These garbage men really stink.
Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts -- a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned.
Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.
This is a thug-style tactic, just like we've come to expect from union bosses. They are trying to put all New Yorkers at risk by making it hazardous for police, fire trucks, and ambulances to get to the people that are in need, and they are impeding the city's ability to clean the streets of all of the extra snow because of all of the extra trash on the roads.
Why are they doing this? Because they are upset over the fact that the city has had to trim some of the fat from their overstuffed wallets. New York City is in deep financial debt and needs to get their ship back in order. They don't need unions bullying them and holding New York hostage and endangering everyone's lives just to get a few extra bucks.
Unions need to come to terms with the fact that cuts must be made and deal with it. We all are having to deal with it. They should have to, as well. They can't be allowed to throw these temper tantrums, and we shouldn't give in to them at every turn.
Update: HotAir's Ed Morrissey makes a good point as to why we might want to be skeptical of this report:
I’m a little skeptical, but mainly because the primary source for the conspiracy theory is an elected official who can expect to be held accountable for the poor performance thus far in the Big Apple. Also, the Twin Cities had the same level of snowfall a few weeks ago, and snow removal was a problem for us, too. Minneapolis/St Paul and the first-ring suburbs have a large amount of infrastructure to deal with heavy snowfalls and about a fifth of the population, and we still have huge piles of snow blocking sidewalks downtown. Heck, we can’t even get the Metrodome fixed; now, the estimate for repair and reinflation is the end of March. I’m not sure that NYC could have done better, with its relatively smaller snow-removal infrastructure, lack of places to put the snow, and population density.
Is it possible that this was a coordinated slowdown effort by public-sector unions to make Bloomberg and city officials look incompetent? Sure, but the simpler answers are usually closer to the truth. The simpler answers here are that this was freakishly heavy snowfall in a city not used to such things, and, well, it has a mayor more interested in salt use in restaurants than on the roads.
We should know what is really to blame for this slow response to the blizzard. Is it an indifferent mayor, unusually bad weather, or union bullies? If it is true, could at least one charge of negligent homicide be in order?
