NYC Transit Strike

As a commuter who uses public transportation every day, I can't imagine what I would do to get to work every day if Chicago's transit workers went on strike. That being said, however, I fully support the union's right to strike in New York City. As I understand it, they are striking because they are unwilling to take future cuts in wages and benefits while there is a billion dollar surplus.

There are much deeper issues here. Workers in all professions are losing wages and benefits. This trend is evident in pretty much all professions, other than, of course, the profession of "rich white asshole," which has for decades enjoyed an exponential increase.

The union workers have a right to fight these losses. If it is illegal to strike, what power do they have? It seems that there is a strong correlation between the decline in the power of unions and the decline in wages and benefits. More and more unions are losing the legal right to strike, not based on the safety and health of American citizens, but based on the lost profits of businesses. That seems to be, really, the central issue here. What Mayor Bloomberg mentions over and over is the monetary cost to the city, and how businesses rely on this time of year to make money. Does the short-term profit of businesses outweigh the long-term effects of wage and benefit cuts for thousands of workers? I guess that's a really stupid question, if you know anything about American society.