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it would be similar in ways to going to Siberia. In communist Poland, I have been told that strikes were unthinkable. I know other fears at the workplace too. On December 20, 1999, I was threatened with disciplinary action by a Deputy Superintendent of Schools. On December 19, 1999 New York Newsday published a huge article about the big drop in diplomas earned by the GED programs of New York City and this article made her leave her office with several staff members, taking them away from their normal duties to confront me and the students. No other teacher stepped forward to defend me or to show support for the students. Why? Teachers and most workers know that supervisors can make life miserable for them. This holds back the progress of man. It has held people back across our nation, I am sure.

People in power are calling the leaders of the Transit Workers Unions “thugs” and other names. The people in the TWU are reminding the public that the mayor and the MTA did not get to the table in a timely manner to avert the strike. If the mayor has his share of the blame for this, we have to ask ourselves if he was really prepared to handle the city or throw it into chaos. The union condemns the pension negotiations that would seriously affect future pensions. If New Yorkers had known this was going to happen, would they have voted for Bloomberg? If other unions that supported Bloomberg had known this was going to happen, would they have supported Bloomberg? With all the talk of living in a democratic society, where, in fact, is the democracy? Did the people vote to cut future pensions of transit workers? The bigger question after the strike is will this happen to future employees of New York City? And remember that the Metropolitan Transit Authority has a billion dollar surplus. Human dignity is being eroded. People who are being paid $30,000 a year are against people who are making more money because they are striking and hurting them, but the bigger problem is that people who agree would never strike in support of the Transit Workers Unions because of fear of supervisors and fear of loss of income, even one hundred dollars. It is unfortunate that our stability is based on so much fear. Maybe the Taylor Law should be abolished on the same grounds as school segregation, the psychological case that brought down segregation.

MARTIN N. DANENBERG
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ISLANDIA, NY 11749
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