Negotiators Try to Hammer Out Deal With NYC Transit Workers
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Negotiators are working around the clock trying to hammer out a new contract with New York's transit workers union to avoid a strike. Their current contract expires at midnight. CNN's Ali Velshi is in New York with the very latest. Hi, Ali. ALI VELSHI, CNNfn</s>CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, good to see you. It's gotten a little cooler out here. And as you can see, we're in Times Square, which is busy at the best of times, but traffic around here is heavier than normal right now. A lot of shoppers getting concerned that if the transit workers go on strike at midnight, they are not going to get the Christmas shopping done in time. Now, Times Square, as much as it's a commercial center and a theater center and entertainment district, it's also a transportation hub. About two blocks to my east is Grand Central Station; about two blocks to my west is the Port Authority, the city's major bus terminal. And right here, about 10 subway lines run through the city. So it's going to be really important to commuters to understand what happens if there's a strike tomorrow. Now, we've got the situation of 34,000 transit workers who are ready to walk off the job. The negotiations are going on just a few blocks away. The issue at hand, the transportation workers union wants 6 percent increases over the next three years. Now, that's down from their initial request, their initial demands of 8 percent a year. The city says the Transportation Authority is strapped, cash strapped, and they can't give it to them. Now, the difficulty on Friday that the transportation union got into, is that a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge ruled that, in fact, it is illegal to strike in New York if you are a public worker. It's called the Taylor Law, and it says that they can't go out on strike. The city is trying to get fines imposed of up to $1 million a day for the union and $25,000 per worker if they go on strike on Monday morning, or at midnight tonight. Mayor Bloomberg is telling people to just sit back and relax a little bit. He went out yesterday and bought himself a $650 bicycle. He says, actually, people should just take it easy, have a sense of humor about it, get on their bikes, ride to work if they have to, or figure out some other way of getting to work. Tonight he says, however, that he's happy the parties are still at the negotiation table trying to achieve a settlement.</s>MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: The city plans to take every legal remedy action that it can to try to prevent a strike. And if there is one, we will avail ourselves of all of the ability to seek compensation and to recover moneys that have been spent and will be spent. But our intent...</s>VELSHI: Listen, there are 1.1 million public school children who use public transport, half of them use public transportation to get to work, and there are seven million commuters in New York City. So we'll keep an eye on what's going on. And until then, back to you, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Ali, thanks a lot. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com Workers>