The New York Times, December 14, 2005, Wednesday

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

December 14, 2005 Wednesday
Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section B; Column 6; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 7

HEADLINE: Deep Freeze, Not Pay Freeze, A Strike Issue

BYLINE: By SEWELL CHAN

BODY:
On Monday night, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority surprised union leaders by proposing a 27-month contract, with a 3 percent raise in the first 15 months and a second 3 percent raise effective on March 16, 2007. The contract would expire at the end of March 15, 2008.
A March deadline, instead of a December one, has certain advantages for the authority and the city. It could decrease, at least meteorologically, the sting of a walkout.
The union's 12-day strike in January 1966 was particularly punishing because of the cold. The walkout in April 1980 was more easily tolerated.
''It is easier for people to get around at the start of spring than in the dead of winter,'' said Richard Ravitch, who was chairman of the authority during the 1980 strike. ''There are fewer tourists in New York and it would probably have less of an impact on the economy.''
The current contract expires at 12:01 a.m. Friday, just nine days before Christmas. While weekday ridership is relatively constant throughout the year, weekend travel in December is generally the heaviest of any month.
Gary J. Dellaverson, the authority's chief negotiator and director of labor relations, dismissed the notion that he was trying to move the contract expiration to a less critical month. ''There is no month, there is no week, there is no day that is good for New York City to be deprived of its mass transit system,'' he said.
The last two contracts between the authority and Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union ended in December, in 1999 and 2002, the result of a contract extension in 1996. Previous contracts ended at a variety of times.
Richard W. Hurd, a professor of labor studies at Cornell University, said auto manufacturers have tried to schedule contract expirations for times when plants would normally close for retooling. Hotel workers' unions, he added, are trying to schedule contract expirations for the same month in different cities, to increase their leverage against hotel chains.
''It may be true that any time is bad for a strike, but it's also true that certain times are more advantageous to one side than another,'' Dr. Hurd said.

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