New Yorkers Adjust As Transit Strike Stymies Commutes

A striking transit worker walks across the Brooklyn Bridge during the morning rush-hour. (Mario Tama - Getty Images)

"I spent the last two hours walking and the first 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get there," Profumo said Tuesday afternoon as he reached the halfway point. "I had to ask somebody where Broadway was -- and I grew up here."

Mark Walter, a graphic designer who lives in New Jersey and works in Brooklyn, took a regional commuter train unaffected by the strike to Lower Manhattan, then walked several miles to his office.

"They're saying this is for everyone, but people can't get to their jobs or buy Christmas presents," said Walter, a Georgia native who believes only the union bosses benefit from the strike. "I'm from a right-to-work state, and they'd probably fire them."

Others sided with the strikers.

"I hope they get everything they ask for," said Larry Sullivan, a Macy's employee who said the strikers' plight was that of all working people in the city. "I see the union is giving a smack to the politicians and the upper echelons. Let them cripple the city. . . . Everything in the city goes up except my salary."

Subway conductor Juan Velasquez held a strike sign at the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday while his wife, a city bus driver, was a picket on Staten Island. They have a daughter at Columbia University and bills to pay but are ready to sacrifice for the strike, Velasquez said.

"I gathered the family and I said Christmas is on hold this year," he said. "Whatever Christmas money I worked hard for, it's being held to pay the bills."

The last transit strike was in April 1980, and it paralyzed the city for 11 days. The current labor dispute turns on pay raises, pension eligibility and whether transit workers will have to pick up a greater share of the costs of their health care and other benefits. Workers also have complained about MTA's efforts to expand job responsibilities to include cleaning, washing and maintenance.

After weeks of negotiations, the transit authority and the union failed to reach a new agreement before the latest contract expired Friday at midnight. The two sides continued talking through the weekend and the union set a new deadline for Tuesday, but negotiations broke down Monday night.

Late in the game, the MTA increased its offer, promising raises over the next three years of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. It had previously offered 3 percent a year. The new offer, however, also demanded that workers fund 6 percent of their retirement costs -- a change that would wipe out the higher raises.

There was a split within the famously fractious union over whether to strike. More militant local leaders argued that their leverage was greatest now, in the week leading to Christmas, with retailers and department store owners putting great pressure on the MTA to find a settlement. However, the international arm of the Transport Workers Union said it does not support the strike.

Lee reported from Washington. Staff writer Michael Powell in New York contributed to this report.