Judge Blocks NYC Transit Strike

A judge has barred New York's transit workers from carrying out a threatened strike that would paralyze the city's mass transit system and strand 7 million daily riders.

City and state officials had asked for the preliminary injunction, though union lawyer Arthur Schwartz had insisted it was premature because the union had not actually called a strike.

Justice Jules Spodek ruled late Friday that a state law clearly bans strikes by public employees and said a walkout by the 34,000-member transit union would be "enormous, debilitating and destructive."

The ruling was issued as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union continued round-the-clock negotiations at a hotel, trying to avert a strike.

Union membership voted last week to authorize its leaders to call a strike if talks faltered. Their contract is due to expire Monday.

When the negotiations resumed Friday morning, union and transit leaders said they were far apart on wages, pension payments and the MTA's disciplinary policies.

Chief MTA negotiator Gary Dellaverson had said the parties spent most of the day talking about noneconomic issues "critically important" to the talks.

"We are making progress in important areas," he said at an afternoon news conference.

Preparing for a potential strike, Mayor Michael Bloomberg bought a US$500 mountain bike Friday and declared: "Nobody's going to shut down New York." Bloomberg, who travels by subway to work, promised to bike to City Hall in the event of a strike.

The union placed television commercials emphasizing members' concerns over safety and wages. Two subway workers were killed on duty last month, and the union claims the MTA has not properly ensured worker safety.

Under the state law barring public employee strikes, workers can be fine two days' pay for every day they are on strike. The court order banning the strike also subjects them to contempt citations and jail time.

The union is seeking 6 percent annual raises over three years, while the MTA is offering no raise the first year and possible raises the following two years tied to productivity increases.

The MTA is facing a billion-dollar deficit this year and is contemplating a 50-cent increase from the current $1.50 subway fare.

The city's last strike, which lasted 11 days, was in 1980, when the buses and subways carried less than half the number of commuters it does today.