Countdown to the Strike -- Five Days
 New York City is starting to freak out at the prospect of the first transit strike since 1980. The local mailing lists I'm on are full of queries like, "Is the Long Island Railroad part of the strike?" (No.) "Will schools close?" (Some did in 1980.) "Will the Teamsters honor the TWU picket lines?" (Who knows, but traveling will worsen if they do.) Radio station WINS 1010 has a good summary of commuting contingency plans in case the worst befalls.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) runs the busses and trains that convey 7 million riders each day. It's the largest transit system in the United States. Although it's technically illegal for the transit workers to strike, on Saturday the union membership voted to authorize a walkout when contracts expire on Dec. 15th. I'm thoroughly pro-union, but it seems to me that the official position of the TWU -- asking for a 24% increase over three years -- is rather unrealistic in an economy that is close to tumbling into a state of deflation. The union received a 12.5% pay hike in 1999 and, over the three years since, the Consumer Price Index rose only 7.5%.
The 1980 strike shut down the city for 11 days.
Meanwhile, commuters have been paying the same fares -- $1.50 for a subway ride -- for seven years. The MTA is pleading poor and wants to raise fares to $2.00. State lawmakers, however, are skeptical of the MTA's accounting. Accounting again! The fell shade of Arthur Andersen haunts the nation. Luca Pacioli codified the rules of double-entry bookkeeping in 1494 -- a pity we still can't get it right.
8:43:13 PM 
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