Fiscal crisis

Jay H Walder in his letter to the board members on July 27, 2010 states on the second page: ‘ In the end, this Financial Plan is subject to many risks. New York’s ongoing fiscal crisis is a continuing concern. Keeping the fare and toll revenue increases as low as the agreed-upon 7.5% will only be possible with management's and labor’s continued focus on how to do things more efficiently and reduce cost.’ We here in why did you join the union remind John Samuelsen president of TWU local 100 that ‘New York’s ongoing fiscal crisis’ is not of our making thus the New York governor with his legislative body should solve this fiscal crisis. However it should not be used as a battering ram against the membership of TWU Local 100.

We here in why did you join the union believe the budget crisis is a red herring that Walder will use against the TWU Local 100. However that is an issue for the governor with his legislative bodies. We as members of TWU Local 100 are far removed on many levels since it is an external matter. Thus we do not have control over that issue which is moot in our view. In fact we have to hold Walder with John Samuelsen for the present reserves in the MTA budget of over $100 million that came at the expense of our sweat, backs, and blood - that reserve must be in our control.

We here in why did you join the union do not believe there is a budget constraint for the MTA. However we are not going to allow John Samuelsen to let Walder impact negatively on the memberships wages in the contract of 2012. We will try to shed some light wages, income and the budget constraint. Our real wages growth has declined significantly thus actually becoming negative. Disturbingly our real wages growth has remained quite anemic with real hourly compensation advancing only 2 percent. We here why did you join the union do not agree with the point of view that it is the downward economy - we say no. Most of the municipalities, cities or states are in better shape now budget wise than they were two years ago. However for the current politicians who peddle the doomsday arrival we say that doomsday has been postponed. Even though we the members are being paid more each year inflation is going up nearly as fast. The net result is a stagnant level of real wages or the same thing of the purchasing power of the dollar.

We also get it - wage-price controls have several possible uses. One is to constrain the rate of inflation while the authorities pursue demand expansion policies to insure full employment. While this policy would seem to offer the best of both worlds (low inflation and low unemployment) it is doomed to failure in the long run. We are seeing today what the damage the Reganomics has done to the structure of the wealth pyramid. It has displaced all the wealth to the top of the pyramid creating a huge displacement between the haves and the have nots. In the Kennedy guideposts the pressure of demand on prices and wages overpowered the moral sanction by the controls. In the case of mandatory controls such as Nixon’s program where the pressure of demand coupled with fixed prices and wages creates bottlenecks and shortages that ultimately force  the lifting of the controls programs causes the economy to be permanently damaged. We here in why did you join the union believe that the MTA is not in a budget crisis thus warrant a raise to the wages, increase in fringe benefits, less contribution to the benefit for the members of TWU Local 100.