back and forth from Camden.

:shrug:

[Statistical]

5. Wow that was smart.

Wonder how many low income persons (generally voting pro-union & pro-dem) will have no method to get to the polls.

Add to that the negative PR and wow someone was asleep at the switch.

[JonQ]

9. And someone probably thought this was a good idea

[Barack_America]

10. Updating: Motion to extend voting hours denied.

No Late Voting Tonight, Polls Will Close At 8 PM As Usual

Ellen Kaplan, vice president and policy director for the Committee of 70 just reported from Election Court that a motion to keep polling places open an extra hour tonight has been denied.

"Although the Judge was 'extremely sympathetic' to voters who are experiencing any inconvenience due to the SEPTA strike, the ruling was that 'there is just not enough of an undue burden or hardship shown' to 'overturn the statute,'" Kaplan emailed.

The Democratic City Committee, Mayor Nutter, District Attorney candidate Seth Williams, the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity and the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP had all asked for the one hour extension on voting hours, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Philadelphia City Commission, which runs elections here, opposed the request for an extra hour of voting time, saying the logistics of alerting every polling place in the city were too difficult.

The Democratic City Committee just released this statement from Sam Stretton, the attorney who argued its case in Election Court: “This is an extremely unfortunate decision by the Board of Elections that will potentially disenfranchise thousands of Philadelphia voters who rely heavily on public transportation and who may not be able to get to their polling places in time as a result of the late, surprise strike called overnight by the largest of the SEPTA unions.”

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/No_Late_Voting_Polls_Will_Close_At_8_PM_As_Usual.html

[Brickbat]

13. Well, strikes aren't supposed to be convenient, of course.

Even when you're thinking about your supposed allies.

[drm604]

28. Yes, but you shouldn't cut your own throat.

Why not just wait a day, till after the elections?

[KamaAina]

14. I'm particularly impressed by the walkout occurring right before dawn

so that everyone could find out when they got to their stations and found them locked. :eyes:

[Barack_America]

15. And grave shift workers got off work and found out they had no way home.

I'm supposed to start a class clear across town next Monday. If the strike continues, I may have to cancel. The site is not accessible by regional rail and there's no way I can afford the cab ride back and forth. It requires dress clothes so bicycle is not a workable option either.

[KamaAina]

16. Transit stikes are strikes against fellow workers

I nearly lost a job a few years ago because of one in Honolulu. The guy who was picking me up got laid off. If they hadn't settled when they did, I would have had to burn through vacation, then bye-bye job.

If a peach cannery strikes, I am happy to buy Brand Y canned peaches for the duration, or even canned pears. But in a transit strike, I and thousands of other transit-dependent have no options at all.

[Brickbat]

17. Sheesh, put the blame where it belongs.

It's not a strike against "fellow workers," it's a strike against the company. Go after the company and complain to them. No worker wants to go on strike. They are pushed to it by the company.

I agree that the timing on this is awkward. Rolling strikes in different areas might have been less disruptive. But then, it's meant to be disruptive. There's no good time to strike.

[anigbrowl]

19. How come transit strikes don't take the form of refusing to collect fares, then?

If you want to hurt the transit company, that'll impact their bottom line pretty damn quickly, and people who depend on public transport to get around (who are probably the ones with less money for owning, renting, or cab rides) will still be able to get to work, pick up groceries and so on?

Transit strikes usually seem to consist of holding the public hostage in the hope that it will generate anger against the transit owners. This frequently has the opposite effect and generates anger against the transit workers, not all of whom necessarily support the action. There was a strike in the Bay Area recently which really fell flat, because while the drivers, mechanics and everyone else had agreed a deal via their own unions, the station agents - who are among the best-paid in the country and earn a lot more than the drivers and maintenance staff - kept holding out for more. They even managed to turn the other unions against them, not to mention the public, and got no sympathy whatsoever.

By contrast, when the San Francisco municipal railway company recently raised fares by 33% (and has an agency head that earns $400,000, more than the mayor), on the first day most drivers and station agents gave out free tickets and apologized for the fare increase. Surprisingly enough, soon after management was ordered to find more cost savings at the administrative level. I blow hot and cold about Muni drivers, who are sometimes unresponsive to transit users needs, but in this case they used smart tactics and got the public on their side.

[Brickbat]

20. Because they'd be fired.

[anigbrowl]

21. What, everyone? what happened to the power of collective action?

If an organized union can shut down the whole transit system, surely with a legal legal creativity they can point to non fare collection as a partial strike. Nothing happened to the Muni workers who gave out free transfers in the example I provided, most likely because if they'd fired everyone they wouldn't have had any drivers or station agents the day afterwards.

I think you need to do better than that.

[Barack_America]

22. SEPTA workers make an average of $52,000 per year.

Few other working men and women in Philly make that kind of money.

That's testament to the union's strength right there...but....

Everyone is feeling the pinch right now. Everyone is suffering. So to call a surprise transit strike that threatens the jobs workers in this city still have (jobs that don't pay nearly as much as they're making, let alone what they're asking), and on an election day to boot.

Well, a lot of Philly residents are interpreting that as a kick in the teeth and it's hard to blame them.

Here's more background:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOVDbR-4B-StiHNA5-peg2p1jSdAD9BOAIA02

[Odin2005]

18. What a bunch of MORONS.

[walldude]

23. Doesn't waiting for it to be convenient kinda ruin the whole point?

Isn't the whole point of a strike to show how needed the workers are? Wouldn't waiting till it was convenient for everyone kinda miss the point?

[Barack_America]

24. Even if it means getting a few Republicans elected?

:shrug:

[Touchdown]

26. It wasn't the GOP that stripped card check from EFCA, it was the Democrats.

If this gets them to think twice about it, thne an election day strike served it's purpose.

[drm604]

29. And everyone else who had nothing to do with that has to suffer under those newly elected Repubs.

It's called cutting off your nose to spite your face. Wait a day. You'll still cause plenty of inconvenience and you won't have helped elect people who are philosophically opposed to unions.

[Touchdown]

33. Who betrayed who? The Dems led us on for 12 fucking years

... then WE put them in power and they fucked us over.

Cry to someone who hasn't opened their eyes yet.

[walldude]

32. Is that what it means? How does striking transit workers translate

into Republican votes?

[jacksonian]

30. I smell a big fat payoff here

you can hold up a lot of things by striking and rightly so, but elections and democracy AIN'T one of them.

And a bunch of corrupt Repuke judgeships get elected, hmmmm...

[Barack_America]

31. It certainly seems that their motivation was either to help the Republicans....

...or politically damage Rendell and/or Nutter, or maybe both.

In any case, it's horrible.