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New York city transit workers strike
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-20 19:08

Bus drivers have been instructed to drop off all passengers and return to their depots, and subways will finish their trips before turnstiles are chained and locked up. Exits will remain open to allow any last passengers off before the stations are shuttered.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was poised to put into effect a sweeping emergency plan to reduce gridlock and keep certain streets open for emergency vehicles. New Yorkers were urged to make arrangements to car pool, bicycle and walk to work, or change their schedules and work from home.

Bloomberg has said the walkout could cost the city as much as $400 million a day, and would be particularly harsh at the height of the holiday season. He said a strike would freeze traffic into "gridlock that will tie the record for all gridlocks."

Talks broke down about an hour before the midnight deadline and the union board went into a meeting to vote on whether to strike. Toussaint made his announcement just after 3 a.m.

Earlier, MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said the agency "put a fair offer on the negotiating table. Unfortunately, that offer has been rejected."

The latest MTA offer included annual raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent, considerably lower than what the union demanded. The previous proposal included 3 percent raises each year.

The down-to-the-wire negotiations came as workers at two private bus lines in Queens walked off the job, a move designed to step up pressure on the MTA ahead of the deadline.

The contract expired Friday at midnight, but the two sides agreed to keep talking through the weekend and the union set a new deadline for Tuesday. The city had been bracing for a citywide transit shutdown for rush hour Friday.
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