Posted on 12/20/2005 12:49:08 AM PST by Bobalu
Strike Is On TWU Announces System-Wide Transit Strike, Starting Immediately December 20, 2005
# See the contingency plan
The fears of countless commuters have been realized this morning, as the Transport Workers Union announced at 3 a.m. that a system-wide public transit strike will begin immediately.
The announcement, made after a vote of the TWU's executive board, means that the union's 34,000 MTA employees will leave their posts at the end of their shifts, shutting down the city's subway and bus system and thwarting millions of commuters and countless tourists on the cusp of the holiday season.
"Our contract expired on Thursday at midnight, but we postponed a strike in deference to our riders," said TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint during the early-morning announcement. "All local TWU members are directed to report to the picket lines."
To the city's seven million commuters, Toussaint said: "For the riders, we ask for your understanding. Our fight is their fight."
Union officials say that all currently-running subway trains will complete their runs before being returned to the depots, assuring that no passengers currently in the system will be stranded.
Nevertheless, all trains and buses are expected to be idle by the time the morning commute gets underway.
Station agents and token booth attendants have been told to lock up the turnstiles, but stairway gates and "high gates" will be open to let passengers out of the system. Signal operators and switchmen will remain on the job until the last train has passed their location.
Similarly, the TWU says that no new bus routes will be started now that a strike has been declared, but that all currently-running buses will complete their runs so that no passengers are stranded.
A strike by the city's 34,000 transit workers is illegal under the state's Taylor Law, which provides for substantial fines against public workers who strike. City officials say a protracted transit strike will have a debilitating effect on the city and result in billions of dollars in lost business during the holidays.
"The TWU's action today is illegal and irresponsible," said MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow in a separate press conference following the union's announcement. "The MTA has made every effort to resolve this dispute and I guarantee the public that we will take every necessary step to bring this illegal action to a halt."
Kalikow said the state was preparing to file contempt charges against the union in response to the work stoppage.
The last time transit workers walked off the job was in April of 1980, when an eleven-day strike stranded commuters and resulted in millions of dollars in lost productivity. The TWU's local chapter was fined more than a million dollars for the stoppage.
After five days of high-level negotiations, the union rejected the MTA's final offer shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, then moved to their Upper West Side headquarters to formulate plans for the work stoppage.
The negotiations broke down after going almost two hours past the 9 p.m. deadline that the TWU had set for the MTA to present its final offer. Earlier in the evening, TWU officials asked the MTA to present its best offer at 9 p.m. so the TWU executive board could vote on it before midnight.
Earlier Monday, workers at two private bus lines began picketing in Queens to underscore the union's stance.
At a Monday morning press conference, Toussaint said that the union would agree to lower its wage demands to a six-percent increase for each year of the three-year contract if the MTA agreed to make security improvements. The TWU's new demand was double the three-percent raise per year that the MTA had offered.
Workers from Queens-based Triboro Coaches and Jamaica Bus Lines fulfilled their promise to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Monday, leaving 50,000 riders scrambling for other ways to get around.
The TWU imposed the partial strike after a deal wasn't reached by midnight Sunday. Toussaint joined the striking bus workers on the picket line in Queens Monday.
The MTA's head negotiator didn't sound very confident that a deal could be reached in time to avert a strike at a Sunday night press conference.
"I think in addition to the fact that there's no progress to report, I think the MTA is very concerned that we are down to the wire," said Gary Dellaverson. "Obviously the MTA does not have any deadline on these talks. We have said we will continue to negotiate for as long as it's fruitful."
On Friday, it looked like the MTA was done negotiating when Chairman Peter Kalikow said the contract offered after overnight talks was "the final offer." MTA officials went into talks Saturday maintaining that they would not budge from the offer rejected by transit workers early Friday morning.
The MTA’s contract proposal offers a nine-percent raise over three years, but the union is seeking more. The contract also requires new hires to pay one percent into their health plans, whereas under the current contract they pay nothing.
The final MTA proposal also sought to increase the retirement age for new hires from 55 to 62, but the union wants it lowered to 50.
As the clock ticked toward the strike deadline, hundreds of transit workers rallied Monday evening in front of Governor George Pataki's Midtown office.
TWU members who attended the rally said they were upset about the governor's refusal to enter the negotiations.
"[What] we need is Pataki and [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg [to] have a little talk with the boss of the transit," said one union member. "We need their support because there are no winners here, and who's at fault? Who's going to be losing? The people."
"The governor has been staying out of the picture so far, in my book,” said another TWU member. "He hasn't wanted to get involved, and I don't know what his reasons are but he needs to get involved by midnight tonight, otherwise the city is going to be shutdown to zero. There's going to be no transportation in all of the five boroughs."
Workers from other unions were at the rally in a show of solidarity for the TWU.
The union representing Metro North Railroad workers showed their support for the TWU at a Monday morning press conference, but it's still not entirely clear if those workers will walk off the job in support of their sister union.
"Metro North and the MTA have not budged one inch, but instead have continued with their, 'take it or leave it' type of approach," said Russell Oathou of the Metro North Labor Coalition.
Metro North's service is a critical part of the city's strike contingency plan.
Meanwhile, the mayor had some strong words for the union on Monday.
"A strike is illegal, let me just reiterate that," said Bloomberg. "A strike is illegal, and the city and state, courts, everybody is going to enforce the law. And anyone that thinks that they can just go break the law is sadly mistaken."
"There's a reason it's illegal, because of its impact on the people, eight million plus people who need our mass transit system to get around, not just to get to work but to get to see a doctor or to respond to an emergency,” said the governor. “That's why the law makes it illegal and that's why the law has very real penalties for those who break it."
A group that claims to represent more than 10,000 livery cab drivers says it will honor a strike by transit workers, which could make it much more difficult to get around the city in the event of a widespread work stoppage.
In the event of a strike, the city would waive restrictions and allow livery cabs and commuters vans to make curbside pickups along MTA bus routes.
However, the United Drivers Group of America says what the mayor is asking them to do is unfair.
"They were asking us to break the strike, to alter the way that we do our work every day, maybe go to areas that we don't normally go and picking up more than one passenger, which we don't do," said Julio Alvarez of United Drivers Group of America. "Like I said before, we are going to do what we normally do on a daily basis."
The group also says drivers are normally given tickets upwards of hundreds of dollars when they make curbside pick-ups, and it refuses to be "used" by the city to manage the overflow of people on the street.
The city comptroller’s office says the city would lose $1.6 billion in the first week of a transit strike, with the hardest economic blow coming on the first weekday. The price tag would also include employers who would move workers to smaller satellite offices and a possible drop in productivity if employees leave early to get a ride home.
If the buses and trains aren't running over the weekend, it would cost the city about $200 million, since there are fewer businesses open then.
Man, that Rove! He is always 3 steps ahead
Good one!
I bet "The Scooter Store" (as seen on TV) is doing bang-up business!
Or maybe the NYC "elites" could buy those two-wheeled things that you stand up on and ride (what are they called?).
It is an illegal strike.
The solution is as simple as President Reagan smashing the ATC strike way back when...
Fire every one of the corrupt and/or greedy union thug bastards.
Good and bad solution...
GOOD, because, unlike the highly knowledgeable professionals required to be Air Traffic Controllers (months to YEARS of training and experience necessary), we can probably train some monkeys to drive buses & trains, and have children sell tokens & tickets (just like girl scouts selling cookies).
BAD, because it probably won't happen given the politics in The Peoples Republic of NY. A liberal RINO mayor and governor don't have the BALLS that a great man like President Reagan had.
Come on.
How can someone with the name "RAMBO" in their screen name be offended by mere WORDS?
As is often said about perpetually offended, overly sensitive demonrats...
BWAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaahHAAAAAAAAaaaaaaah!
You've got to be SH*TTING me!
They are drowning in poverty aren't they(/sarcasm).
Yeah, just like the poor inner-city New Orleans victims of Katrina, the striking union thugs look so EMACIATED and UNDERNOURISHED. (/sarcasm)
If you are a conservative and live in The Peoples Republic of Boston, I don't see what there is to laugh about.
Like most northeastern cities, it is run by liberals, and has a large number of union thugs. This type of strike could easily happen in your liberal LA-LA-Land as well.
To all of us who don't live, and don't care to live, in the Peoples Republic of NYC, WHO CARES, braggart?
Ah, didn't know they had term limits up yonder. I'm surprised that a liberal city has term limits.
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