Today, 8,000 bus workers and aides went on strike in New York City at 6a.m. this morning to protest the city’s attempts to cut costs by putting their contracts up for bid to private bus companies. The last time school bus drivers went on strike in New York City was in 1979, when the strike lasted 14 days.
The current contracts expire in June, and Mayor Bloomberg has said that they must seek competitive bids for cost-cutting measures (the Amalgamated Transit Union had asked for job protections for current drivers) and that the New York Court of Appeals prevented such agreements because of competitive bidding laws.
Just as the Chicago teachers did before them when they claimed they were striking “for the children,” the Amalgamated Transit Union has released an ad that not only implies children will suffer horrific accidents if their contracts are not improved, but that the strike truly is about the children, not their contracts:
The majority of students in New York City do not use the state-provided buses but rather use public transportation or walk, excepting special-needs students who rely on the buses for their transport.
If the Bloomberg v. Union showdown proceeds as the Rahm v. Union did this summer, next will come t-shirts, floats in parades, partying with violent and radical neo-fascists, and eventual capitulation by the mayor.
For the children.
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Comments
I live in NYC and had no idea there were buses. (aside from the normal ones) Unless you are talking Staten islands there are no need for school buses, the public transit system is good enough, and you could fill in the rest with cab service if absolutely necessary.
you haven’t seen the yellow school buses?
see your optometrist
they’re everywhere
Ha — let them eat cake. Or salt. Or large sodas. And take pain killers for more than three days.
The same shinola that says that only union teachers can teach the children says that only union drivers can bus them. The kids who are eligible for the yellow bus are kids in grades 3-7 who live more than a mile from their school, or K-2 kids who live more than 1/2 mile from school. Many of these kids get a Metro card instead. Also, Special Ed kids may ride the little bus…sometimes for hours (guidelines say that a kid may ride no more than 1 1/4 hours one way). NY school buses are notorious for being late.
Fire them all. School buses in big cities are totally unnecessary. The kids can hop a regular bus or the subway. Kids in Asia ride to school on bicycles, mopeds, public transport paid for out of their parents’ pockets. High time taxpayers stopped subsidizing school buses.
We used to ride the city bus, and it wasn’t even a large city.
Batten down the hatches folks, here it comes. “If it only saves 1 child’s life, isn’t it worth it? “
I wonder if the labor stoßtruppen are hoping conservatives will come to Mayor Dummkopf’s defense, as with Governor Walker, et al.
Q: What’s the difference between Dummkopf and any other Democrat mayor of NYC?
A: The unions like the Democrats.
Screw Dummkopf. Spend the time, money, and energy exposing public unions, union bosses, their political partners, funding, and corruption. Leave Dummkopf metaphorically swinging in the breeze.
I may be getting cynical but for some reason I don’t much care what happens in New York. The kids’ IQ’s may actually increase during the strike.
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