ALinChainz
12-22-2005, 02:56 PM
By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer
The city's crippling three-day mass transit strike ended Thursday after union leaders — facing mounting fines, possible jail terms and the wrath of millions of commuters — voted to return their 33,000 members to work without a new contract.
Union board members who emerged from the organization's headquarters said workers will return to their job sites starting with the next shifts. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of returning to work, and resuming negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
It was unclear when the city's buses and subways would again start running, although transit officials said it would take a minimum of 12 hours to get everything restarted.
The annoucement of the vote came outside union headquarters about 3 1/2 hours after state mediators said a possible deal was worked out.
Roger Toussaint, the combative president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, had recommended that his union's executive board accept the deal.
The proposed deal would put the nation's largest mass transit system back in operation while negotiations on a new three-year deal resumed between the TWU and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The agreement was worked out over the last two days in separate but fruitful meetings between the two sides. "This was a positive day," said mediator Martin Scheinman. "It was a very positive night. We wouldn't be here otherwise."
Both sides returned to a midtown Manhattan hotel for serious discussions at about 1 a.m. Thursday and met through the night.
The walkout, which began at 3 a.m. Tuesday, was the first citywide transit strike in 25 years; the workers left their jobs in violation of a state law prohibiting them from striking.
The walkout sent millions of commuters from the city and its suburbs scrambling to find alternate ways of getting to work, and inflicted a heavy toll on the city's economy in the week before Christmas.
The upbeat mood at the announcement of the tentative deal was in stark contrast with the bitter rhetoric of the last two days, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg traded barbs with Toussaint. Gov. George Pataki, another strident critic of the union, hailed the possible deal as "very positive for all New Yorkers."
Both Pataki and Bloomberg had urged the MTA to avoid further negotiations until the union was back on the job.
Striker Ralph Torres, a Manhattan bus driver, said word of a possible deal spread quickly though the rank and file. A return to work, in addition to restoring his paycheck, would halt the imposed fines for every union member of two days pay for every day on strike.
"I'm ready to work the rush hour this afternoon if they let me," he said from the picket line on West 41st Street.
The breakthrough was announced just minutes before Toussaint and two of his top deputies were due in a Brooklyn courtroom to answer a criminal contempt charge for continuing the strike in defiance of a court order.
State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones postponed the hearing until 4 p.m. A day earlier, Jones said he would consider fining, or potentially jailing union leaders Thursday if transit workers remained off the job.
He has already fined the union $1 million per day while the strike lasts, although that penalty has been frozen while the TWU appeals.
The tentative deal came without the MTA pulling its pension proposal, which Toussaint had said one day earlier was a sticking point. Curreri said the MTA "has informed us it has not withdrawn its pension proposals but nevertheless is willing to discuss whether adequate savings can be found in the area of health costs."
The union opposed a proposal raising contributions to the pension plan for new workers from 2 percent to 6 percent. Curreri said there would be a news blackout during further negotiations, as agreed to by both sides.
AP Story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051222/ap_on_re_us/nyc_transit_strike&printer=1;_ylt=Alp0_ponjUzQ93uFAEIQJSNH2ocA;_ylu=X 3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-)
The city's crippling three-day mass transit strike ended Thursday after union leaders — facing mounting fines, possible jail terms and the wrath of millions of commuters — voted to return their 33,000 members to work without a new contract.
Union board members who emerged from the organization's headquarters said workers will return to their job sites starting with the next shifts. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of returning to work, and resuming negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
It was unclear when the city's buses and subways would again start running, although transit officials said it would take a minimum of 12 hours to get everything restarted.
The annoucement of the vote came outside union headquarters about 3 1/2 hours after state mediators said a possible deal was worked out.
Roger Toussaint, the combative president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, had recommended that his union's executive board accept the deal.
The proposed deal would put the nation's largest mass transit system back in operation while negotiations on a new three-year deal resumed between the TWU and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The agreement was worked out over the last two days in separate but fruitful meetings between the two sides. "This was a positive day," said mediator Martin Scheinman. "It was a very positive night. We wouldn't be here otherwise."
Both sides returned to a midtown Manhattan hotel for serious discussions at about 1 a.m. Thursday and met through the night.
The walkout, which began at 3 a.m. Tuesday, was the first citywide transit strike in 25 years; the workers left their jobs in violation of a state law prohibiting them from striking.
The walkout sent millions of commuters from the city and its suburbs scrambling to find alternate ways of getting to work, and inflicted a heavy toll on the city's economy in the week before Christmas.
The upbeat mood at the announcement of the tentative deal was in stark contrast with the bitter rhetoric of the last two days, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg traded barbs with Toussaint. Gov. George Pataki, another strident critic of the union, hailed the possible deal as "very positive for all New Yorkers."
Both Pataki and Bloomberg had urged the MTA to avoid further negotiations until the union was back on the job.
Striker Ralph Torres, a Manhattan bus driver, said word of a possible deal spread quickly though the rank and file. A return to work, in addition to restoring his paycheck, would halt the imposed fines for every union member of two days pay for every day on strike.
"I'm ready to work the rush hour this afternoon if they let me," he said from the picket line on West 41st Street.
The breakthrough was announced just minutes before Toussaint and two of his top deputies were due in a Brooklyn courtroom to answer a criminal contempt charge for continuing the strike in defiance of a court order.
State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones postponed the hearing until 4 p.m. A day earlier, Jones said he would consider fining, or potentially jailing union leaders Thursday if transit workers remained off the job.
He has already fined the union $1 million per day while the strike lasts, although that penalty has been frozen while the TWU appeals.
The tentative deal came without the MTA pulling its pension proposal, which Toussaint had said one day earlier was a sticking point. Curreri said the MTA "has informed us it has not withdrawn its pension proposals but nevertheless is willing to discuss whether adequate savings can be found in the area of health costs."
The union opposed a proposal raising contributions to the pension plan for new workers from 2 percent to 6 percent. Curreri said there would be a news blackout during further negotiations, as agreed to by both sides.
AP Story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051222/ap_on_re_us/nyc_transit_strike&printer=1;_ylt=Alp0_ponjUzQ93uFAEIQJSNH2ocA;_ylu=X 3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-)