New York City Transit fined $1 million for strike

This is not original reporting. All Information has been compiled from the CNN.com article "Millions struggle as transit strike ruled illegal" by Tom DiDonato and Tom Ziegler and the WashingtonPost.com article "New Yorkers Adjust As Transit Strike Stymies Commutes" by Michelle Garcia and Christopher Lee. Silver Chips Online posts these stories to provide students with a forum for discussion

A judge ruled yesterday that the Transport Workers Union's strike, which left many New York City commuters without transportation yesterday morning, is illegal. The $1 million-a-day fine against the union was determined.

State Justice Theodore Jones ruled the Transport Workers Union is being held in contempt of two court injunctions which prohibit any strikes. The judge's fine began yesterday and will continue to penalize the union until members return to work. The union declared that it would appeal the penalty.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg described the walkout as "selfish and illegal." He urged strikers to return to return as soon as possible. Due to the lack of transportation, businesses and stores were unable to open. Bloomberg and city officials estimate the strike will cost the city nearly $440 to $660 million dollars a day due to lost business activity. The Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) and the city have immediately begun bringing cases to court with contempt proceedings for violating previous injunctions not to strike.

The union erected picket lines at transit facilities and stations. In the interim, New Yorkers braved the freezing temperatures this morning by car-pooling, sharing taxis, bicycling and roller-skating wherever possible. Some employers provided SUV's to pick up their employees for work. Other commuters were forced to walk. As a result of the transit shut-down, traffic often reached a stand-still, despite a city mandate that gave priority to higher-occupancy vehicles of four or more.

Transit workers are seeking to gain eight-percent wage increases for each of the next three years, but the MTA proposed three percent per year. After a revised offer providing successive annual raises of three, four and three-and-a-half percent, the union decided to continue with its plan to strike. The Workers Union said that retirement costs the MTA suggested transit workers pay would cancel any increases in pay.

Although the Transport Workers Union and MTA have been working for weeks towards a solution, negotiations reached a breaking point after midnight.
Monday. The union declared that plans for a strike continue. Roger Toussaint, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, announced the strike at 3:55 a.m. During the announcement, Toussaint went on to say, "Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected."