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Subway, Main St., NYC

关于公交劳资纠纷。没有正式的进展。Metro报道了TWU100分会的14位official昨天发表的意见。焦点还是MTA企图紧缩编制以及医疗保险费的支付。他们认为9/11那年他们吃亏了，那是基于城市当时的境况，现在MTA有了可观的利润，没理由再让他们吃亏，是回报的时候了。

‘This is payback time’

Union officials demand MTA gives transit workers a substantial pay increase, or else

……
The officials demanded a new contract with a 10 percent pay increase in each of the next three years, no“givebacks” in benefits, and a “job security agreement.” They complained of losing a “no layoffs” clause in 2002, when the MTA gave workers no pay increase in the first year and three percent in each of the final two years of a three-year contract.

“This is not going to business as usual,” Goodman [Station agent, an elected member of the union’s executive board for stations] said. “This is payback time.”
……
“Back in 2002, we took a zero [percent pay raise] because we understood the state of the economy in New York City just after 9/11,” Ainsley [vice president of the car equipment department of the union] said. “There’s absolutely no reason why today we shouldn’t be able to cash in our zero. We’re keeping the deadline of Dec. 15 as a deadline, and we hope that the transit authority realizes this.”

- Metro, Nov 28, 2005

他们举出了一个紧缩编制的具体迹象。

……
As vice president of the station department [of the union], John Mooney represents 5,500 workers who could be threatened by downsizing. In Tuesday’s negotiation with union leadership, he claimed, the MTA pushed 12 “productivity proposals,” most notably a plan to consolidate station agents and conductors under a single job title: Platform Service Delivery Agent.

“They want everyone to clean the stations now,” Mooney said. “I don’t know the specific details, but you can see they’re going to the next phase of one-person, conductorless trains.”

- ‘This is payback time’, Metro, Nov 28, 2005

Metro注意到工会内部有分歧，出现在TWU主席和TWU100分会的这几个领导之间。

Though the [14] officials pledged their support for their union’s leadership, Goodman feared TWU president Roger Toussaint might be softening his stance.

“The official union demand is for a ‘substantial pay increase,’” Goodman said. “And recently the president has called for a ‘modest pay raise.’ We don’t accept that formula.”

- ‘This is payback time’, Metro, Nov 28, 2005

MTA这头呢？

Calls to the MTA [...] were not returned.

- ‘This is payback time’, Metro, Nov 28, 2005

相信有人会因为长期看不到自己拍出好照片而郁愤近死的。幸好我不是，心皮较厚故。

但是，如果从10月24日到11月28日拍了32张，其中7张是最后一天拍的，也就是一个月只拍了25张，其中两次一个对象拍了3张，两次一个对象拍了2张，也就是一个月拍了19次。这是要人死。

胶卷第一张里的人穿衬衫，拿着全拍完的胶卷去冲洗，你身上穿着羽绒短袄。纽约的天气变得快。

我只有摄影了，才这么算帐。

冰箱里只有一卷胶卷，而且便宜胶卷再也买不到了。

Metro and amNew York

Metro，我现在上班路上天天看的免费报纸，从它在公交站点取报点设置的密集度来看，从它在对公交事务的关注度来看，是一份希望Straphanger人手一份的报纸。但是它Thanksgiving不出报——算是情理之中，——Thanksgiving和周六之间的工作日也不出报，这样，加上周六周日，四天不出报。So what呢。它很想得穿。

另一份我每天想去拿的免费报是amNew York。但不是每天能拿到。我上班晚，一般取报箱里都是空的了，只能拣地铁里人家看完扔在座位上或地上的。例外的是天气变化的时候，突然下雨，突然变阴冷，取报箱里就会剩下十几份。

我上班先坐Bus，但Bus站边没有取报箱，要到Flushing换地铁时才能找到报纸。所以我上了Bus一路向后走，留意有没有人扔下的报纸。如果有，就感觉很充实。

到纽约后，我很快习惯拣报纸看了。反正看看图，认出些只言片语，精神好的时候用电子词典翻一段。

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A freegan
picture from freegan.info

‘Freegans’ find feasts in others’ garbage

They refuse to pay for food, but in New York City, “freegans” never go hungry

“Freegans” – people who, in an ideological rejection of consumer waste, only eat food that’s been discarded _ say you’d be amazed by what you can find in the trash. As others are spending money on holiday treats this season, this group continues to dig through dumpsters.

“We find more food than we could ever possiblly eat,” said Adam Weissman. Befor a recent dinner party , he found a hefty stash outside a gourmet supermarket in Manhattan: bags of salad nearing the sell-by date, dozens of sandwiches, boxes of crachers, squash and loaves of baguettes.

Weissman said that with few exceptions, he has not eaten storebought food, either at home or in a restaurant, in more than 10 years.

- Desmond Butler/AP, amNew York, Nov 25, 2005

我没有什么环境环保知识，对“资源”、“能源”这些概念涉及的东西，也就想到电、水、食物、纸张。就这些，就我看到的，说美国这里的人消耗得最多，我基本相信。消耗的意思是，使用，滥用，浪费。

click to www.freegan.info

Freegans
picture from freegan.info

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Subway, NYC, by zeyez

关于公交劳资纠纷。

根据23日感恩节前一天的消息，劳资双方的谈判尚无进展。Even after public transit strike threats, no progress between MTA, union [- Metro, Nov 23, 2005]。而今天是感恩节，Metro不出报。

我摘一些昨天前天关于双方分歧点的文字。

下面的引文里有Broadbanding这个词，金山词霸里是没有的，google一搜，满把。这是中国人力资源网的文章 《宽带薪酬：一种新型的薪酬结构设计形式》。好像是一种新的，当然是更先进的职务-薪酬结构，就是减少薪酬级别，而扩大级内的上下限距离；这样当然会带来很多好处，比如工作积极性。MTA的目标似乎是要实行这种先进管理。TWU则认为（至少MTA要搞的）Broadbanding就是混淆职务，让一个人做更多的事，雇更少的人，而这一切都会有安全隐患，并且最终让公众（乘客）倒霉。

“They’re seeking to broadband many titles in almost all of our departments,” said TWU President Roger Toussaint yesterday. “So they can have a train operator doing the work of a conductor, for instance, and various skilled trades doing the work of other skilled trades…”

- Metro, Nov 22, 2005

In October, the MTA’s subway subdivision cut crews of Road Car Inspectors from two to one. The job can be dangerous; in 2003, 43 suffered injuries. A different type of overseer called a Car Inspector — who fixes trains parked in the barn — is now used by NYC Transit to fill in for Road Car Inspectors. Car Inspectors earn about $1 less an hour.
……
The MTA wants workers to play multiple roles, Campbell [TWU TWU Local 100 vicechairman of Car Inspectors] said, but “a specialist is needed in a complex situation. A jack-of-all-trades is the master of nothing.”

- Metro, Nov 23, 2005

双方还有一个分歧是医疗保险。现在的MTA雇员不必为自己的医疗保险支付什么，但有消息说，至少今后新进的雇员需要支付一部分。

医疗保险的支付和宽带薪酬制的实行，也是费城公交劳资纠纷的焦点。斗争的结果给纽约这边很大刺激。

Health insurance was at the center of a week-long strike in Philadelphia this month. Transit workers won a fouryear deal that hiked wages 12 percent, and they agreed to give 1 percent of their base pay for health benefits.

“The union pretty much got everything it wanted,” said Bob Bedard, a spokesman for TWU Local 234 in Philadelphia. Efforts to broadband were defeated.

Local 100 paid close attention to the strike. “Our members see that if you stand together you can ward off an attack,” [MTU TWU Local 100 president Roger]Toussaint said

- Metro, Nov 23, 2005

而MTA，反正，目前基本都是 did not return calls for comment。

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Subway, NYC, by zeyez

关于公交劳资纠纷。

今天同事告诉我，主流媒体如纽约时报等，好像没提到过这次纠纷和罢工，至少没在显著位置提及。离工会定下的最后日子还有近20天，也许对纽约人来说，真的是 far too early for anyone to say whether a strike is likely [- Metro]。

2002年，市长Bloomberg听说工会要组织罢工，就到车行去买了辆500元的自行车，并向市民提出了一些应急建议。后来劳资双方在最后一刻达成了协议，Bloomberg就把自行车捐给了Brooklyn的一个孩子。这次，他说他此刻还没有买自行车的打算。

Mayor: Ink transit pact soon

MANHATTAN Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday he hopes the transit agency and its union can reach a contract deal before the Dec. 15 deadline — avoiding the anxiety of a strike threat like the city endured in 2002.

Commuters were narrowly spared a crippling strike three years ago after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union worked frantically as the deadline approached, finally reaching a deal hours after it passed.

- Metro, Nov 22, 2005

有时觉得不可想像，纽约停了所有地铁、巴士、市内火车……但说不定它真的会给我碰上的。

More than 7.7 million people ride MTA buses and trains each day in the largest public transit system in the nation. In Philadelphia earlier this month, more than 400,000 daily riders of trains and buses were forced to walk, bicycle, car pool or hitchhike during a weeklong strike.

- Metro, Nov 22, 2005

2002年的劳资协议是在最后期限过后几个小时才达成的。

“I don’t like the idea of having to rush up to a deadline where there’s panic at the last minute,” he [Mayor Michael Bloomberg] said.

He added that an eleventhhour deal is better than nothing, but remains optimistic the MTA and TWU can compromise over the next 20 days and avoid the hoopla of three years ago.

Three weeks is a lifetime in union negotiations, so it’s far too early for anyone to say whether a strike is likely. The two sides have met a few times but have not begun to discuss numbers or other details, according to the union.

MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said “it is simply too early in the process to comment publicly” on the negotiations.

- Metro, Nov 22, 2005

TWU发表言论较多，MTA几乎不说什么。