By DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press Writer
http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/N/NYC_TRANSIT_STRIKE?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME
NEW YORK (AP) – Millions of New Yorkers trudged to work Wednesday in another bone-chilling commute without subways and buses as a transit strike entered its second day, wearing both patience and shoe leather thin.
The two sides were scheduled to meet with a mediator again Wednesday while lawyers return to court, a day after a judge fined the Transport Workers Union $1 million for each day of the strike. Union lawyer Arthur Schwartz said the fine could deplete the union’s treasury in two days.
The sanction was levied against workers for violating a state law that bars public employees from striking. The union said it would immediately appeal, calling the penalty excessive.
Crowds of pedestrians, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, braced themselves against the 24-degree temperature and hiked across the Brooklyn Bridge into lower Manhattan on Wednesday. Volunteers waited with hot chocolate.
Some people had to walk miles. Others, bundled up in heavy coats and hats, shared cabs and car pools, caught water taxis, biked, skated or hitchhiked.
“A nightmare, disorganized, especially going home,” Aleksandra Radakovic said Wednesday morning in describing her commute.
Bloomberg urged the union to end the strike.
“All the transit workers have to do is listen to their international (union) that’s urged them to go back to work, listen to the judge who ordered them back to work, and look at their families and their own economic interests,” he said. "They should go back to work. Nobody’s above the law, and everyone should obey the law
The strike over wages and pensions began Tuesday morning, during the height of the Christmas shopping and tourist season.
Wednesday’s headlines on the city’s tabloid newspapers reflected the attitude of some commuters. “Mad as Hell,” proclaimed the Daily News. “You Rats,” the New York Post said of the striking transit workers.
“It’s too cold for this,” said Jose Cespedes, 55, a hotel maintenance manager who planned to walk 25 blocks home Tuesday with the temperature at 24 degrees and a biting wind. “I’m very disappointed that neither side thought enough about the community.”
Striker Bill McRae, a bus driver since 1985, said Wednesday he thought negotiations should have continued - but he still backed the walkout.
“The union executives called for a strike, and we have to do what we have to do,” McRae said on Manhattan’s West Side.
“We’re tired of being treated like we’re the garbage of the city,” said Angel Ortiz, 32, standing on the Bronx-Manhattan line with hundreds of other striking transit workers beneath an idle elevated rail line.
The mayor put into effect a sweeping emergency plan, including a requirement that cars entering Manhattan below 96th Street have at least four occupants.
Police reported only two minor incidents related to the strike. A cab driver was arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman in his cab in an argument over the fare, causing minor injuries. A police officer was accidentally bumped by a truck at a traffic checkpoint.
“New Yorkers always try to find a way to deal with things like this. New Yorkers always find a way to overcome,” said Chris Reed, 37, an insurance executive waiting in line for a taxi.
Anthony Sabino, professor of law and economics at St. Johns University, estimated the city was losing about $100 million a day. “The timing is lousy and the economic impact is lousy.”
New York retailers, restaurants and bars are expected to bear much of the brunt of the strike. The week before Christmas historically accounts for up to 20 percent of many stores’ holiday sales, and consumers who must pay higher taxi fares or face long walks could reduce their spending.
The union said the latest MTA offer included annual pay raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent. Pensions were another major sticking point in the talks, particularly involving new employees.
In its last offer before negotiations broke down, the MTA had proposed increasing employee contributions to the pension plan from 2 percent to 6 percent, said union lawyer Walter Meginniss Jr. He added that such a change would be “impossible” for the union to accept.
“Were it not for the pension piece, we would not be out on strike,” union president Roger Toussaint said in an interview with NY1. “All it needs to do is take its pension proposal off the table.”
The International TWU, the union’s parent, had urged the local not to go on strike. Its president, Michael O’Brien, reiterated Tuesday that the striking workers were legally obligated to resume working. The only way to a contract, he said, is “not by strike but continued negotiation.”
State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones has yet to rule on whether a second union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, will also be fined. The union has two chapters in New York that have joined the strike.
Also undecided is whether the individual officers of the two unions will be fined for supporting the strike. The Transport Workers Union’s 33,000 members already face the loss of two days pay for every day they are on strike.
The nation’s largest mass transit system counts each fare as a rider, giving it more than 7 million riders each day - although many customers take a daily round trip.
holy cow half of new york has to walk now
