The Toronto Star, May 31, 2006, Wednesday

Copyright 2006 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.
The Toronto Star

May 31, 2006 Wednesday

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A18

HEADLINE: New York transit froze riders out

BYLINE: Lauren Johnston, SPECIAL TO THE STar

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:
A total transit freeze - it happened in New York City too.
For three days in December, New York's buses and subways stopped when more than 33,000 transit workers walked off the job over a contract dispute - paralyzing the city and leaving seven million commuters stranded.
Five months and several rounds of failed negotiations later, there's still no contract deal and the warring sides - the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Transport Workers Union Local 100 - seem no closer to a settlement.
The strike was the culmination of a long-brewing battle between the MTA and the TWU, and it was costly.
The two sides haggled over health benefits, wages, retirement and pensions and when tempers boiled and talks collapsed, workers formed picket lines - breaking a state law that forbids city and state employee strikes.
"Open warfare broke out in December, and now they're in a cold war," said Gene Russianoff, senior lawyer for the commuter advocacy group the Straphanger's Campaign.
That winter strike is history, but not forgotten. Was it worth it?
As in December, New Yorkers are divided.
Joseph Malalan didn't support the strike, though his brother is a unionized subway conductor.
"There's something wrong someplace that this has gone on so long," said the 75-year-old Manhattan resident. Bobby Singh, 28, of Long Island called the strike a failure.
"It's worse for them now. They made fools of themselves," he said.
In the latest development, an arbitration panel has been charged with settling the contract dispute - a process that could take months and has potential to make everyone, or no one happy.
"The conventional wisdom in labour relations is, it's better to do it on your own," said David Lipsky, a professor at Cornell University's Industrial Labor Relations School. "Once you depend on an outsider to do business for you, you have a tendency to go back to them. In my field, we call it the narcotics effect."
Because of the pending arbitration, both the MTA and TWU declined comment for this story.
Lost retail sales and missed workdays cost the city about $1 billion, according to figures from the comptroller's office.
A judge fined the TWU $1 million a day for breaking the no strike law and tossed union head and strike leader Roger Toussaint in jail (he served four days of a 10-day sentence).
Toussaint walked the line between dissident factions within his union that pushed for the strike, and urging from the union executive board to avoid a walkout. Economics and politics played a big role, and they still do.
"It seems with hindsight, had they taken the deal the MTA offered, they would have been out of this a long time ago," Lipsky said.
"But of course hindsight is always perfect and it doesn't account for the political pressures on both sides."
Most commuters, at this point, are just looking for reconciliation and a smooth ride.