There's a little more than a day and half for the MTA and the Transit Workers Union to negotiate a contract that will prevent millions of New Yorkers from complete and utter chaos on Fridays should a strike happen, so Gothamist will think positive and hope that once again, the two vastly different agencies will be able to agree on something that's good for all of us. That said, we're also reveling in the insanity that the negotiations are inspiring. Here are some stories we've been obssessing over:
- With the judge putting an injunction on a strike, the city has asked that striking workers be fined $25,000 each, with the union getting a $1 million fine - and then the strikes would be doubled each day after there. This is just the sort of thing that the union will love, especially if Mayor Bloomberg has to step in to negotiate the deal in the waning hours.
- Cabbies may sit out on Friday - and possibly more days - if there is a strike. Oh, yes. The director of the Taxi Worker Alliance told Newsday, "First of all, why should we scab for the city? Secondly, it's going to be economically disastrous and highly stressful." Well, no kidding, it's going to be stressful! Hello, chaos!
- If you haven't felt it before, TWU leader Roger Touissant hates Mayor Bloomberg.
- Strike panic is good for some business: More people are buying folding bicycles, scooters and skates. And Transportation Alternatives has great tips on biking to the city, whether there's a strike or not.
- Some schools wants the Department of Education to close schools if there's a strike; it sort of makes sense, because what if teachers can't even get to their schools? If only the schools could tell our bosses to do the same!
- Money isn't the only thing transit workers are concerned about - terror is another.
- ABC 7 has a map of what streets will be closed if there's a strike.
Gothamist admits that we have a bad case of strike-o-phobia, but that's because this year's negotiations seem that much worse than the ones in 2002. Are we crazy? And all our posts on the maybe transit strike.
Photo by Tien Mao
