New York commuters brace for transport mayhem

New York (Agence France-Presse): Millions of New York commuters were girding themselves Sunday for a transport strike that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and plunge the city into chaos.

Contractual negotiations between the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) were expected to continue right up to the Sunday midnight deadline when 34,000 transit workers will walk off the job.

But round-the-clock talks have so far failed to even hint at a breakthrough, with the atmosphere soured by a judicial injunction issued on Friday, allowing the state to enforce a law making it illegal for public workers to strike.

It would also allow the state to dock workers two days pay for every day of a strike.

Talking to reporters Saturday at the Mahattan hotel where negotiations have been underway since Friday morning, TWU secretary-general Ed Watt said the talks had gone from "not bargaining in good faith to showing bad faith."

"As of this morning, we were at a place we should have been a month ago,"Watt said. "The Transport Authority has pulled three different offers off the table. We see this as a very bad sign."

MTA spokesman Tom Kelly was slightly more upbeat, describing the discussions on a new three-year labor contract as "productive."

The city administration has filed its own lawsuit against the union, seeking damages for costs already incurred, including US$5 million it has reportedly spent on a contingency plan if the subway trains and buses stop running.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has warned that a strike would be an economic disaster New York cannot afford, also wants to impose a $1 million fine on the union for each day of a strike, and $25,000 a day for each worker. The fines would double each day the strike continues.

Bloomberg's comments have drawn an angry response from union leaders, one of whom told him to "shut up" and stop undermining the negotiating process.

"My job is not to shut up," the mayor said. "My job is to represent the interests of eight million people. That is why I was elected."

In an apparent act of solidarity with commuters, Bloomberg bought a bicycle on Saturday as millions prepared to drive, cycle, roller-blade and walk to work on Monday if the strike goes ahead.

The last major transport stoppage in New York City was in 1980, when the volume of commuters traveling on the transit system was half what it is today, and some 50,0(10 people temporarily relocated to be closer to work.

That strike lasted 11 days and cost the public and private sector an estimated $1 billion. The mayor at the time. Ed Koch, compared the chaos to London during the Blitz.

In issuing his injunction on Friday, Brooklyn State Supreme Court Judge Jules Spodek said a strike would "wreak havoe" on the city.

"If a strike takes place people are going to die because ambulances can't get through, prisoners can't be brought to trial. The results are terrible," Spodeck said.