New York City transit workers strike

Some 34,000 Transport Workers Union (TWU) members walked off the job on Dec. 20 after contract talks broke down over pay, pensions and health care. The action severely crippled the economy in the most populous city in the US. The transit workers initially sought a 24 percent wage increase over three years; the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) offered them 10 percent. State officials also want future transit employees to pay for part of their health benefits, a proposal the union staunchly opposes. No money is taken out of workers' paychecks for healthcare now. Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the TWU, when announcing the strike, said that the agency had a billion-dollar surplus this year but refused to spend it on a generous settlement. "With such a surplus, these contract talks should have been a no-brainer," he said. "But sadly, that was not the case." Toussaint portrayed the work stoppage as part of a broader effort for social justice and workplace rights. "New Yorkers, this is a fight over whether hard work will be rewarded with a decent retirement," he said. "This is a fight over the erosion, or the eventual elimination, of health-benefits coverage for working people in New York. This is a fight over dignity and respect on the job, a concept that is very alien to the MTA." For too long, TWU members insist, they've been disrespected–by Governor George Pataki and Mayor Mike Bloomberg, by MTA chairman Peter Kalikow, even by surly customers. But the workers say the worst offenders, by far, are the supervisors who slapped them with some 16,000 disciplinary action notices in 2005, which translates into one for every two members. Everyone on the picket lines, it seemed, knew someone who'd suffered harsh punishment for a petty offense like wearing a tie crooked, or leaving a newspaper in a bus window, or going to the bathroom at unauthorized times. The TWU made respect a top priority in negotiations this year, bargaining for reforms to the current disciplinary process. Transit workers put up picket lines at bus depots and subway yards throughout the city. They held signs reading: "We Move NY, Respect Us;" and chanted: "No contract, no work!" At one subway booth on the Upper West Side, a handwritten sign posted by transit workers read: "Strike in Effect. Station Closed. Happy Holidays!!!" Shivering, intrepid and occasionally befuddled, New Yorkers faced down the first citywide transit strike in a quarter-century by walking, biking and carpooling through their frigid city as the transit workers and the state agency that employs them remained deadlocked over a new contract. Mass confusion reigned at many arteries leading into the city, where police officers halted all vehicles with fewer than four passengers–even taxi and livery drivers attempting to get into Manhattan–and strangers begged pedestrians to hop into their cars to meet the passenger requirement. Businesses remained shuttered or devoid of customers, and thousands of workers across the region stayed home, including roughly 20 percent of the workers in the city's largest companies. In a retaliatory action, state Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones imposed $1-million-a-day fines on the union. Under state law, striking workers are to be fined two days' pay for each day they are out on strike. Union leaders could also face jail time. The union plans to appeal the fines but Gov. George Pataki said he believed they would still have to be paid. "They cannot be waived, they're not going to be waived," he said. By Dec. 22, union leaders had called off their three-day strike. Toussaint said the union's executive board voted overwhelmingly to end the strike despite not reaching a new contract. "They'll go back right away," he said. City officials have estimated the economic hit from the strike at $1 billion over the three days. It came in the week before Christmas and Hanukkah when retailers, restaurants and other service industries would normally be at their busiest. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had decried the strike as "thuggish," "selfish" and "cowardly," welcomed the resolution, noting, "There's still plenty of time for people to shop." Mediator Richard Curreri said pensions remained a major sticking point but both sides had agreed to negotiate in talks that would be held behind closed doors under a media blackout. "It is clear to us that both parties have a genuine desire to resolve their differences," he said. "I'm glad it's over, but I say fire them all. Fire every one of those workers," said law clerk David Martinez, who said he had to walk three miles to get to work and lugged around Christmas gifts all day in his travels. Stagehand James Galloway was more sympathetic to the strike. "I'm glad they're returning to work and I hope they get what they want," he said. "You've got to fight the big man."