I peered into the boys’ room at 8:30 to check to see if Ian was dead. Breathing. He was still sleeping, because we made him holler for half the night. On Monday night, we watched Nanny 911 lecture a family for letting their kids sleep with them. Nanny 911 shamed us, so we decided to stop the bed sharing. And, I’m cranky as hell today.

Instead of being a responsible person and finishing off the damn Christmas cards, I am devouring stories about the strike. I see no good guys. The MTA hides from all accountability through its semi-public and semi-private status. The Republican leaders ain’t smelling like roses either. Strikes are a good thing, and I fully support union action when it is deserved.

Does the union have a leg to stand on? This about more than the 3% percent raise that they are asked for. It’s about kicking in for medical and about early retirement. I’m fascinated by public reaction to their demands. Most jobs don’t enjoy those benefits. My brother the journalist gets paid less than a transit worker, kicks in for his medical, and doesn’t get a pension. I don’t think he has a 401K plan set up yet. (Tammy, would you make him take care of that?)

This strike is a giant referendum about fair wages and compensation. It is a referendum about the benefits of a union job. I am most interested to see how all this turns out.

UPDATE: The Times says that this strike is unnecessary.

The pension numbers. The pension proposal that would have saved the transit authority less than $20 million over the next three years, $160 million in the first 10 years, and more than $80 million a year after 20 years. Steve Greenhouse from the Times says that those numbers are still relatively small considering that the city is losing hundreds of millions per day due to the strike.

UPDATE: Posts from Megan McArdle.

In the New Republic Online, Joel Kotkin and Harry Siegel write that public sector unions have excessive power and that urban Democrats are in bed with them. (Thanks, Dr. Manhattan.) For more on Democratic mayor and the teachers unions, read Black Mayors and School Politics: The Failure of Reform in Detroit, Gary, and Newark.