What Would Ronaldus Magnus Do?

Just in time for the last-minute Christmas shopping rush, the NYC Transport Workers Union (who represent toll collectors, subway operators and bus drivers ) has decided to go on strike. They have rejected an offer by the Metropolitan Transit Authority which would provide workers with 3-4% annual raises over the next three years. The main sticking point has been the MTA's proposal which would raise the retirement age for new workers from 55 to 62. This proposal would not affect any current employees, yet is unacceptable to Union leaders.

This strike is clearly illegal, and is estimated to cost the city $440 million/day:

"The benefits of 38,000 transit workers do not outweigh the rights of 8 million New Yorkers. And yet the old school Transport Workers Union sees only its own interests in these negotiations. Judges have continuously determined that this strike is illegal because it is a strike against public safety."

Civil service employees need to realize something private workers are already learning; providing full pensions and health benefits for young retirees is not financially sustainable and jeopardizes the very business that employs them:

"Already, the MTA spends 80% of its operating budget on personnel expenses. Of the one-year billion-dollar windfall surplus that it currently has on the books, more than $450 million will go to pay for existing unfunded pensions. We have an aging labor population whose entitlement costs from pensions to Medicaid are going to bring our city and state to the brink of bankruptcy in the coming years because of unwise long-term labor agreements made in the past. The transit workers - and all municipal workers - need to understand this reality and adjust their expectations accordingly. But instead, transit workers are resisting proposed salary increases and fighting to secure unsupportable entitlements such as the right to retire at age 55 with full benefits. That's not fighting oppression; that's fighting for the right to live in a fantasyland subsidized by hard-working New Yorkers who will retire at age 65 or older."

If only Bloomberg would go after these illegal strikers and their leaders with the same tenacity and punitive zeal he's gone after the city's smokers. One can only dream of a Reaganesque solution: decertify the Union, jail its leaders and fire all workers who do not return to work tomorrow. After all, these employees are much more replaceable than the air traffic controllers of 1981.

Update: Michelle Malkin has much more on the story:

"Estimated daily cost of a strike to the city - $400,000,000

Average Salary for a Subway/Bus operator - $62,000

Starting Salary for a NYPD Police officer - $25,100

Trying to get support from a public that makes less money (on average), will get less salary increases (3.5% versus the TWU's request for 8%), and will have to work over a decade longer (TWU retires at 55)....while making them walk to work in 25 degree weather - Priceless"