More TWU Madness

Strike the idea of another strike
By OREN YANIV, ADAM NICHOLS and JOSE MARTINEZ
DAILY NEWS

Exactly one month after walking off the job, transit workers last night were grappling with more labor unrest after narrowly rejecting a contract.

But they were largely united in wanting to avoid another walkout like the one that crippled the city for three days.

"Nobody will be willing to go on strike again," said subway conductor John Turner, 53, who voted against the contract offer. "You might as well go back to the table and get it over with."

Workers grumbled about how they would have had to contribute 1.5% of their salaries to their health plan for the first time - even as they were getting pay boosts over the next three years.

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Workers reject contract
BY RAY SÁNCHEZ
Newsday

Raising the specter of another transit strike, the city's bus and subway workers Friday rejected their new three-year contract by a margin of only seven votes.

"We are disappointed to report that the members of our union have voted not to ratify the agreement that we reached with the MTA," Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint told reporters.

Toussaint, looking somber and tired during a Manhattan news conference, blasted Gov. George Pataki, union dissidents and MTA negotiators for the pact's rejection but said union officials were willing to return to the bargaining table.

The vote, which concluded exactly one month after transit workers walked off the job, was a stunning defeat for Toussaint and union leaders, who had lobbied heavily for ratification.

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No Talks Scheduled As MTA Presents "Final Offer"
NY1 News

The MTA says it will not budge from the offer rejected by transit workers early Friday morning following an overnight bargaining session, and while no new negotiations have been scheduled to try to break the apparent impasse, subways and buses are still running.

Hours after announcing that they were pushing back the strike deadline, officials from the Transport Workers Union said they would not accept the MTA's contract proposal, and instead would begin a series of small-scale strikes to put pressure on the city.

The TWU then said early Friday evening that the union is willing to resume negotiations, claiming they “are not ready to abandon New York.”

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