sis
as you may or may not be aware as we speak there is a general strike going on
excuse me a g_ and
uh... union general strike in spain
thursday today of course six hours uh...
ahead of us
spain's first general strike since the popular party of prime minister of
mariana roger i came to power last year
well uh... is
started the strike was called by spain's two main trade unions approach as a
recent overhauled liberals
that makes it cheaper for employers the higher and fire
workers
why is this relevant because we know
that occupy wall street
has been
slowly and increasingly
spreading the word that may first
will be your opportunity to a couple of days off
and reflect upon how after up our country is
and to that
and
a group calling itself before i can file initiative
claim credit yesterday
for opening up more than twenty subway stations in new york city for for each
entry
for commuters
they change open the emergency gates at stations
on the f al are accused three and six lines during rush hour yesterday morning
if you're not from new york city if you're not familiar with the way our
subway system works there are turnstiles
me take a little metro card and swipe it through
and always to the left or right of these turnstiles there's an emergency door
that's used if you've got a stroller or a bicycle
and if you're coming out of the uh... subway you can open a mop uh... small
alarm
goes off for a brief a period of time
and apparently
teams twenty teams of three or four people
trained to open these against
with the help
supposedly
according to anonymous
occupy wall street organizers
by rank-and-file members of the transit worker's union local one hundred
they're currently in negotiations with the m_t_a_ which is d
entity which runs the subways
and they put out a release citing that albany has
and by albany were of course we're talking about the state government the
seat of the state government in new york state
has been chronically underfunding public transportation
which incidently more more people are using in this city
to the benefit of
well just about everyone
from making our air a better debris of making a new york city a more livable
place
making new york city more accessible two people can afford to live in manhattan
which just about
everybody
and the release sites the fact that albany has been consistently
under-funding public transportation
which forces the m_t_a_ to borrow happily
to maintain its operating budget
and this debt
must be serviced in part with transit fares that have gone up over fifty
percent over the last decade
and according to the
release quote this means wall street bondholders receive a huge share
of what we put into the system
through the metro cards we buy in the taxes we pay
more than two billion a year goes to debt service in this number is expected
to rise every year
so rather than raise taxes on the rich in this state
what they do is simply borrow money from the rich so that the rich
can then get interest of payments
they come out of our tax dollars
it's a wonderful system
if you're one of these financiers
not so much if you are a taxpayer or if you're a on a subway go
courting and to a piece in the event legit boys by mc intel
who spoke to one of the organizers
they said we've been planning this for months are kibuye people other activists
in union members of the source said
union members are central to the planning they told us the best places to
go
they talk to their colleagues about what was going to happen and not to be
freaked out when we came in
it gave the final green light for the mission this morning
the union itself to transportation where union now local one hundred leadership
denied knowledge of the action
and the rank-and-file initiative sources according to this piece confirmed that
they were not notified
remember if the union was to uh... be officially involved in this
this would have file into both the taylor law and the taft hartley act
source claims that there are a lot of anger in afraid union members wish they
could do more but they're held back by their leadership
there is a long been a rift between
blows local transit uh... workers union and their leadership
and so uh... this is just part of it
now this strategy uh... has been used in the past san francisco soft air strike
in two thousand five
the spanish indianapolis ind at natos
have involved in this called uh... through a uh... action they call you
know no pago
to believe means
i know page
the group also plans to release how-to guides to help anyone else who might
want to stay just fair strike in new york subways they put up signs
that look like official m_t_a_ sign saying
free ferreted a
don't forget may first
general strike today
so may first is coming
the american spring it will sooner perhaps spring in an of itself