Hikes of 3, 4 and 3.5% Likely

Strike Over, TWU Nears Deal

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS and RICHARD STEIER

As this newspaper went to press Dec. 23, Transport Workers' Union Local 100 and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were believed to be close to agreement on a new wage contract in the wake of a three-day transit strike that paralyzed the city.

The Chief-Leader/Stephanie Shelan HOLDING HIS CARDS CLOSE: Roger Toussaint, president of Transport Workers' Union Local 100, didn't reveal the inner workings of the mediation sessions that got workers back on the job to his executive board, but promised that 'various details' regarding the outcome of the strike would be released in coming days. No details were available at that time, but indications were that the wage package for Local 100's 34,000 members would match the final pre-strike offer made by the MTA: raises of 3, 4 and 3.5 percent. The MTA had also offered a bonus worth .5 percent and a paid holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

Health Payments to Rise?

The key to finalizing the deal was producing savings for the MTA by having employees pay an extra share of their health costs as a substitute for the demand that prompted the strike: that future workers pay a greater portion of their salaries toward their pensions than those currently on the job.

GOVERNOR PATAKI: Won't waive strike fines. In the final hours of bargaining before Local 100 launched the job action shortly after 3 a.m. Dec. 20, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow withdrew a demand that new hires pay 1 percent of their health insurance premiums. Transit workers are charged co-pays for matters like doctor's office visits and prescription drugs but do not currently pay any portion of their basic health premiums. It was not known whether the post-strike negotiations would change that or were focused on copays.

Local 100 President Roger Toussaint had his concerns regarding the pension demand assuaged in extensive discussions that involved three state mediators, and on the morning of Dec. 22 agreed to recommend to his board that it vote to return to work while a contract was still being negotiated. His board voted that afternoon, by a count of 36 to 5 with two abstentions, to have Local 100 members return to their jobs by their next shift at 4 p.m. Bus service was restored by that evening, and the subways were up and running by the following morning's rush hour.

JOHN MOONEY: A call for amnesty.

Conflict at Board

Some executive board members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said following the vote that they did not know what assurances had been received by Mr. Toussaint but accepted his request to "trust him."

A few dissident members of the contentious union were less willing to proceed on faith. One executive board member, George Perlstein, told reporters outside the union's headquarters that Mr. Toussaint was "giving up the union's stranglehold" on Governor Pataki and the MTA and had sold out his members.

Another dissident, Vice President of Stations John Mooney, also erupted over the lack of concrete information. "We should be demanding amnesty for the union, we should be getting details of what's going on," he declared. "It's a total disgrace." He said Mr. Toussaint and his supporters had prevented him from addressing the board.

When Mr. Toussaint emerged from the union's headquarters, he promised to provide details over the next few days and thanked transit riders "for their patience and forbearance."

ALAN R. VIANI: Helped break deadlock. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones, who had imposed a $1 milliona day fine against Local 100 for each day on strike, adjourned a criminal contempt hearing for Mr. Toussaint and other union leaders until Jan. 20. Union members face the loss of two days' pay for each day on strike that is mandated under the Taylor Law, which prohibits public-employee strikes.

Governor Pataki said at a press conference at Rockefeller Center that "there is a lesson to be learned from this: no one is above the law. You break the law and the consequences are real." He added that the fines would not be waived.

Mayor Bloomberg told reporters he was "pleased that the TWU followed my recommendations to return to work."

Mayor Tones It Down

It was a rhetorical softening for the Mayor, who held two unusually strident press conferences during the transit shutdown and issued a press release Dec. 21 that characterized Local 100's action as the "Illegal Selfish Strike of 2005." After praising the rank and file for "doing the right thing" at a late afternoon press conference Dec. 22, he again recited the litany of financial damage done to the city by the union, saying he expected a significant loss in tax revenues would be apparent in a few weeks.

The Chief-Leader/Stephanie Shelan 'GAVE UP OUR STRANGLEHOLD': Transport Workers' Union Local 100 Executive Board Member George Perlstein, one of five board members who voted against the preliminary framework that put an end to the citywide transit shutdown Dec. 22, was first to leave the union building after the vote and first to denounce President Roger Toussaint's decision. When asked if he regretted any of the rhetoric used during the strike, including his statement that the union's leadership was behaving "thuggishly," the Mayor said he stood by all his comments, but added they were mainly directed at the leaders and not the workers.

Commuters started to hope the costly and inconvenient strike was over that morning, after mediation chairman Richard A. Curreri told the press that "in the best interests of the public, which both parties serve, we have suggested, and they have agreed, to resume negotiations while the TWU takes steps toward returning its membership to work."

'Both Sides Want a Deal'

He added that discussions between the agency and the union had been "fruitful," but that an agreement was out of reach for the moment, even though it was clear "that both parties have a genuine desire to resolve their differences."

It was equally clear, he stated, that Local 100 found it difficult to accept a reduced pension for new members, but also that the MTA's "long-term financial challenges must be addressed in these negotiations."

Mr. Curreri said it would be inappropriate for mediators to require the MTA to remove its pension demand at this time, but that the agency had said it was "willing to discuss whether adequate savings may be found in the area of health costs."

Top-Drawer Mediators

The Public Employment Relations Board assigned Mr. Curreri, who is its Director of Conciliation, to mediate the contract talks Dec. 20, after the MTA said it was at an impasse and the union had declared a strike.

The other two mediators were Martin Scheinman, best known for his arbitration rulings in Nassau and Suffolk county police union contract disputes, and Alan R. Viani, a former chief negotiator for District Council 37 who also served as Deputy

Director of Disputes in the city Office of Collective Bargaining before becoming a private mediator and arbitrator.