again for teachers you are forgetting the fact that they have similar generous benefits and only work 3/4 of the year...
It used to be that if you worked in the public sector you forwent a market rate salary in exchange for job security and a secure pension. Public sector employees are now making market wages + extremely valuable benefits which in turn are bankrupting municipalities.
In this context how do you tell a tax paying private sector mechanic, that his taxes need to go up in order to pay for the extremely generous union benefits of a public sector mechanic (who may make more than him)?
Lastly I would argue that municipalities have something of a fiducuiary duty to tax payers to get value for their tax dollar spent - rather than rewarding a voter block at tax payer expense.
>how do you tell a tax paying private sector mechanic [...]
How do you tell a tax paying public sector mechanic that they're going to lose their pension and health insurance?
A cursory search shows a train driver making $31/hr, which doesn't seem excessive.
I am also wary of the tactic of showing MTA workers as over-paid compared to a notoriously underpaid profession (e.g. teachers, who in this case held barely above inflation).