I, Ishmael

Finding fallacy in the SEPTA strike.

by Isaiah Thompson

There's this part in Moby Dick — bear with me — where Captain Ahab whips his crew into booze-fueled cheers to kill the white whale. Ishmael, the book's narrator, finds himself inexplicably drawn in: "I, Ishmael, was one of that crew," he reflects later. "My shouts had gone up with the rest."

When the Transport Workers Union Local 234 went on strike at 3 a.m. on Nov. 3 — an undeniably cruel move — the public called foul. And I, Ishmael, was one of that crew. I derided their demands for increased wages and cheap health care. Screw them. It was such an obvious, effortless stance that I barely knew I had taken it. But it was flawed. The more I looked at it, the more I saw how the strike was framed — in simplistic, moralistic terms that had nothing to do with the cold, political reality of the situation — the more I saw fallacies in the premise that this was a good-guy/bad-guy thing.

Like the "tough times" fallacy: How could the union ask for so much now? Times are tough, but SEPTA isn't exactly a house in foreclosure. State funding has actually gone up since the last contract. The TWU simply asked for what they could get — like anybody would. Which brings us to the "right now" fallacy. The TWU didn't spring out of the earth like the Claymation skeletons in Clash of the Titans. These negotiations are a play that's staged every time the contract is up. Every time, SEPTA low-balls. TWU demands more. Then they strike, and in the end, they get most, but not all, of what they want. To expect anything else is to simply not get how the game is played. And yes, it's a game — on both sides. The TWU had been without a contract since March, and without the specter of a strike, SEPTA didn't seem terribly inclined to make the union a legitimate offer. The public's rage, meanwhile, distracted reporters from looking at SEPTA managers, who enjoy significantly higher wages and better benefits than union stiffs could ever dream of seeing.

Not that the pro-labor folks have it all right, either: They maintain the "Caesar Chavez" fallacy — the notion that the TWU was fighting for workers everywhere. Not so. TWU chief Willie Brown is loyal to his membership, and to his membership only. Which brings us to the biggest fallacy of all — the idea that morality, fairness or justice have anything to do with any of this. It's politics. And politics — in Harrisburg, in Congress, at SEPTA, or in a union hall — is politics. The ultimate white whale.