Hellenic Forums Omogenia - YASOU - Hellenism: Strike shuts down NYC transit system More than 7 million riders affected

NEW YORK (CNN) -- More than 7 million passengers in New York City are having to find a new way of getting to work, do their holiday shopping and run their everyday errands.

For the first time in 25 years, New York's transit workers went on strike early Tuesday, shutting down the nation's largest public transportation system days ahead of Christmas.

The strike brings to a grinding halt Metropolitan Transit Authority buses and subways throughout all five boroughs.

"I think they all should get fired," Eddie Goncalves, a doorman trying to get home after his overnight shift, told The Associated Press. He said he'll likely spend an extra $30 per day in cab and train fares, according to the AP.

City officials have said a transit strike could cost the city as much as $400 million a day.

"Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected," said Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union.

The strike defies the Taylor Law, which forbids public employees from walking off the job. The law imposes a fine of two days' pay for each day of an illegal strike.

In addition, the union could be fined millions of dollars a day.

The union and the more than 30,000 members of Local 100 also risk contempt for defying a court injunction last week barring the strike.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the strike "illegal and morally reprehensible" and said the union faces severe consequences.

"This is not only an affront to the concept of public service, it is a cowardly attempt by Roger Toussaint and the TWU to bring the city to its knees to create leverage for their own bargaining position," Bloomberg said at a news conference Monday night.

New York Gov. George Pataki echoed those sentiments, saying union members "are also recklessly endangering the health and safety of each and every New Yorker."

The chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Peter Kalikow, said its lawyers and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer will begin with contempt proceedings against the union.

No deal, no work
The city has implemented a strike contingency plan that requires carpooling and other travel restrictions. The city is prohibiting cars from entering most of Manhattan between 5 and 11 a.m. without at least four people in the vehicle.

Traffic was heavier than usual ahead of 5 a.m., with commuters trying to beat the deadline.

Schools also are starting two hours late.

Hours before the strike, Toussaint said transit workers were prepared to lower their wage increase demands from 8 percent to below 6 percent, if the MTA agreed to reduce the number of disciplinary actions launched against transit workers and grant other concessions.

Talks between the MTA and union leaders did not reach agreement on other key issues such as health benefits and pensions.

The vote to reject the MTA contract offer was 28-10, with five abstentions, said Ainsley Stewart, a Transport Workers Union vice president.

Toussaint called on Pataki and Bloomberg to play a constructive role in negotiations and restore state and city funds to the mass transit budget. He said that state funding has gone from 20 percent a decade ago "to zero for capital funding."

There were signs TWU workers will get support from union leaders for Metro-North railroad, the second-largest commuter railroad in the country that shuttles some 250,000 commuters in and out of Manhattan every day.

A leader of the Transportation Communications Union System Board No. 86 signaled solidarity with workers on the MTA system and complained that his members have been unsuccessful in negotiating a contract for three years.

"A similar situation is in store for the MTA's Metro-North property if a fair agreement is not reached," warned Russell Oathout, general chairman of No. 86, in a news conference.