The last time New York City School Bus Drivers were on strike was 1979. Yesterday, New York City Bus Drivers went on strike for a simple reason, job protection. The growing trend in our country to find a "better deal" and save money by tossing workers' rights and lives aside, is outright inexcusable. A heads up to Mayor Bloomberg, you're not saving money or doing your city any good when you try to implement policy that degrades the lives of thousands of New York City residents. Allison Kilkenny of the Nation sums it up best:
Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, is asking for Employment Protection Provisions to be included in the new contract to protect workers from losing their jobs to newer, cheaper labor.
It matters because how we treat those who care for certain children reflects how we value those children. It creates a system in which workers entrusted to be responsible for a child’s safety are utterly replaceable in the name of protecting the bottom line.
UFCW Local 1500 President, Bruce Both, has called and written a letter to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, expressing our disgust and disappointment in the administration's actions.
Support striking Bus Drivers by signing the petition or heading to a picket line to stand with thousands of workers fighting to protect their jobs, livelihoods and families.
Unbelieveable! I just heard that this mayor is willing to simply loose 250 million dollars that could have been obtained in school aid if a teacher evaluation plan could have been negotiated with the teachers union and although he stated it was very close, his administration was unable to reach an agreement because he does not want the plan to expire in 2 years and have the next mayor re-negotiate -- what a control freak! How unreasonable and unflexible is this administration! On the one hand they are picking on the school bus drivers using the false excuse that they want to save money to feed back into the school system yet they are so quick to loose $250 million dollars of school aid because they dont want to compromise! What a BULLY and a disgrace of an administration - truly they are out of touch! UNREAL! To make matters worse, I saw on channel 7 at 4pm a caption stating that the union had walked out of negotiations, which according to Mr. Walcott himself is untrue. Mr. Walcott stated that he and the UFT were in talks until 3am this morning and never mentioned that the UFT "walked out", news channels have to be careful that the information they post are facts since the public is counting on accuracy of the news reported
ReplyDeleteUnbelieveable! I just heard that this mayor is willing to simply loose 250 million dollars that could have been obtained in school aid if a teacher evaluation plan could have been negotiated with the teachers union and although he stated it was very close, his administration was unable to reach an agreement because he does not want the plan to expire in 2 years and have the next mayor re-negotiate -- what a control freak! How unreasonable and unflexible is this administration! On the one hand they are picking on the school bus drivers using the false excuse that they want to save money to feed back into the school system yet they are so quick to loose $250 million dollars of school aid because they dont want to compromise! What a disgrace - truly they are out of touch! UNREAL! To make matters worse, I saw on channel 7 at 4pm a caption stating that the union had walked out of negotiations, which according to Mr. Walcott himself is untrue. Mr. Walcott stated that he and the UFT were in talks until 3am this morning and never mentioned that the UFT "walked out", news channels have to be careful that the information they post are facts since the public is counting on accuracy of the news reported.
ReplyDelete