Holding a City Hostage

I spent an extra three days in New York City for my Christmas vacation. Not willingly, however. My car was snowed in.

As a native New York, I used to laugh at DC’s response to snow. Even the slightest dusting still triggers mass panic, early closures of schools and business and a rush to the local grocery for bottled water, milk and toilet paper. (I guess for Washingtonians, snow necessarily means a desire for hot chocolate, a fear of pipes freezing and chronic diarrhea.) Last year’s major back-to-back blizzards which closed the federal government for 4 days was a national headline and northeasterner’s punch line. But they laughed too soon.

New York was crippled for three days. New York City… not Calcutta, not Mogadishu, not even DC. New York City. And no one could understand why. 24 inches, though certainly a lot of snow, is not unheard of in the City that never sleeps… so why the sudden shut down? Why was New York City suddenly incapable of responding to a snowstorm.

We thought all along it was a union plot. And by “we”, I mean my conservative, politically savvy family with whom I was snowbound sans internet or TV (thanks, Time Warner Cable. Glad Comcast doesn’t have the monopoly on crap cable companies). We witnessed snow plows driving along the streets with plows raised. We saw sanitation trucks parked with engines off and workers sitting inside the truck. For three days, they didn’t pick up garbage and they didn’t plow snow. So what did they do?

They protested.

Sanitation workers make an average of $67k per year. Now starting salary is low- $30 or 31k. But that jumps to over $44 in just one year with some overtime. Managers can make well into 6-figures. And as a protected class, they all retire with full benefits and pension in 20 years. I’ve been working for over 15 years and don’t see retirement in the near future… but high school classmates of mine are only 3 years away from a retired pension of close to $80k… for life. Pick up a few hours working at blockbuster video and you are making over $100k at the ripe old age of 41.

You know… suddenly being a garbage man doesn’t sound so bad.

Sanitation workers union is mad at the Mayor. First off, join the club. Everyone is mad at Bloomberg because he’s a terrible mayor, nanny state leader, bike lane fascist, chronic tax increaser, manipulative big dog who uses his vast fortunes to rule others. But the sanitation union is not mad at any of that. No, they are mad that he is cutting sanitation workers. And this was their revenge.

Sadly, Bloomberg is letting himself take the blame and not holding the union accountable for their deliberately orchestrated show down. Instead, Mayor Mike should “put his boot on the neck” on the union bosses and remind the workers that their loyalty is to the city (whose 8 million residents pay their salaries) and not to the union. He didn’t do this. And the union won.

Unions are holding New York City (and most major cities) hostage. New York transit just announced a series of fare increases. Now the subway is $2.50 per ride up from $2.25. And that additional quarter is going to union pensions. That’s right- not one cent of that is for track improvement, the 2nd Avenue expansion, maintenance, clean-up… no. The entire amount is for retired transit workers, who, like the sanitation union, have retired after 20 years with full benefits and handsome pensions. Another hostage situation.

The snow slow down and financial crippling are direct consequences of unions that have become too powerful and spineless government officials who sign their contracts. Where is their sense of duty to the citizens? Who protects the 8 million from the tyranny of 6300 sanitation workers? It’s shameful and prevalent enough to drive this conservative bonkers. But it is also reflective in the 2010 U.S. census results. Those union-rich states are losing population and the red states, right to work states are growing. New York will lose 2 districts. Texas will gain 4. That’s voting with your feet.

I love New York. I love DC. And I don’t feel like I have to move to escape the tyranny of the unions and their death grip on city services, schools, roads and construction. And I’m sure Utah and Wyoming are great states but I want to live here. Changing a city as liberal as New York or DC is near impossible. But the solution to the union power is simple. And, I think, inevitable: Bankruptcy.

New York will be forced to declare bankruptcy. Not just the city but the entire state (as will California and several others.) To sound awfully cliché it’s not a matter of “if” but “when”. The math is as certain and unstoppable as the Titanic’s sinking. The city is overpaying its underperforming employees and allowing them to retire extremely young. Ironically, the Nation considers raising the retirement age to 67… a good 26 later than the first retirees of New York’s stellar sanitation department. People and business are migrating out of New York- not in waves but in a constant drip drip drip of exodus. Once declared bankrupt, the city can cancel every one of their hoodwinked union contracts and renegotiate sane, sound ones that don’t exploit the taxpayers. Novel concepts like work performance and accountability can be addressed and the blanket “get paid no matter what you do/don’t do” approach (that has, surprisingly, not worked) can be abolished.

It does start with the people and the elections. On the one hand, New York did just vote in another Cuomo who will undoubtedly take the unions into his bedroom for some intimate moments. And we here in DC did elect Vince Grey who was endorsed by Marion Barry. So I guess, we both get what we vote for.

Maybe, then, Utah is my only option. Because being held hostage by half retired, unqualified, unskilled, heavily compensated, glorified bus boys cannot be my reality. Not if I want to stay sane and keep my wallet out of the union’s reach.