TWU Fined $2.5 Million For Its Illegal Strike

And professional grandstander Jesse Jackson was there!

Oh, and about that talk about how this will “cripple the union”:

The rulings by Justice Jones on the $2.5 million fine and the dues checkoff came after days of court argument over detailed financial records, in which union lawyers argued that financial penalties would cripple Local 100. In his comments from the bench, Justice Jones joked more than once that the cascade of financial records and conflicting balance sheet interpretations made the labor dispute seem like the case against the Enron Corporation.

. . .

Terry Meginniss, a lawyer for Local 100, told the court in closing arguments yesterday that the elimination of dues deductions from members’ paychecks was the harshest penalty confronting the union, since it would severely limit its ability to collect money and pay its bills and would force it to cut staff.

But Neil H. Abramson, a lawyer for the transit authority, argued that the union had ample assets to draw on, including its headquarters at 80 West End Avenue in Manhattan, which the union has had appraised at $39 million. Ed Watt, Local 100’s secretary treasurer, testified last week that it had a contract to sell the building for $60 million that was contingent on the buyer obtaining bank financing and that it had received other offers of $40 million.

In other words, they’re denying us the joy of seeing them go bankrupt . . .