Sticky issue. I’m expecting a no vote, but it’ll be close. Basically they offered us a year contract. Well, there’s 15 months left on it if we approve it. A one-year contract with a small paycut doesn’t exactly inspire confidence for the bus system. If we approve this, we’ll likely be on strike again near the beginning of 2006. If it had lasted an extra year, until June 2006, we could have at least took 9 months again (this time we were without a contract for 9 months, from August 2003 to March 2004) until after the election and the new governor. By that i mean that I figure a 0% chance of Pawlenty being reelected and a 5% chance of him even running again.
Comments (10)
Free health care?
Who pays for it? God?
Posted by Chris | April 19, 2004 10:56 AM
Posted on April 19, 2004 10:56
the riders do. happily. good public services aren't free, you know.
Posted by ryan | April 19, 2004 11:15 AM
Posted on April 19, 2004 11:15
can i picket with you some time, ryan? also, tell your girlfriend to re-mail me. thanks.
Posted by rachel | April 19, 2004 2:56 PM
Posted on April 19, 2004 14:56
The riders pay for the health care? Cool. Enough with those damned public subsidies, then.
Posted by Bill | April 20, 2004 3:33 PM
Posted on April 20, 2004 15:33
Hey bus driver, no one's forcing you to work for Metro Transit. Maybe you should quit and take your people skills and knowledge of history and become a teacher. Your whining about a health care package that goes above and beyond anything offered in the private sector sounds a bit greedy to most people. Yes, mass transit is an important service in a large city, but it is far from being an essential service. So quit crying about having to cough up a little dough for your health care (all of us in the private sector have to, the ones that even HAVE a health care package available), or else the next time you all decide to strike the taxpayers might just tell you all to f*** off.
Posted by Patrick | April 20, 2004 5:24 PM
Posted on April 20, 2004 17:24
Yep, it's a shame. 100 years of progress in Minnesota down the drain thanks to Tim Pawlenty.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get a new wagon tongue for my buggy so I can go into town for my Typhoid shots.
ROOSEVELT FOR PREZ 04'!
Posted by Lamont Cranston | April 21, 2004 3:25 PM
Posted on April 21, 2004 15:25
LOL
"When oil runs out in 5-10 years"???
You've got to be kidding me.
Put the bong down. Not everything your Enviromental Studies teacher tells you is true.
Posted by Langdon Auger | April 22, 2004 10:50 AM
Posted on April 22, 2004 10:50
damn dude. i think a conservative politics middle school class read my site
--------Posted by ryan | April 23, 2004 1:25 PM
Posted on April 23, 2004 13:25
The strike showed how little the mass transit systems are actually *needed* in this city. Yes, many people take them as a convenience or for economics (less to ride than gas), but the service isn't essential. To be complaining about not getting totally free (to you) health care is ridiculous. I make about $30k a year, so you can hardly call me rich. The taxes that are being deducted for your non-essential service is what is ridiculous.
Posted by Scott | April 21, 2005 1:28 AM
Posted on April 21, 2005 01:28
Too bad in 5-10 years when the oil either runs out or the prices are just too rediculously high to pay, the mass transit system will actually SAVE the asses of a lot of people. Especially since auto makers have done f***-all to convert to alternative energy sources.
Posted by ben | April 22, 2005 5:08 AM
Posted on April 22, 2005 05:08