The threat effect

Now it can be argued that the fix we’re in has much to do with the national economic downturn. There is some truth to that, and New York has been especially hard hit. But much of the fault has to do with the government’s propensity to spend, spend, spend. Easy to do when it’s your money they’re spending.

Our employer cannot use infinite excuses of the economic downturn to beat us to submission. We have to neutralize our employer with a threat of a strike. Strikes are among the most visible and well publicized aspects of collective bargaining. The actual haggling between our employer and the Local 100 take place behind closed doors, and the membership remains unaware of the issues at stake or the positions between the two. Recent history shows that there was a breakdown in haggling and a strike that occured, the dispute gained more attention as picket lines went up, and no buses or trains  were there to move. It is also accurate the media portrayed us workers negatively to the public specifically on the adverse impact of the strike for the public and local communities.

Despite the public attention given to strikes, the majority of evidence suggests that strikes are the exception in collective bargaining and when they do occur they often impose relatively small costs on the public (the media, and our employer are not interested to reveal that because it is not appealing). For example 2.3 million workers, or about 9 percent of union members, were involved in strikes. The average amount of working time lost to strikes was 0.17%, far less than the time lost to absenteeism or even coffee breaks. 

Fat cat Samuelsen is blaming the victim ‘members do not participate in union functions’. The lay off is the result of ineffective leadership of Samuelsen and TBOU at Local 100.  So we say, it is time that the membership reassert control over their own Local 100. Whatever shenanigans Samuelsen and his Kangaroo Court presents us with should be rejected. It is also true that strikes do impose considerable hardship on the general public, however we Local 100, have absorbed our boss salvos. Therefore now it is our turn for us the workers to poke our fingers into his eyes for a change.