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NYC Transit System Frozen After Strike
Quote:
NYC Strike Freezes Commuters
By Josh Getlin, Times Staff Writer
NEW YORK -- The nation's largest transit system ground to a halt today as more than 33,000 bus and subway workers went on strike, snarling traffic, disrupting commerce and forcing more than 7 million commuters to find alternate routes to work.
After weeks of fruitless bargaining, members of Transit Workers Union Local 100 walked off their jobs at 3 a.m. today, in the heart of the busy holiday season.
Union leaders vowed to strike until their demands for better wages and pension benefits were met. City and state officials blasted the action as a violation of state law, and persuaded a judge to fine the union $1 million a day for contempt of court.
On a bitterly cold day, New Yorkers awoke to a transit nightmare. Many were forced to walk long distances to their jobs; some sought rides in cars from strangers, in traffic jams that backed up for miles. Others chose to stay home, unable to travel.
Public schools remained open, but began their day two hours later than usual.
"New Yorkers are resilient and they will get through this," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as he trudged with thousands of other residents in a morning walk to work over the Brooklyn Bridge. "This strike is illegal, it is reprehensible, and it is cowardly."
New York Gov. George Pataki, who controls the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency in charge of setting transit wages, said there would be no further negotiations with the striking union members until they return to their jobs.
"The TWU has broken the law," he told reporters at a mid-day press conference. "That is wrong, it is unacceptable, and they will suffer the consequences."
The massive job action was the city's first transit strike in 25 years. Such strikes are illegal under state law, and Bloomberg, along with Pataki, immediately sought court rulings that would fine striking workers two days pay for each day out on strike.
In a hearing that last five hours, Supreme Court Judge Theodore Jones imposed a crippling $1 million dollar a day fine on the union for violating state law. Union leaders could also be jailed under additional rulings sought by city and state officials. .
But none of this appeared to frighten transit workers, who initially asked for a 24% wage increase over three years. The MTA had offered them a 10% raise.
State officials also wanted future transit employees to pay a percentage of their salary to cover health benefits, a proposal the union staunchly opposed. Currently, transit workers do not pay any money out of their paychecks for health care.
"We are fighting for dignity and respect," said Local 100 president Roger Touissaint, who charged the MTA had not been bargaining in good faith at any point in the contentious process. "We are also fighting for the future of our union."
Flanked by angry co-workers, he said early this morning 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," said the fiery labor leader, explaining the decision to strike. "But sadly, that was not the case."
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!!!"
As hopes for a last-minute settlement faded tonight, New Yorkers began making contingency plans to get around the city. Bloomberg had unveiled emergency guidelines during recent weeks, but the full impact of these regulations-and the headaches they caused-only became apparent during the morning rush hour:
For the duration of the strike, cars entering Manhattan below 96th street between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. had to carry at least four passengers. Taxis were allowed to pick up multiple fares, instead of the solo passengers they normally carry. Cabbies charged each passenger $10 or $5 for every designated transit zone they passed through.
The result, for many travelers, was chaos. Cars were backed up for six miles at the Lincoln Tunnel, the George Washington Bridge and other river crossings. Although some parts of midtown Manhattan experienced light traffic, other areas were clogged with automobiles. Major business arteries like Madison and Fifth Avenues were off-limits to motorists today and reserved exclusively for emergency vehicles.
"This is so New York, this is a travesty," fumed Diana Kraus, as she sat in traffic for an hour just south of 96th Street on Manhattan's upper west side. She said she had had simply wanted to bring a child to school, some 20 blocks down Broadway. But there were only three people in her car, not enough to pass a police checkpoint.
As her car inched down the street, she began calling out to pedestrians on the sidewalk: "Do you want a ride? I'll give you a ride!" Traffic behind was backed up at least thirty blocks, according to police officers who had to explain the new system.
Finally a woman across the street hurried into Kraus' car, and fumbled with a child's safety seat, finally removing it so she could climb into the car. Sylvia Brown, a banker's assistant, had been freezing in the cold and was grateful for the ride.
"She (Brown) is my new best friend," said Kraus. "This is insane."
Similar stories were reported throughout the city, as motorists and pedestrians struggled to adjust to a city without bus and subway service. Andre St. Victor, a veteran cab driver, said the morning rush hour had given him a financial windfall.
"Business has been very good for me so far today," he said, as the radio played "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." "But it's been very bad for the city."
At an afternoon press conference, Bloomberg excoriated the transit workers for inflicting economic pain on New York, as well as inconvenience. Although he said his statistics were "big picture numbers," he said the first day of the strike would cost New York business an estimated $400 million.
"The economic consequences have ranged from severe to devastating depending on the business," he said. "Retail in Lower Manhattan has been hit the hardest. Hundreds of stores have been unable to open. Along one stretch of 8th Avenue, 40% of the stores weren't even open."
For Said Bahig, a coffee and doughnut vendor, the first day of the transit strike cut his business in half. Many people who would have normally been lining up for cups of warm coffee and cheese Danish on a freezing morning did not come by, he said.
He shook his head at the sight of so many New Yorkers trudging down Broadway, trying to find rides to work: "There's a lot of argument over this (strike)," he said. "I am not taking sides."
Many other New Yorkers had no trouble expressing an opinion.
"If I was a member of the transit workers union, I would have walked out, too," said Michael Berkowitz, a history teacher at a private school who had the day off. "Once you start giving back pension benefits you've won, there's no going back."
Nearby, Robyn Sandberg, an architect who was desperately trying to find a car ride to her office 70 blocks away, was irate at what the transit workers had done.
"I support the idea of a union," she said. "But I don't think they have the right to bring 7 million commuters to their knees. I don't think anyone has that right."
Many midtown shops and restaurants were closed today because their employees couldn't make it to work.
At Le Chateau, a sporty clothing store on 34th Street near Herald Square, manager Dany Vaillancourt glumly surveyed the lunchtime crowd, or rather, the lack of it. Only a handful of patrons were in the store during what would normally be a rush hour for holiday shoppers.
"This is Dec. 20," he said. "The store should be full."
"If the strike only lasted a day, "it wouldn't kill my season, but it's already killed my week," Vaillancourt said, estimating that today's business would be off 50% from the same day a year ago. "At this time of year, every single day is important," he said.
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Ouch.
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12-20-2005, 08:05 PM
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