NYC Transit Workers On Strike
Strike Called After Union Rejects What Management Calls 'A Fair Offer'
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Play CBS Video Video NYC Transit Screeches To Halt The Transport Workers Union voted to strike early Tuesday morning, forcing millions of New York City commuters to find other ways to get in and around town.
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Video Bloomberg Denounces Strike Mayor Bloomberg reacted early Tuesday to the transit strike with harsh words for union leader Roger Toussaint and the TWU calling their actions 'illegal and morally reprehensible.'
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Video Toussaint Declares TWU Strike The Transit Worker Union's President Roger Toussaint announced early this morning that the TWU was tired of being "under appreciated" and will strike until a new contract is reached.
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Transit police officers post strike notices at the Times Square subway station in New York City after the Transit Workers Union announced a strike at 3 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005. (AP)
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A New York City police officer directs a man to a homeless shelter Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005. Subways and buses ground to a halt Tuesday morning in New York as transit workers walked off the job following days of acrimonious labor talks. (AP)
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Police secure a Times Square subway station as trains finish their runs and shut down because of the walkout. (AP)
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Parting message: a transit worker included a holiday greeting on this strike sign posted in a subway station early Tuesday. (AP)
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Transit Workers Union Local 100 president Roger Toussaint, center, walks the picket line with employees of Triboro Coach in front of their bus yard, Dec. 19, 2005 in the Queens borough of New York. (AP)
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The mayor has also said that a strike could freeze traffic into "gridlock that will tie the record for all gridlocks."
The transit workers' old contract expired early Friday, but the union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to keep talking through the weekend.
The two sides are divided over wages and an MTA proposal to raise the age at which new employees become eligible for a full pension from 55 to 62.
At a rally in Queens Monday, employees of the striking Jamaica Buses and Triboro Coach bus lines formed picket lines early in Queens, many chanting, "No contract, no work!"
Later in the day, hundreds of union members rallied outside Gov. George Pataki's office in midtown Manhattan, partly blocking traffic and screaming for a transit system walkout. "Shut it down!" they chanted.
The companies serve about 50,000 commuters, and are in the process of being taken over by the MTA, meaning they are not yet covered by a state law that prohibits public employees from striking.
The last citywide bus and subway strike in New York was in 1980. The walkout lasted 11 days.
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