When public unions punish the public
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
By: Chris Satullo
csatullo@whyy.org
Timing, handling of SEPTA strike was clueless
At the start of every week, thousands of people buy SEPTA passes to get to work. Imagine their frustration and anger on Tuesday morning when they woke up to find zero buses, no running subways and useless passes in their hands. That's no way to build labor solidarity says WHYY's Chris Satullo in his weekly audio column Center Square.
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My dad was a union president.
In my home, growing up, we always looked for that union label on everything we bought. I spent many weekends at the basement ping-pong table, stuffing union flyers into envelopes.
In my adult life, I've been mostly on the management side of the divide. But I retain a fundamental respect for the right of unions to fight for the interests of workers.
That's why the dumb stunt pulled this week by SEPTA's transit union left me feeling more sad than mad.
Whatever sympathy the residents of this blue-collar city might have had for the transit workers was forfeited by their union's decision to go on strike in the dead of night Tuesday. The union gave no warning to the hundreds of thousands of workers who woke up to a nasty rush-hour surprise.
That morning, during my WaWa coffee stop workers behind the counter vigorously debated the union's move.
Now WaWa clerks are not exactly the overdogs of American capitalism. But most of the clerks at my WaWa didn't seem to be on the side of a union that had stuck it to working folks on a weekday.
One clerk offered wan support for the bus drivers: "They've been working without a contract since spring."
"Hey, I've working without a contract since I was born," another replied.
That's the heart of the problem. The lingering strength of an enfeebled union movement in America lies almost entirely in the public sector. And when public sector unions strike – when the garbage piles up, when the classrooms sit silent – its their fellow working stiffs that bear the brunt.
This situation doesn't exactly boost public support for unions. In the old days, if the auto workers struck a plant, it was the capitalist owner who had the most to lose. His customers could always walk across the street to buy from his competitor. That was the leverage.
Public unions seem heedless of the perils of using public inconvenience as leverage. They seem ever more divorced from the realities of private sector employment, where furloughs, pay cuts and higher co-pays have long been glum facts of life. In their rhetoric, they can seem like people who just got out of time machine set to 1997.
Government already gets a bad enough rap, much of it unfair. It doesn't need additional body blows from clueless, arrogant public unions.
For this chip off a union block, it's a sad sight to see.
Judging from Mr. Satullo's comments it appears that WHYY under the leadership of Mr. Marazzo is bound and determined to single out public employees America's worst enemy. This is in keeping with the biases they brought from their former positions – Mr. Satullo with the Inquirer and Mr. Marazzo as a City administrator.
We did not hear one word from either of these gentlemen when the Mayor threatened to close all the libraries and recreation centers, did we?
Actually, Jim, WHYY led a civiciprocess collecting meaningful input on the city budget shortfall that ended up persuading the Nutter administration not to close the libraries and rec centers. I generally prefer useful action over useless shouting.
And this piece was about the clueless timing of the strike, not the underlying issues. The TWU lost what public good will it might have had by calling the strike as it did.
Unions seemed to have there place 40 years ago. Old companies like Bethlehem Steel(the center of an All American Industry ) folded due to irresponsible union demands. 2 months paid vacations and in the end the folding of Bethlelehem steel and the loss of their worker's pensions was all due to unions. Wake up everyone. Its 2009, not 1955.
I hope your father didn't live to see what a turncoat you've become. Congratulations on working your way into management thanks to the sacrifices his union brothers and sisters made to afford you that privilege. I'm sure you think fondly of his days with Labor, as it afforded you a more comfortable life, but now that you've used that privilege to win even greater comforts on the other side, you're over it.
Like most of the self-righteous, self-centered members of today's false-left, you only support the struggle as long as it doesn't require any sacrifices for you. Guess what? Solidarity means sometimes accepting costs that won't do you any good personally. That's a community spirit.
Without the threat of a strike, a Union might as well fold. What else would you have them do.
Of course I know: you'd have them fold and go with God.
Were you to honor your father, you would have said that it sucks that the WaWa worker didn't have a Union like the SEPTA workers do. Not that they should fold their hand just because the public sector is the last bastion of Labor.
Your piece was disgusting.
It gives me hope to see that some workers still have a little power over their own lives. I support the strikers and hate to see other working-class people getting down on them. They deserve an honorable wage just like all of us do. And just because most of us get s*#t on by our employers doesn't mean the strikers are wrong. We should all support and learn from their brave actions. Sometimes striking is the only alternative to living on less and less and less. Point your misguided fingers at SEPTA management. Point your fingers at the billionaire bankers whose bailout is the reason public agencies can't get the funds they need to continue operating properly. Seriously, unions help keep wages up across the board. They should be respected.
I am part of management for many years. However, I agree with Sepata union in their demand for independent auditor for their pension fund. Everybody should demand that to avoid the next "Enron".