- As the strike by transit workers in Philadelphia enters
its fifth day, it is clear why unions have such a tough time in the United
States, where fewer than one in eight workers is covered by a union contract.
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- Although the average pay of transit workers is just $50,000
a year (that represents take-home pay of less than $35000 take-home after
taxes or about $3000 a month to live on for a typical family of four),
the suburbanites who feel put out because they have to brave huge traffic
jams to get to and from work in the city are grousing that the transit
workers are greedy for holding out for a slightly-less-than 4% per year
pay increase over the three years of their contract.
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- I just got into a debate at the local YMCA gym with an
older guy who probably makes over $100,000 a year and whose children are
already grown, who was incensed that the "greedy bus and subway drivers"
were asking for a raise at this time "with the economy in such a mess."
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- But I also noticed, as I drove my son into school this
week in the traffic crush, that these same suburbanites are, for the most
part, continuing to drive to work one to a car. What a lack of creativity!...
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- For the rest of this article, please go to:
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- http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
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