Call me crazy, but I think those MTA workers deserve their pay raises. Driving a train is a challenging job. Do I push the lever that makes the train go forward? Or do I NOT push the lever that makes the train go forward? Awfully complicated. Gives me a headache just joking about it.

My problem is, I’m going to have to pay $2.00 per Metrocard ride starting next year, for the same shitty service, and the same shitty trains. I’d be willing to pay fifty cents more if it meant improvements of some kind, but no. We are basically paying more for stagnation. Frankly, it’s ridiculous.

And now the MTA workers come along, and if they don’t get more money, they’re gonna go on strike. On the one hand, can anyone blame them? They smell the blood in the water. If ever there were a time to ambush the city, it’s now. But on the other hand, I think it’s a cowardly act on the part of the subway union. The economy’s down, college graduates have trouble finding work, and here comes the big bad MTA wielding their extortion scheme.

Does it really matter if they get pay raises during the first year of their new contracts? Plenty of people in the private sector won’t be getting raises this year. And I’ve heard the stupid arguments:

“MTA workers aren’t exactly the best-paid workers with the best job.”

Uh, well, there’s a reason for that. What kind of qualifications do you need to get a city job? Not a whole lot, I think, which is why so many high school dropouts want city jobs. Does the MTA really think that a job where a college degree isn’t even necessary deserves pay on-par with brain surgery or rocket science? Please! MTA Man: Find out which stop your sense of reality got off on and have the booth-guy or girl bring it back!

“But subway workers have to spend all day underground.”

So do I! Not because I work for the MTA, but because I live in Sheepshead Bay and have to spend most of my conscious hours on the subway when I commute. And Christ, I was making $10 an hour writing death notices! I actually made LESS than an MTA workers does annually, and I have a college degree. I tell you what, if Mayor Bloomberg ever needs scabs, I will be the first to cross that picket line.

“The fare hikes are part of the costs of bringing the subway system into the 21st century.”

Heh heh. Are all those Metrocard machines part of this futuristic subway plan? I have a feeling they are, and I think I know why the MTA is running on deficit. I go to the Avenue U Q-station during rush hour, and I see these two pristine-condition Metrocard machines standing off to one side. I use them. NO ONE ELSE DOES! There’s a line going out the door, all the way to Ocean Avenue, waiting to buy tokens from the booth-guy. Great idea, those Metrocard vending machines. How about putting them in neighborhoods where the majority of people can read English!