By Dave Lindorff

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.

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.

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."

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!

My wife, who frequently travels to Rome to do research, has on
several occasions landed in that city during one of its frequent
transit strikes. She reports that the people of this ancient city take
these job actions in stride, getting out their bicycles, taking
leisurely walks to school, or simply going on holiday for the duration.
People don't get mad at the workers. In Italy, it's understood that
when one group of workers fights for better pay or working conditions,
everyone benefits in the end.

This fellow I was arguing with about the Philly transit strike,
said, "It's not like this is the 1920s or '30s, when unions were really
needed because people were being exploited."

"Oh really?" I said. "You don't think the workers at Wal-Mart or in
your local supermarket are being exploited?" The truth is that working
conditions for American workers have been getting progressively worse
in recent years, while pay has actually been falling in real dollars,
because union representation has been falling for several decades from
a high of over 35% back in the early 1950s. Those unions, like the
transit workers union in Philadelphia, which are still fighting the
good fight, are really all that stands between ordinary American
workers and a truly nightmarish return to a Dickensian era.

Does anyone believe that the type of manager that we have seen
pillaging the economy on Wall Street, or stealing jobs and already
earned pay from workers at Republic Window & Door in Chicago, is an
exception to the rule? Hell no. American managers are congenitally
ruthless exploiters of human beings constrained only by unions or their
fear of unions, and by the protective legislation, such as minimum wage
laws, occupational safety and health laws, etc., which Congress has
grudgingly passed because of the pressure from unions and their workers.

We should all be cheering the workers of the Transport Workers Union
Local 234 in Philadelphia for their grit and determination in standing
up to the management of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation
Authority. Their fight is our fight. They like us are struggling to pay
rent or mortgage bills, to buy food for their families, and to pay
their medical bills.

Workers all around the Philadelphia area should be organizing
car-pools, getting their bikes out of the garage, and collectively
telling their own bosses to cut them some slack if they're late to work
or have to stay home for the day because of the strike.

We should also all be writing letters condemning the bias of the
local media in Philadelphia, which have as a group focused entirely on
the hardship to commuters caused by the strike, and not at all on the
issues confronted by the transit workers themselves.

Furthermore, it is not the fault of the SEPTA workers in
Philadelphia that bus and subway fares are too high. Nor is it their
responsibility to accept low wages to subsidize lower fares. It is the
responsibility of the state of Pennsylvania to keep those fares
affordable. Mass transit cannot and should not be self-financing. It is
a social good. It helps protect the environment by reducing air
pollution from cars, reduces wear and tear on roadways, and helps
reduce the nation's dependence upon oil imports.

Instead of complaining about the union for calling a strike, we
should all be cheering them on. America needs more labor militancy, not
less.
________________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist. His latest book
is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). His work is
available at www.thiscantbehappening.net