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Subway, NYC by zeyez

Dec 19, 2005, 11:25 pm

NY1的网站报道说，MTA的发言人一个多小时前说，工会拒绝了公司的最终方案，已离开谈判地点前往工会的总部。

工会执行委员会现在应该正在对半小时之后是否开始全面罢工进行表决。

Transit Strike Appears Imminent As Union Rejects MTA Offer

December 19, 2005

New York City just got one step closer to a transit strike.

After five days of contract talks between the MTA and the Transport Workers Union, MTA spokesman Tom Kelly announced at 10:58 p.m. that TWU negotiators have rejected the MTA’s final offer and are on their way to the union’s headquarters.

It is expected that the union’s executive board will vote to strike at 12:01 a.m., a move that would strand many of the city’s seven million commuters come Tuesday morning.

An announcement from the TWU is expected following their meeting at the union’s Upper West Side headquarters.

The negotiations broke down after continuing for nearly two hours past the 9 p.m. deadline that the TWU had set for the MTA to present its final offer. Earlier in the evening, TWU officials asked the MTA to present its best offer at 9 p.m. so the TWU executive board could vote on it before midnight.

TWU officials say if a contract agreement can’t be approved by midnight, its 34,000 members will begin walking off the job at 12:01 a.m.

- NY1.com

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Subway stition, Elmhurst, NYC
by zeyez

自己擦屁股吧，否则我恐怕会因为没有做完罢工跟踪而趁机把这个Blog停了。简单的方法，把纽约时报的一篇报道翻译一下，翻不出就写原文。

先补一点点。那天三点睡觉以后，没有真罢工。工会决定让刚归入MTA的两个私人巴士公司罢工（从今天，星期天晚上，应该说是现在，星期一凌晨12点01分开始），对通勤影响很小，据说也不涉及（禁止公共事业企业员工罢工的）泰勒法案，目的是展示能力和细分施压步骤。我觉得很策略，对积累正面社会形象和实际谈判操作，都有好处。新的最终期限（也就是可能决定总罢工的时间）设在星期二的凌晨12点01分。

意译。意译也译不过去的，用原文。

工会改招对付养老金

12月18日

今天，工会开始一个步骤，向州的一个劳动委员会申述：地铁公司要求工会接受针对以后新进职工的苛刻的养老金方案，在法理上是站不住脚的。

……
几个小时之前，双方的代表继续星期六晚上暂停的谈判……

……
没有迹象显示会谈会持续多久，以及会谈内容。

工会星期六说，他们将通过州公共雇佣关系委员会（state’s Public Employment Relations Board）取得法院命令，禁止地铁公司把养老金事项写入新的合同；工会希望以此改变谈判僵局。

作为回应，地铁公司说，他们把工会这个做法视作一种公关策略而已（The authority, in response, dismissed the legal action as a public-relations ploy），他们是按传统惯例在新合同里涉及养老金问题。

如果州委员会依工会的意愿做出裁定——地铁公司声称不相信会这么裁定——这将迫使地铁公司撤下对将来新进职工的苛刻养老金条款。谈判双方都同意，养老金条款是谈判的主要障碍。

工会上述行动引起的新争执点，为这几天已露端倪的紧张局面增加了新的不安因素。地铁公司说，他们已经给出了最终的出价。而工会则设定了两个新的罢工最后期限：星期二凌晨12点01分全面罢工，星期一凌晨12点01分两个正在并入地铁公司的皇后区公共汽车公司罢工。工会官员说，他们星期六要求地铁公司星期一晚上9点之前给出最高的、最终的出价，使工会执委会在最后期限之前有时间讨论。

工会主席和地铁公司总裁都没有出席星期六的谈判。谈判一直在凯悦酒店举行。谈判双方都不断向记者通报谈判进程。酒店的会议厅已经是记者们的24小时宿营地。

……
工会的一个律师披露了工会提起法律诉讼的计划。他接受媒体访问时说，约束政府雇主和公共事业雇员关系的州泰勒法案，允许合同谈判中涉及养老金问题，但禁止任何一方坚持把养老金的变更作为最终条件的一部分。

地铁公司打算要求将来的新近员工到62岁才能领取全额养老金，而不是现在雇员的55岁。养老金的变更必须由立法机构的认可。地铁公司——也许从技术上说并没有，但实际上却是——要求工会和它一起向法律机构申请变更养老金。

这种被称为“共同承担法规（joint-support legislation）”的申请，在法律上是一种劳资谈判中“允许有”的项目，但不是像报酬、工资、工时等基本雇佣条款那样的必须有的项目。

“你可以不断地坚持要一个‘允许有’条款，对方则可以说不要，”这位律师说，“但你却不能走出这最后一步——说：我不签协议了，除非你们同意签这个‘允许有’条款。”

……
在另一次媒体访问中，地铁公司的律师说：“我们在谈判中所做的一切都是恰当的，都是遵循和工会谈判的惯例行事的。”

他说，工会的上述说法，只有在谈判一方提出要州委员会把争端提交仲裁团裁决时，才能成立。按照泰勒法案，对于警察、消防员、公交职工，劳资纠纷必须裁决解决，只要谈判一方提出申请并声称谈判陷入僵局，而后州委员会下令裁决。

这位律师说，现在双方都没有声明谈判陷入僵局。对于工会的法律申述，他认为是“one-day press战术，没有实际意义”。

工会律师不同意。“他的观点是，只有进入了僵局，才能要求仲裁，这说法不对，”他说。“当你采取这样的立场，除非包括‘允许有’的条款否则不签合同，你就违反了泰勒法案。而他们现在采取的就是这样的立场。”

目前不清楚州委员会会作怎样的裁定，更重要的是，会不会及时地做出裁定以改变局面……

- Transit Union Tries New Tack on Pensions,
New York Times

纽约州的泰勒法案现在突然成了耳熟能详之物，至少在我周围的同事中是这样的。因为一个月来的报道反复提到它。但人们只有一个印象：该法案是用来禁止公共事业职工罢工的。其实，这个法案对劳资双方在谈判中的行为都有约束。现在，工会就是拿泰勒法案来对付公司，而从公司的态度看，这确实指向了他们的某处软肋。

我要睡了。NY1的网站忽然很容易上了。要么是他们调整了服务器，要么是很多人也要睡了。

Click to the reports on CBS NEWS

CBS NEWS

我在网站CBS NEWS上。它在更新一篇报道的开始几个段落，以跟踪事件。下面摘引的第三段是我刚才没注意到的；但读不太懂。

NYC Holds Its Breath

NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 2005

(CBS/AP) Contract talks have continued past the midnight deadline as most of the city of New York waits to hear whether the city’s transit agency and its workers will be able to reach an agreement to avoid a threatened bus and subway strike.

Just before 1:30 a.m., a spokesperson for the Transit Workers Union finally emerged into the room where reporters were waiting and said only that talks between the two sides are continuing.

……
There was also some dissension within the TWU, with a vice president accusing Toussaint of trying to strike secret deals1 and saying he’s been frozen out2 of the negotiations. “It’s like a soap opera,” reports WCBS-AM’s Sean Adams.

- CBS NEWS

插一段。费城的公交工人几个月前刚罢过工。那里的工会说，他们几乎得到了所有他们想要的。他们说，更重要的有两点，一是他们还得到了市民的同情，二是那11天里天气很不错，华氏73度的晴天。而现在的纽约，前几天的积雪已经成了冰，在路灯下反光耀眼。

Dec 16, 2005, 12:58am

“Transit Running” in NYC

关于公交劳资纠纷。

旧合同结束近一个小时了。多家电视台在屏幕的一角叠加了一个标记，告示公交系统还在运行。几乎所有媒体的网络版本都把市政府的交通应急方案作为高亮固定条目。NY1频道的网站几乎无法登陆。Metro一般凌晨12点就发表早晨报纸的PDF版，但现在只有15日的版本。

谈判还在进行，没有实质性进展。

NYC Transit Strike Threat Looms

NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 2005

(CBS/AP) The midnight deadline has passed, and most of the city of New York is waiting to hear whether the city’s transit agency and its workers have been able to reach an agreement to avoid a threatened bus and subway strike.

Late Thursday night, the two sides remained far apart, and leaders of both groups expressed frustration as the prospect of New York’s first transit strike in more than 25 years seemed to grow.

Transit workers are barred by state law from striking. The workers could lose two days’ pay for every day on strike, and the city is seeking much larger damages against the union and its individual members.
……

- CBS NEWS

我跟踪这个事件有一段日子了，逼自己每天看一点英文；为了不给自己太大压力，只看一两份小报；但每天太累了，坚持不了看后写Blog，所以脱了很大一节。

关于公交劳资纠纷。工会对MTA配置具有自动驾驶能力新列车的反应。

Decals on safety posted in every subway car

地铁的每节车厢都贴有Emergency Instructions：遇火警，立刻通知乘务组……，遇急病，立即通知乘务组……，遇可疑，通知乘务组……，遇疏散，不要出车厢，除非有乘务组指挥……。

“We have nothing against new technology, but the technology is sometimes used as a mask to justify another motive — they want to cut personnel and take away the human presence in the subway,” said Ed Watt, Local 100’s secretary treasurer. “Machines can run the trains, but who’ll make the decision to call the police or the fire department?”

- Metro, Nov 30, 2005

Joseph Campbell, the Transport Workers Union Local 100’s vice chair of road car inspectors, cautioned that CBTC might be the beginning of “robo-trains.” “Our problem is public safety,” he said. “Can you imagine if there were no workers on the trains and we had another blackout? Transit workers rescued those passengers trapped in the subways.”

- Metro, Dec 1, 2005

其实，新自动列车的加入，只是为MTA的Broadbanding计划增加一条理由，增添一种气氛。

The MTA has already asked to combine some jobs in a practice known as “broadbanding.” It would like the functions of conductor and train operator, for example, to be increasingly performed by only one person, which the union has called dangerous. The MTA has already moved station agents out of token booths to perform as “customer assistance agents,” and last night, in what Watt called a “stunningly egregious” proposal, it called for making these agents take on “three or four” more responsibilities, including cleaning, painting and replacing burned-out lighting on the platform.

“While we are cleaning out booths, sweeping the mezzanine area and going down on the platform to do the conductor’s job, when are we going to give all this ‘customer service’?” asked Andreeva Pinder, the chair of the union’s station agent division. “They don’t care about customer service. People are going to be able to run amok in the system.”

- Metro, Dec 2, 2005