Showing flexibility for the first time, the transit workers' union lowered its wage demands yesterday, while transit officials said they would go to state court this morning to seek an injunction to bar any strike.þþAt the first high-level negotiations in more than a week, the union representing 34,000 subway and bus workers said it would accept raises of 6 percent a year over three years, down from its previous demand for an 8 percent annual raise.þþOn Saturday, members of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 authorized a strike if no settlement is reached by Monday morning. Eager to avert a strike, officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said their lawyers would file motions in New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn today to prohibit a walkout.þþThe Taylor Law bars strikes in New York State by public employees, including transit workers, and calls for fines of two days' pay for every day a striker is out. One transit official said the authority would seek a basic court order spelling out those penalties and might also ask for a stronger order threatening greater penalties.þþIn its effort to obtain an injunction, the authority is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. today before Justice Ann Pfau, administrative judge of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn.þþCity Hall and transit officials said the city was also considering seeking an injunction with additional penalties, but they said the city would probably not seek an injunction today.þþAt a news conference, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg suggested that the city was holding off on seeking an injunction for fear of worsening an already tense situation.þþÿWe have a legal strategy ready to go,ÿ Mr. Bloomberg said. ÿWhether we file or not, people should understand, New York City will exercise every legal right it has to prevent a strike. And should an illegal strike take place, New York City will use every legal remedy it has to recover damages and to punish those who break the law.ÿþþWhen the transport workers threatened a strike during negotiations in 1999, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani obtained a far-reaching injunction that threatened the union with millions of dollars in fines.þþThe union agreed yesterday to withdraw a federal lawsuit brought in Manhattan that sought an order that would have barred the city from seeking a broad antistrike injunction. þþAfter yesterday's two-hour bargaining session at the West Side Y.M.C.A. on West 63rd Street, Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100, said the transportation authority was being inflexible, and had not budged from original proposals, including a wage freeze, even though the union had reduced its demands. þþÿThey did not show any flexibility at the table,ÿ Mr. Toussaint said. ÿWe've modified our demand, and they have not done likewise.ÿþþSaying it faces a $2.7 billion deficit, the authority has called for the union to accept a wage freeze in the first year and has offered raises in the second and third years only if the union agrees to numerous measures to increase productivity.þþMr. Toussaint said: ÿWe want them to move vigorously on the issues. We don't want this last-minute brinksmanship that the M.T.A. apparently is planning.ÿþþOne top adviser to the union praised yesterday's negotiations as the ÿrealestÿ session so far and said management discussed more details than it has before.þþGary Dellaverson, the authority's chief negotiator, praised the union for reducing its wage demands. ÿThe fact that they moved is good,ÿ he said. ÿOn the other hand, the union is still not recognizing the economic environment in which the negotiations are taking place, and any agreement that we reach will only be reached in the context of that economic environment.ÿ þþThe union and the authority had disagreed about when the current contract expires, but they appeared to settle that dispute yesterday. Transit officials had insisted that the contract expired at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, but yesterday they said they agreed with the union's position that the expiration would come at 12:01 a.m. Monday.þþMayor Bloomberg rebuffed the union's call for him and Gov. George E. Pataki to get involved in the talks. ÿNobody should expect the mayor or the governor to go to a table where somebody's got a gun to your head and is threatening to break the law,ÿ he said.þþSince the city is facing a $6 billion deficit next fiscal year and its union contracts are expiring soon, Mr. Bloomberg supported the authority's position of accepting raises only if there are commensurate productivity increases. ÿThere is not a lot of money without productivity enhancements to pay anybody anymore,ÿ he said.þþThe authority announced yesterday that in the event of a strike, some Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road trains would be converted to shuttle routes to help residents of outlying boroughs get into Manhattan. The authority said it would suspend ticket sales on trains and might allow lines to form at street level to get onto trains.þþFor Metro-North, regularly scheduled trains headed to Grand Central Terminal would not stop at most Bronx stations from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Instead, trains would provide shuttle service between the Bronx and Manhattan.þþFor the Long Island Rail Road, regularly scheduled trains heading to Penn Station would stop at hub stations in Queens from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. At other times, special shuttles and regular trains would provide service to all Queens stations.þþThe authority said on its Web site that the contingency plan would not take effect until 24 hours after a strike begins. þþ
Source: NY Times
