So, once again, I am sitting at home, enjoying my day off because of the strike. I’m going to get a car out to work to open tomorrow and Friday, though, so I won’t have to use all of my vacation hours. It’s kind of interesting to just sit back and watch the news and see it all unfold from inside the bubble of my apartment. I feel like I should walk over to the bridge and see the state of things, but I know that I probably won’t. It’s craziness that’s so near yet so far, and I think I’d rather be a detached observer.

I still don’t know if I think any one side is right. But I did read an interesting editorial in the Daily News today, which you can see in its entirety here. Here is the gist of it:

[The commuters’] rage will only build as the public gets the full picture of how Toussaint rashly led the Transport Workers Union away from the bargaining table despite winning concession after concession from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority …

… The MTA wanted a two-year contract, while the union wanted a three-year deal. The MTA made it three years.

The union rejected raises of 3% a year. The MTA bumped yearly hikes to 3%, 4% and 3.5%, which compound to 11% over the life of the contract.

The union asked for more money. The MTA added a 0.5% bonus.

The union proposed Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday, giving the workers 12 a year. The MTA agreed.

The union accused the MTA of subjecting large numbers of employees to arbitrary punishments. The MTA proposed hiring an independent consultant to recommend disciplinary system reforms.

The union balked at having new workers - and only new workers - contribute 1% of their salaries for health insurance. The MTA dropped the idea even though skyrocketing health costs are fueling a deficit projected at almost $1 billion.

And there was progress even on the most difficult issue: pensions. Transit workers now contribute 2% of salary to pensions and can retire at half pay after 25 years on the job at age 55. The costs are bankrupting the MTA and driving up fares. That’s why the agency proposed requiring newly hired workers to stay on the job until age 62 and to kick in 3%.

When the TWU adamantly opposed raising the retirement age, the MTA retreated to 55 and both sides began discussing whether new workers should contribute 3%, 5% or 6%, and for how long. But Toussaint abruptly ended the talks, and the strike was on. So irrational was his action that a third of Toussaint’s executive board voted against the walkout, and TWU International President Michael O’Brien is calling on the strikers “to report to work.”

Interesting stuff. I do think Toussaint is being a little silly. The transit workers already get better treatment than the majority of city employees, and the MTA caved enough for him–and let’s face it, he’s the overwhelming power on the TWU’s side–to give deeper thought to the matter.

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In other news, King Kong must make $250 million dollars in the US to break even. In it’s first weekend, it made $50 million ($66 million since it opened). Good luck with that one. [Businessweek]