I haven’t seen anyone mentioning this, even though I think it could cause Hillary and the Democratic campaign in Pennsylvania huge headaches on Tuesday. It is the ongoing Philadelphia public transport workers strike. I do not understand how the Mayor of Philly, a Democrat, and the transit workers union, who Im sure have endorsed Hillary, how they have allowed the situation to come to this, where the transit workers went out on strike right before the election!
In a big city like Philly, hundreds of thousands are dependent on the subway, the buses, and the trolleys, all of which are now shut down indefinitely, to get to work, do errands and do neccessary appointments and in general just to get around town, like on Election Day getting to the polling locations!
I am the son of a UAW worker and shop steward, and have always been pro union. I have not read up on the issues causing the impasse between the union and the Philly Transit Authority. All I am saying is that the union, if it had one ounce of strategic sense, should have waited until after Election Day was over before it called a strike. I know the Mayor of Philadelphia does not directly run the transit authority, but Im sure he has a huge amount of leverage over it. The Mayor, the Governor of PA all need to convey to the transit workers union the dire necessity of them going back to work, at least until after the election.
We all know how critical Pennsylvania is to Hillary’s blue wall. The strike is hurting mostly minority and poor voters in Philly. And Im not letting the Philadelphia Transit Authority off the hook either. They need to get back to bargaining in good faith. Wouldnt it be awful if we wake up on the day after the election and see that Pennsylvania narrowly went to Trump, largely because of lower voting turnout among core Democratic voters in Philadelphia! What are the union leaders thinking! What is the Mayor doing to get a settlement. I am so upset about this. This whole thing could throw the election to Trump.
www.nytimes.com/...