Evidence that the Transit Union Knows It's Bluffing

The union leader says pensions are the sticking point:

"Were it not for the pension piece, we would not be out on strike,'' Toussaint said in an interview with NY1. "All it needs to do is take its pension proposal off the table.''

They're anticipating the day when the only transit workers are retired.

By the way, Russia and India have elaborate train networks. New York, by some coincidence, has many Russian and Indian immigrants. The odds are that some of them have mass-transit experience. They can't still find anybody to run the trains?

Addendum: There are plenty of potential scabs available:

The Citizens Budget Commission, a business-funded think tank, released a recent analysis suggesting that transit workers are too well paid and that the MTA should take a strike to restore fiscal order. The commission's analysts noted that many thousands of New Yorkers probably would accept less pay in exchange for transit jobs; 30 people now apply for every train operator's job.