NEW YORK (AP) -- Commuters who depend on two private bus lines were forced to find their own transportation after drivers walked off the job early Monday, a predicament that could soon paralyze the entire city if the transit strike widens.þþThe walkout at the two Queens bus lines, which together serve as many as 50,000 commuters, came as the Transport Workers Union continued to threaten a large-scale strike beginning Tuesday that could affect as many as 7 million subway and bus riders.þþ''It is a little unsettling to be the first wave,'' said union officer George Jennings, representing bus maintenance workers. ''It's going to be a rough deal. Nobody wants to go on a strike on Christmas.''þþA citywide bus and subway strike would be New York's first since an 11-day walkout in 1980.þþAfter making little progress over the weekend, the union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority briefly negotiated Sunday afternoon in a midtown Manhattan hotel, but the talks were not fruitful, the MTA's chief negotiator said.þþ''The MTA is quite concerned that we are now down to the last day before the union-imposed deadline,'' MTA negotiator Gary Dellaverson said.þþMayor Michael Bloomberg, in his weekly radio address Sunday, called a possible citywide strike ''reprehensible'' and said it would drain $400 million a day from the economy.þþThe strike at Jamaica Buses Inc. and Triboro Coach Corp. began at 12:01 a.m. More than 100 workers from the two companies picketed Monday morning, one holding a sign reading, ''We move New York. Respect us!''þþShortly after the strike began, taxi and livery cabs circled a Jackson Heights transit hub looking for fares.þþ''If I pay them $10 every night to go home, then there's no money left for Christmas for my children,'' said Bobby Chen, a chef, who was trying to get to his home more than 25 blocks away.þþBrunilda Ayala, commiserating with two strangers who were also stuck at the Jackson Heights hub, said she had no sympathy for the union's position.þþ''How can you give a raise to a bus driver who would make three old ladies walk home in the cold?'' asked the 57-year-old, who said she was worried the hike would be unsafe.þþ''We would not strike if there was any alternative, but there is none,'' the union said in a message on its Web site. ''The sooner the MTA, the governor and the mayor do the right thing and negotiate a fair deal, the sooner all of us get back to work.''þþMore talks were planned for Monday.þþThe 33,000-member union announced plans for Monday's strike on Friday. The two private bus lines, which employ about 750 union members, are being taken over by the MTA but are not yet covered by the state's Taylor Law, which forbids strikes by public employees.þþThe union has opposed an MTA plan to raise the age at which a new employee becomes eligible for a full pension from 55 to 62. The MTA has said it made its best offer to the union hours after its contract expired. The MTA also has offered the transit workers, who make between $47,000 and $55,000 a year, 3 percent annual raises for each of three years.þþ
Source: NY Times
