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Posted on 03/02/2005 3:12:15 PM PST by SmithL
San Francisco's famed cable car conductors and gripmen staged a 2½-hour strike today to protest the firing of two fellow employees, according to the city's transit agency and union officials.
Cable cars from all three lines pulled into the service barn on Mason Street starting around 10 a.m. and stayed there until 12:30 p.m. The Municipal Railway put buses on the Powell-Hyde, Powell-Mason and California Street lines as replacements.
"It's a personnel matter," said Maggie Lynch, a spokeswoman for the Muni. "The union has a disagreement with the way something has been handled. This is not a legal action."
. . . ."When you violate my MOU, I want someone's head to roll," said union chief William Sisk. "I want my people treated fairly."
Union and city officials confirmed the strike was called off after Mayor Gavin Newsom asked Sisk to put the cable cars back on the street.
. . . While Muni management officials said they could not comment on the fired employees, Sisk said they had been accused of "mishandling" cable car receipts. Other union members said the two employees had been accused of stealing.
Asked about the legality of the strike, Sisk said "I didn't give a damn if it was legal. I didn't care."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
It sure is lucky for those cable car operators that the public at large still needs cable cars for transportation.
...wait a minute!
Shoot them.
Yes, it's my answer to everything.
Union thugs can be oh so charming.
Waaaait a minute, I thought people in SF hated Bush.
When I visited SF and rode the cable cars, I got the distinct impression the conductors could very easily pocket some of the collected fares.
There was no accounting of the number of riders (who were packed like sardines in the cars and hanging off the sides), most people paid in cash (instead of buying the tickets sold at the wharf end of the cable car route), and the conductors did not collect the fares in an orderly manner (allowing some riders to avoid paying altogether).
If the conductor simply pocketed two riders' fares on each trip, he could easily supplement his income substantially.
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