NEW YORK, Dec 23: Buses and subway trains which carry some seven million city commuters to work and back daily started functioning on Friday as transit workers called off a three-day strike that authorities claim cost the city close to $1 billion.
The transit authority said buses and subways were running normally and on schedule by the morning commute, after first rumbling to life around midnight. Passengers were relieved they wouldn’t have to car pool, bike, skate, hitch a ride or walk to work for another day.
The strike ended on Thursday after the Transport Workers’ Union worked out the framework for a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority after an all-night session with a mediator.
The deal doesn’t resolve the contract dispute for the 33,000 workers, however, and if negotiations fail, a walkout could happen again.
“We thank our riders for their patience and forbearance,” Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint said.
The MTA did not pull its pension proposal, which Mr Toussaint has said is a sticking point. The union vocally opposed the MTA’s plan to raise new workers’ contributions from two to six per cent.
The breakthrough was announced minutes before Mr Toussaint and two of his top deputies were due in court to explain why they were continuing the strike in defiance of a court order. Mr Toussaint recommended the union’s executive board accept the deal. Some felt the union caved in.
“This was a disgrace,” said TWU Vice-President John Mooney. “No details were provided to the executive board.”
The mood surrounding the announcement of the strike’s end was upbeat, a stark contrast to the previous two days, when city Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mr Toussaint traded barbs. At one point, Mr Bloomberg blasted the union for ‘thuggishly’ turning their backs on New York, a remark black leaders decried as racist in the context of a predominantly black union.
The transit strike was the first in 25 years, and happened in defiance of a law barring such an action. Officials said it caused millions of dollars of damage to the city’s economy at the height of the holiday season.
“In the end, cooler heads prevailed,” Mr Bloomberg said. “We passed the test with flying colours. We did what we had to do to keep the city running, and running safely.”
But city officials vowed there would be repercussions for those who walked off the job. A judge has already fined the union $1 million a day for striking, and under the state’s no-strike law, rank-and-file members are automatically docked two days’ pay for each day they stay off the job.
