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Behind the scenes at transit talks

BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO, WILLIAM MURPHY, GRAHAM RAYMAN, MICHAEL ROTHFELD, AND RAY SANCHEZ | STAFF WRITERS

December 23, 2005

It was 10:30 a.m., Day 3 of a transit strike that had paralyzed the city, and union chief Roger Toussaint was 30 minutes away from a court date that could have landed him and his top aides in jail. A media blackout had left everyone in the dark about the all-night talks that were the only hope. And then a state mediator took the podium.

His was the first good news city commuters had heard in days. Just in time for Christmas and Hanukkah, Toussaint was asking his executive board to send the striking transit union members back to work.

A combination of the mounting fines, the threat of jail for union leaders and the upcoming holidays apparently were part of the decision to go back, according to sources close to the talks.

"We wanted to end this before Christmas. We did this for the city," said Eladio Diaz, an executive board member, after the board's vote to send the workers back.

Smiling and surrounded by supporters outside union headquarters, Toussaint announced the decision just before 3 p.m. "I'm pleased to announce that the Local 100 executive board just voted overwhelmingly to direct transit workers to return to work immediately.

"We thank riders for their patience and forbearance."

With those words, the city's first transit strike in a quarter- century came to an end -- following all-night talks with mediators and days of wrangling, tough talk and anger that gripped the city.

What led to Toussaint's dramatic announcement started some 29 hours earlier, when state mediator Richard Curreri initiated attempts to jump-start the stalled negotiations. Union leaders and MTA officials shuttled back and forth from the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where the talks were being held, to the nearby Helmsley, which was not besieged by the media horde. Before sunrise, there was hope among those in the room that the strike might be settled. Finally, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow and Toussaint both participated directly in the talks early Thursday, and the framework of a deal began to emerge.

Among Toussaint's advisers who were close to the talks, several had mentioned to him the possibility of being jailed, and the penalties his workers faced, according to sources. Also, two of the mediators said that sometime during the talks, both had mentioned the upcoming Christmas and Hanukkah holidays in an effort to get the workers back to the trains and buses.

Harsh talk

Yesterday's events were a stark contrast to the scene 24 hours earlier, when the union representing nearly 34,000 bus and subway workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority seemed as far apart as the ends of the A line.

The war of words surrounding the illegal walkout had escalated Wednesday, as patience wore thin and commuters continued to struggle by walking, biking or staying away from the city. Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Toussaint continued to demand that proposed pension changes for new employees be removed from the table before the local's nearly 34,000 bus and subway workers agreed to return to work.

Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a hard line, insisting that transit workers end the strike before negotiations could resume. The MTA, which maintained after the strike that it was ready to talk anytime, also hardened its position, with Kalikow calling the pension changes non-negotiable.

"They were in a war position, so to speak," said Alan Viani, one of three mediators who helped bring an end to the three-day strike. "We viewed our roles as coming up with ways to open the lines of communication and get negotiations started."

The union had gone on strike at 3 a.m. Tuesday after negotiations broke down over the MTA's demand that new employees contribute 6 percent of their wages toward pensions. The local, Toussaint said, could not accept a deal that treated new workers worse than current ones.

"These parties were in a jam; this was a difficult spot," said Martin Scheinman, one of the mediators and a longtime labor arbitrator. "Nobody wants a strike that affects 7 million people. The real key to the whole thing is persuading both sides that where they were at when they went on strike wasn't going to work."

Finally, talking

Scheinman and other labor experts said the key in any mediation is to get the parties talking again, even if it's through an intermediary. The two sides were encouraged to narrow down their demands to help move the negotiations.

"You basically have to say to a guy, 'How about something new? How about something different? Let's try; take a little chance,'" Scheinman said. "The next thing you know, 'If they did that, I could see my way to do this.' That's how it builds on each other." Throughout the day Wednesday, negotiators worked to get through the issues.

"We began to work our way through things; the passions cooled somewhat," Viani said. "We got people to focus on the concerns they needed to in order to move the talks along."

Viani said the three mediators never met together with the union and management because of the mounting tension.

"A few times we met at the Hyatt, but a lot of business was done at the Helmsley," where the mediators had rooms, Viani said. "We knew all the reporters were hanging out at the Hyatt."

Around 1 a.m., the tenor behind the scenes began to change when, in quick succession the MTA's chief negotiator, Gary Dellaverson, arrived at the Grant Hyatt for a new round of meetings with the state mediators.

Then, Toussaint and his aides, Ed Watt and Darlyne Lawson, entered the hotel. The trio waved off questions from reporters and made for the nearest elevator. An agitated Toussaint told a hotel security guard to do his job. But the guard could not control a cluster of reporters and cameramen.

Curreri said he had been awake for 29 hours, much of it bouncing back and forth from the room containing MTA officials to the room housing the union negotiators.

Just after 4 a.m., the talks were still going on. As the hours passed, expectations rose.

As the morning progressed, union and MTA officials actually met face-to-face just before Toussaint agreed to recommend an end to the strike, said a source close to the situation.

Shortly after 11 a.m., Curreri emerged from the talks and told reporters that enough progress had been made to convince Toussaint to recommend to his executive board that they vote to end the strike and continue negotiation. A source said the proposed deal would have current and future workers pay some health premiums. Also, Curreri said the MTA had not removed its demand that future workers pay a higher pension contribution.

Throughout the talks, the two sides agreed to a "media blackout" because, Curreri said, leaks to reporters had damaged the talks. "It's an emotionally charged situation," he said.

This story was reported by Anthony M. Destefano, William Murphy, Graham Rayman, Michael Rothfeld, and Ray Sanchez. It was written by Sanchez.