A friend of mine e-mailed me this letter he had sent to the NY post...
Dear Ms. Peyser,
I am a transit worker and for the first time in my 18 year career, proud
to be a member of the TWU.
Let me also say that I am a regular reader of your column and agree with
you most of the time but the hammering this union and its members are
taking by the print, radio and television media is grossly unfair.
How infantile is it of our two top elected officials to resort to name
calling? We, the TWU and its members are not the bad guys here. We are
only asking for a fair contract. I certainly do not want to strike and I
am sorry that my wife and friends have been greatly inconvenienced along
with the millions of other New Yorkers. I can NOT afford to be out of
work.
Setting aside the conspiracy of the governor and mayor to again pick on
this union in order to set up the other unions for defeats at the
bargaining tables, especially in regards to pensions, Ms. Peyser, as a
woman, are you not offended that this agency does NOT offer maternity
leave? That if a woman has a baby, she must use her sick time. Don't you
get maternity leave at your job?
Do you get Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday off? Doesn't just about this
entire country get it off to celebrate this man's legacy and contribution
to society and isn't it shameful as you consider the act of justified
defiance (she illegally broke the law too) of Rosa Parks - on a bus no
less - that we, the largest urban transit union in the country, whose
majority people group is African American, does not get to celebrate the
birthday of the chief protagonist in the civil rights movement?
These are only side issues of which there are many.....................
Let's consider something smaller. Do you have access to a restroom at
your job at the New York Post? I imagine the answer is yes and you
probably don't have to walk more than 100 feet to use the bathroom. I
work in the subway tunnels along with thousands others. Do you think I
have access to a restroom when I am working between stations and all of a
sudden have the urge to go? If, IF, I am lucky, there will be an
operating toilet in the station that I will have to walk thousands of
feet to. It's up to us to "go" at our quarters before we start our work
and then hope that something doesn't kick in while we are on the job. Oh,
did I mention that most of the restrooms designated for employees in the
subways are overrun with rats and/or leaky plumbing? Would restroom
conditions like this at the New York Post offend you? I imagine it would.
Ms. Peyser, with the utmost of respect to New York's Finest and Bravest,
who in my opinion are grossly underpaid to keep you and I safe as they
willingly sacrifice their bodies in their jobs - do you not consider the
worth of the bodily sacrifices our membership have made "just" to get you
from point A to point B? Those who work on the subway tracks, work "under
traffic", that is, as trains are whizzing by less than a foot from our
body AND while we are standing next to a live third rail that is carrying
600 volts of direct current. I myself have been jolted a number of times
in the course of my job and it is NOT a good feeling (to put it mildly)
but then again, unlike some others I have known personally, I have gotten
off the tracks alive. But by the time I retire at the young age of 55 (I
mean, I've been reading how everyone envies us for retiring at such a
young age), I will be pretty much crippled with bad knees, bad back and
bad shoulder from years of carrying heavy equipment and tools to maintain
and replace rails and ties that weigh hundreds to thousands of pounds so
you can travel to YOUR job safely and efficiently.
So please Ms Peyser, please do not consider us thugs or greedy or
selfish as Mayor Mike says. I only make $50,000 gross after 18 years on
this job and that barely qualifies as lower middle class in NYC and after
the taxes (not to mention utilities and gas and other escalating costs of
living ) I have to pay for the privilege of living in this city, I barely
get by. But I'm thankful for this job and I do love my job. And I always
tell people to take the civil service tests because even though the money
is not great, the job is secure, the benefits are good and we are
guaranteed a pension, at least until the government figures out a way to
get their greedy little hands on it like the private sector CEOs have
done to their employees.
I will not take the time to remind you of past contract years when the
MTA has cried poverty at the bargaining table and then within days of
negotiating an unfair contract with the TWU, "suddenly" finds an abundant
excess of money. Nor will I remind you of the last contract battle in
2002, when again the MTA cried poverty and we accepted a 6% wage increase
over 3 years (we're not keeping up with the cost of living here!) with 0%
the first year and then after that contract was negotiated and signed,
Alan Hevesi found a second set of accounting books showing more favorable
figures for the MTA.
The MTA shows a complete lack of respect and appreciation for the
working men and women of the TWU.
And that's what we're fighting for.
Sincerely,
Gary Glover
Trackworker and proud TWU member!
Dear Ms. Peyser,
I am a transit worker and for the first time in my 18 year career, proud
to be a member of the TWU.
Let me also say that I am a regular reader of your column and agree with
you most of the time but the hammering this union and its members are
taking by the print, radio and television media is grossly unfair.
How infantile is it of our two top elected officials to resort to name
calling? We, the TWU and its members are not the bad guys here. We are
only asking for a fair contract. I certainly do not want to strike and I
am sorry that my wife and friends have been greatly inconvenienced along
with the millions of other New Yorkers. I can NOT afford to be out of
work.
Setting aside the conspiracy of the governor and mayor to again pick on
this union in order to set up the other unions for defeats at the
bargaining tables, especially in regards to pensions, Ms. Peyser, as a
woman, are you not offended that this agency does NOT offer maternity
leave? That if a woman has a baby, she must use her sick time. Don't you
get maternity leave at your job?
Do you get Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday off? Doesn't just about this
entire country get it off to celebrate this man's legacy and contribution
to society and isn't it shameful as you consider the act of justified
defiance (she illegally broke the law too) of Rosa Parks - on a bus no
less - that we, the largest urban transit union in the country, whose
majority people group is African American, does not get to celebrate the
birthday of the chief protagonist in the civil rights movement?
These are only side issues of which there are many.....................
Let's consider something smaller. Do you have access to a restroom at
your job at the New York Post? I imagine the answer is yes and you
probably don't have to walk more than 100 feet to use the bathroom. I
work in the subway tunnels along with thousands others. Do you think I
have access to a restroom when I am working between stations and all of a
sudden have the urge to go? If, IF, I am lucky, there will be an
operating toilet in the station that I will have to walk thousands of
feet to. It's up to us to "go" at our quarters before we start our work
and then hope that something doesn't kick in while we are on the job. Oh,
did I mention that most of the restrooms designated for employees in the
subways are overrun with rats and/or leaky plumbing? Would restroom
conditions like this at the New York Post offend you? I imagine it would.
Ms. Peyser, with the utmost of respect to New York's Finest and Bravest,
who in my opinion are grossly underpaid to keep you and I safe as they
willingly sacrifice their bodies in their jobs - do you not consider the
worth of the bodily sacrifices our membership have made "just" to get you
from point A to point B? Those who work on the subway tracks, work "under
traffic", that is, as trains are whizzing by less than a foot from our
body AND while we are standing next to a live third rail that is carrying
600 volts of direct current. I myself have been jolted a number of times
in the course of my job and it is NOT a good feeling (to put it mildly)
but then again, unlike some others I have known personally, I have gotten
off the tracks alive. But by the time I retire at the young age of 55 (I
mean, I've been reading how everyone envies us for retiring at such a
young age), I will be pretty much crippled with bad knees, bad back and
bad shoulder from years of carrying heavy equipment and tools to maintain
and replace rails and ties that weigh hundreds to thousands of pounds so
you can travel to YOUR job safely and efficiently.
So please Ms Peyser, please do not consider us thugs or greedy or
selfish as Mayor Mike says. I only make $50,000 gross after 18 years on
this job and that barely qualifies as lower middle class in NYC and after
the taxes (not to mention utilities and gas and other escalating costs of
living ) I have to pay for the privilege of living in this city, I barely
get by. But I'm thankful for this job and I do love my job. And I always
tell people to take the civil service tests because even though the money
is not great, the job is secure, the benefits are good and we are
guaranteed a pension, at least until the government figures out a way to
get their greedy little hands on it like the private sector CEOs have
done to their employees.
I will not take the time to remind you of past contract years when the
MTA has cried poverty at the bargaining table and then within days of
negotiating an unfair contract with the TWU, "suddenly" finds an abundant
excess of money. Nor will I remind you of the last contract battle in
2002, when again the MTA cried poverty and we accepted a 6% wage increase
over 3 years (we're not keeping up with the cost of living here!) with 0%
the first year and then after that contract was negotiated and signed,
Alan Hevesi found a second set of accounting books showing more favorable
figures for the MTA.
The MTA shows a complete lack of respect and appreciation for the
working men and women of the TWU.
And that's what we're fighting for.
Sincerely,
Gary Glover
Trackworker and proud TWU member!
