[Rhodes22-list] Ed's Foul mood

Brad Haslett flybrad at gmail.com
Sat Jan 5 08:43:52 EST 2008


Mike,

Don't know if you use the LIRR but you might want to make alternate plans
near the end of the month (story attached).  When I was based in NYC I would
take a morning departure out of Nashville to either EWR or LGA, the bus to
Penn Station, then the LIRR to lovely Hempstead or the express to Mineola
(had a girlfriend there) and then a hotel van to JFK.  After a while I got
brave and left on a noon flight.  Late in the game I got really brave and
left late afternoon with hardly any backup plan.  I was standing on the
platform at the Jamaica station platform with about 45 minutes to spare when
an announcement was made that the train hit a pedestrian and was cancelled.
I showed for my trip at JFK with, oh, about 30 seconds to spare and that was
my epiphany that God wanted me to move to Memphis.  I still miss that
commute - sometimes.

Brad

--------------------

MINEOLA (CBS) ¨D Amtrak workers are threatening to strike. The railroad and
its unions are struggling to reach new labor agreements. Workers could walk
off the job at the end of January.

If that happens, rail lines across the country could be crippled, and Penn
Station in Manhattan would be forced to close.

Rush hour commuters were beside themselves Friday when CBS 2 HD gave them
word of the breaking news out of Washington that could paralyze rail
traffic, and close Penn Station, which is used by half a million Long Island
Rail Road, NJ Transit and Amtrak passengers each day.

"I don't really think you can go on strike against the public good so I
think it would absolutely ludicrous, in violation of the law, and they
should all be locked up," LIRR rider Jack Sullivan said.

Added fellow LIRR commuter Tiesha Smith: "I hope they're not to strike
'cause I need my transportation back and forth to work. I live in
Huntington."

After years without a contract, eight unions representing Amtrak maintenance
workers and dispatchers could stage the first strike in the railroad's
history, as early as Jan. 30.

Not everyone CBS 2 HD spoke to was ready to crucify the workers.

"Workers rights are important -- workers should be allowed to strike," one
commuter said. "They deserve to strike. They're probably not getting paid
enough."

President Bush has appointed an emergency board to help negotiate a labor
agreement and a cooling off period was ordered. But if Congress doesn't step
in Amtrak workers could walk off the job -- or be locked out ¨C shuttering
Penn Station and creating commuter chaos.

LIRR president Helena Williams is preparing ¨C just in case.

"If there is a strike Penn Station will be closed," Williams said. "We will
have to relocate those passengers to other stations in order to get to their
final destinations. We will have to use Brooklyn, Jamaica Station and
Woodside."

Subway service would not be affected.

This is all just a little more than three weeks away, but Amtrak tells CBS 2
HD it is hopeful for a settlement.

Amtrak and union leaders say the main sticking points are over retroactive
wage hikes and work rule reform.

The earliest a strike could be called is 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 30.



On Jan 5, 2008 6:40 AM, Michael D. Weisner <mweisner at ebsmed.com> wrote:

> Ed,
>
> Please stop lumping all New Yorkers together.  We don't all respond in the
> same way.  I don't think that anyone meant any harm asking about the
> archives.
>
> It was a cold and beautiful sunrise here in New York.  Did you wake up on
> the wrong side of the bed?
>
> Maybe you should thaw out in front of a nice winter morning fire and have
> a good breakfast before answering your email.
>
> Mike
> s/v Shanghaid'd Summer ('81)
>       Nissequogue River, NY
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>


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