Fresh from a virtuoso performance last fall, the Teamsters Union representing the turnpike toll workers is back in the news. It wasn't enough to hold a largely futile strike over a salary and benefits package many other workers would die for. Now, the union is aggressively investigating and punishing workers who crossed the picket line.

To refresh, the turnpike workers struck the night before Thanksgiving, upset with a contract offer that would pay them nearly $21 per hour with 15 paid holidays and four weeks of vacation. The strike, which prompted public ridicule, ended with the union accepting an offer that was "revenue-neutral" to the initial proposal.

Furthermore, the strike served only to highlight the increasing irrelevancy of human toll collectors. Motorists saw little disruption while managers staffed the toll booths and revealed that it takes only three hours to train a temporary worker to do a toll worker's job. Hundreds of people jammed phone lines eager to work for the $20 per hour that the Teamsters felt was beneath them. Worse -- for the union -- sales of E-ZPass tags tripled in anticipation of the strike and have continued to sell at an accelerated pace, a phenomenon that will only hasten the dwindling of the toll-worker ranks.

If the Teamsters had any savvy, they would do their best to forget the whole thing ever happened, and hope that the public would too. Instead, the union is now seeking to punish the 125 members who crossed the picket line during the strike. The possible punishments are not trivial. Workers can be fined up to $1,000 and stripped of union voting rights. They cannot quit the union, however, and will still be forced to pay dues.

It's a vindictive act against the very people who saw the folly of a disastrous strike. If union leaders blame these workers for the strike's lack of success, they are living in a fantasy world. The Teamsters should have the good sense to quit while they are behind.