NEW YORK – Threatened with huge fines and possible jail time, the city’s transit union suggested Wednesday that it would be willing to end a strike that has shut down bus and subway service for two days – if a plan to change workers’ pensions were dropped.
The union’s suggestion came as millions of New Yorkers again trudged to and from work – some walking miles, others riding bicycles or using skates in the morning’s 24-degree chill.
The contract covering 33,000 New York transit workers expired last week, and the union called the strike Tuesday morning despite a state law banning public employee strikes.
According to the union president, the sticking point is a proposed change in pensions. The Metropolitan Transit Authority’s last contract proposed maintaining a retirement age of 55 but increasing what new hires contribute to the pension plan. New employees would pay 6 percent of their wages during their first 10 years, rather than the current 2 percent.
“Were it not for the pension piece, we would not be out on strike,” Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint said. “All it needs to do is take its pension proposal off the table.”
As the strike proceeded through a second day Wednesday, state Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones ordered Toussaint and two of his deputies to court this morning to face criminal contempt charges for ordering the illegal walkout.
Jones has already imposed fines of $1 million a day on the union, and he could impose individual fines on union leaders and workers as well.
Michael Cardozo, New York City’s corporation counsel, asked the judge to issue a second order directing union members to return to work. If such an order were ignored, Cardozo said the city could ask for heavy fines per worker – a punishment beyond the docked-pay penalty workers already face.
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