Transit Talks Continue Past Midnight Deadline (MTA Strike Averted ... For Now)

Transit Talks Continue Past Midnight Deadline
DECEMBER 16TH, 2002

There will be no transit strike - at least not yet.

With the morning plans of millions of commuters hanging in the balance, the MTA and New York City's transit workers are negotiating past the midnight hour in a last-ditch effort to avert a mass transit strike that could cripple the city at the height of the holiday season.

Ed Watt, the secretary/treasurer of Transit Workers Union Local 100, announced at midnight that negotiators had made sufficient progess to continue their efforts past the midnight deadline.

The progress, said Watt, had been made in the areas of "dignity and respect for our workers," and not on the financial issues that separate the two sides.

Without a contract agreement, the city's transit workers will walk off the job, leaving millions of commuters to find alternate ways of getting to work this morning.

In the event of a strike, the city's subways and buses are expected to complete all runs currently underway.

Although union representatives originally said that they would not negotiate past the midnight hour, hopes persist for a last-ditch settlement similar to the one reached in 1999, the last time transit negotiations threatened to cripple public transportation.

In public comments made late this afternoon, the TWU and its supporters sparred publicly with government officials over whether there is enough money for a raise. TWU representatives are disputing the size of the MTA's projected budget deficit - yet say they remain optimistic that a contract agreement will be reached to avert a potentially crippling transit strike.

Speaking only hours before the midnight deadline, Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, again disputed the projections of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget, which went from a $300 million surplus last year to projected deficits of more than $1 billion for each of the next two years.

“Business has never been better at the MTA, ever,” said Toussaint, citing increased ridership and revenues. He expressed disappointment that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki, who gave a news conference an hour earlier, refused to intervene in the continuing talks.

“I have never been and will not be involved in labor negotiations,” Pataki said. “There’s no person capable of riding in on a white horse with a bag of money to resolve this contract. It has to be resolved at the table by the MTA, which I know is negotiating in good faith, and the TWU.”

If a strike is called, standard procedure calls for subways and buses to complete all runs underway at that time, ensuring that no mass transit riders will be stranded at midnight.

Last-minute pledges from the city and state have prevented walkouts before, and Pataki most recently facilitated a state grant to secure a contract for the city’s public school teachers. But both the governor and the mayor said austere economic times means the MTA and the TWU will have to work it out themselves.

The union originally sought a 24-percent raise spread evenly over three years, but then lowered its demand to 18 percent. Toussaint said the MTA has not budged from its initial offer of no raise in the first year, followed by raises in the last two years only with offsetting increases to productivity. The other issues on the table are health benefits, pension contributions and safety and management rules.

“For the MTA to put zeroes on the table for all the hard work the transit workers give to this city is unacceptable,” said Toussaint. “Since that offer, we have failed to see any serious proposal from the MTA, and we continue to await the proposal.”

Despite the apparent gulf, Toussaint, speaking seven hours before the midnight deadline, emphasized that there was “plenty of opportunity” to reach an agreement to avoid a strike. He ruled out filing for binding arbitration or negotiating past the expiration of the current contract, at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

Earlier Sunday morning, a union representative reported “a little progress” after overnight talks at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Midtown.

Groups of union supporters protesting outside and some lawmakers talking to the press inside called for the MTA to be more forthcoming about its finances. City Comptroller Bill Thompson agreed with a call for him to audit the MTA’s accounting, but he said it was too late for him to get involved in the current dispute.

Members of the state’s Black, Puerto Rican and Hispanic Legislative Caucus, who made the request, also called on Pataki to get involved. “We strongly believe,” said Roger Green, a Democratic assemblyman from Brooklyn and member of the caucus, “that Governor Pataki, who touted himself as a friend of working families during the recent campaign for governor, should intervene in these negotiations and provide moral and political leadership and support on behalf of transit workers who are so important to the social and economic fabric of our city.”

A strike by the 34,000 drivers who operate the city’s buses and subways would be illegal under the state’s Taylor Law, and a judge this week issued an injunction to fine employees two days’ pay for each day of work they miss. The mayor repeated his vow to take all legal action to prevent or end a strike, adding that the city would file suit against the union to recover all the costs incurred from contingency plans.

Bloomberg said the millions of people who rely on New York City mass transit each day should go to bed expecting a strike but hoping for the best. Officials have been scrambling to shore up contingency plans for traffic restrictions, carpools, ferries, commuter rails and cabs.

In the latest update to the sprawling backup plan, some dollar vans and livery cabs have been organized to serve set routes at fixed prices. Some livery cabs would follow bus routes in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, picking up and dropping off passengers at each bus stop for $2 each.

The majority of livery cabs would pick up pre-arranged fares at their regular rates. Livery cabs would also be allowed to pick up street hails, and all taxis, including yellow medallion cabs, would be permitted to pick up multiple fares. No more than four people will be allowed in a car at a time.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission has also set the price for “dollar vans” at $1.50 for a trip within a borough and $4 for travel beyond. The commuter vans would pick up passengers at dozens of meeting points throughout the city.

In the event of a strike, subway stations would be closed to the public but the MTA would still make daily test runs on all 700 miles of track to make sure the system is ready to go when union members return to work.

For complete details of all the transit options in the event of a strike, see NY1's contingency plan listings.

Metro North will remain active and additional trains will be added in the event of a strike. However, trains will inevitably be PACKED and operating off-schedule due to all the extra time involved in taking on and letting off passengers. You might want to consider getting on in, say, Katonah. (It will take 24 hours from the outset of any strike action for this additional service to be in place. (This amount of time is needed to reposition and reconfigure train equipment to provide special shuttle train service in the Bronx.)) See mta.info for complete details.

The LIRR system will be somewhat more messy. Again, see mta.info.

NYC.gov Transit Information Center contains all City contingency plans: HOV, truck restrictions, temporary carpool rules, walking/biking info, ferry schedules, private bus skeds, temporary taxi law changes, an explanation of "dollar vans" and commuter train changes. Also lists Department of Education contingency plans (kids will love it!).

Things invented by the Transit Strike of 1980:

Women wearing sneakers to work over their pantyhose.
Ferry service.
Permanent bike lanes.
The word "gridlock."
HOV rules.Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Dollar vans.

In the latest update to the sprawling backup plan, some dollar vans and livery cabs have been organized to serve set routes at fixed prices. Some livery cabs would follow bus routes in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, picking up and dropping off passengers at each bus stop for $2 each.

Bloomberg should seize on this and allow even more of the free market to function. A little more work on such a plan might be enough to break the union, if it came to that.

Why not allow people with cars to apply for and receive "emergency medallions" after passing a criminal background check and being fingerprinted and photo ID'd? They could pay into a special insurance fund to cover liability, and would be billed via credit card for each day an emergency existed, on the assumption that they would use the car for livery service. Something like that would allow Bloomberg to tell the unions to cut the crap and be happy with what they have.

Well, I took the 4-5 uptown after midnight, seemed to be running just fine, and the operator wasn't in a hurry to close the station. In other words, my bet is that any strike will occur later in the week, and chances are they'll announce a settlement in the next 24 hours.

People with vans just cruise along a bus line and offer rides for a dollar...

presto.. Dollar Vans!!

They make a few bucls and people don't have to wait as long, usually they just operate in a neighborhood and not along the entire line!

O'Riely discussed this. He said those who clean the subways get something like $30,000.00 per year, get 8 weeks vacation (?) and work a full three hours a day. Wages compliments of NY taxpayers, of course.
They want more?

Bloomberg should seize on this and allow even more of the free market to function. A little more work on such a plan might be enough to break the union, if it came to that.

It would save the taxpayers a bundle. Bloomburg just reciently raised taxes. Maybe he'll have to do it again to give these folks an undeserved pay raise. (The union must need more money for the DNC.)

One good thing about CNN's morning show is that their storefront window affords an easy glance out on the streets, where one could easily see lots of transit-authority buses running their normal routes.

For such a big story, there's not much in the media about it this morning.

Michael

There was never going to be a strike. The MTA and the TWU are not stupid. A strike would be the death blow to the both the MTA and the union as well as the entire city. Once the judge handed down the injunction, the TWU knew what the score was. All this talk of a strike is just what it is - talk. Both the MTA and the TWU hyped this up in the media because some people (like Troussant) like to get their faces on television. Gullible viewers then started running around like Chicken Little. There will probably be a settlement announced sometime later today.

The solution is simple, though painful. Arrest each and every striker. Dissolve the union contract for 'failure to comply with the old contract or to make a new one'. Kill the pensions and make 'em try to get them back in court. Start over. Rehire some people at reasonable wages and train up everyone else you would need. You take a bite for seven to thirty days as you restructure and reap the benefits for decades to come.

Makeshift liveries, I believe. You hail one or go to a pick-up site and pay the driver $1.50 and he takes you on the route he's going. I'm not sure it's door-to-door (probably not) and will probably follow the bus/subway lines. Sorry I can't help you more. I work from home, so I haven't had to pay too much attention to the crisis.

I dunno, that sounds a little extreme even by MTA standards. I think it may be more like they work three hours a day cleaning the station and then move on to other jobs for the other five hours. And in any case, $30K/yr is barely a living wage in NYC. It certainly wouldn't be enough to support a family.

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