Metro transit
Spend a carless week before voting to strike
Every transit worker and every Metropolitan Council member who is involved in labor negotiations must spend one week without the use of a car to get to work, to medical appointments and to the grocery store. Then, and only then, can they truly understand that another bus strike simply cannot happen ("Metro Transit workers reject 'last and best' contract offer," Sept. 21).
Regarding health insurance premiums: all transit workers who have voted down the most recent contract should calculate the financial cost that they would incur if they were to become sick or unable to work and had no insurance. Then they can tell me that they're going on strike.I have endured two transit strikes, and they were paralyzing.
I do not drive. Health insurance is vital to meeting my ongoing medical needs -- anticonvulsants, and appointments related to preexisting conditions. I may not renegotiate for a better deal. I make the most of what I have been given. I find what is of value in my life, which is beyond measure.
I am not personally involved in the contract negotiations. But I will not stand by silently while another unconscionable strike takes place.
A bus strike is nothing short of taking people hostage. Return to your senses and to the bargaining table. Transit workers and the Metropolitan Council, listen and act.
PATTY THORSEN, ST. PAUL http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/103751894.html?page=2&c=y
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