Filed under: News, The Economy
At first, New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg was harshly attacked for the city's slow efforts at removing the snow. But then blame shifted to the Big Apple's sanitation workers, who allegedly dragged their feet on purpose in an effort to protest the city's recent layoffs and benefit-reducing budget cuts. The effects of the slow-down were drastic and widespread. Emergency vehicles were unable to respond to 911 calls, and in an extreme example a newborn baby died as the child's pregnant mother awaited help.
Some union bosses were actually caught drinking beer while they should have been plowing streets:
A group of on-duty Sanitation supervisors is under investigation for allegedly buying booze and chilling in their cozy department car for hours Monday night after the blizzard stranded a bus and three snowplows blocks away.
The city Department of Investigation is probing the incident after witnesses said four snow blowers blew off their duties to get blitzed, buying two six-packs of beer from a Brooklyn bodega. The workers then walked five blocks to their car, which was in 20 inches of snow in the middle of 18th at McDonald avenues near the F train entrance, passing the stuck bus and idle plows on 18th Avenue between Third and Fourth streets.
The four remained in the idling sedan until morning -- then told their bosses they could do nothing about the blizzard because they had run out of gas, one witness said.
"They just sat in their car all night with the heat running," the witness said.
If the snow removal slow-down was indeed an orchestrated effort by the sanitation workers union, someone should be held accountable for lives lost. This does seem to be the case, as it has been reported that 10% of sanitation workers called in sick when the snow storm hit, an unusually high rate that appears to be more than a coincidence. But perhaps we need to take a deeper look at the issue, and ask why the workers would be motivated to react in this way.
While it seems fashionable for many (especially on the right) to slam unions of late, I'm going to resist the temptation to pile on. The reality is, whether we acknowledge it or not, many of the workplace protections we take for granted were only the result of the hard won victories of unions. Unions have played a prominent role in the enactment of a broad range of labor laws and expectations like regular raises, paid vacations, the 40 hour work week, overtime pay, minimum wage, health and retirement coverage, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation and maternity leave. Now that the economy is sour, governments and businesses are using that temporary fact as an excuse to permanently erode the benefits and securities that actually motivate employees to keep a good job. It was not that long ago that sweat shop conditions and dead-end careers were the norm for America's working class.
Is that the kind of American workplace we want? How would you react if your boss suddenly reduced your pay, took away your title, gave you more work, and expected the same output? That's what happened to the NYC sanitation workers. It's something to reflect about.
I am not in any way justifying the actions of some sanitation workers who may have intentionally done a bad job to protest reductions in their benefits. I'd also be the last guy to paint all members of the NYC sanitation workers union with a broad brush of guilt for the actions of a relative few. We as a country really need to move beyond this sort of guilt by association. I suspect an overwhelming majority of those sanitation workers take pride in their jobs, did a good job and feel horrible about the loss of life that happened as a result of the streets not being plowed quickly enough. At the same time, this makes you wonder if more lives could be lost if the American worker continues to be seen as the first line for cuts in lean times.
Someone needs to pay the families of those who suffered as a result of a few sanitation workers' malfeasance. But if we don't remain aware of managers and politicians as they squash the power of unions, we could end up suffering much more -- back where we started as powerless peasants dependent on the whims of the rich and powerful. The quality of workmanship on all levels would suffer, as no one would be inspired to do their best. Then we would have bus drivers, hospital workers, air plane mechanics and others we depend on potentially checking out on the job.
As today's new snow storm falls, these are chilling thoughts.