TWU

Union President Roger Toussaint will also face 10 days in prison.

The Associated Press reported that a judge fined the city transit union $2.5 million Monday for the illegal strike that brought buses and subways to a standstill for three days just before Christmas.

In December 2005, 34,000 New York City transport workers walked out against cuts in benefits and the creation of a two-tier workforce. Their union was fined millions of dollars, and the strike was called off, having won important concessions. So what were the lessons of the action?

In Industrial Worker, February 2006 he wrote:

A tiny margin of just seven votes scuppered the deal, leaving the New York Times to report that angry workers may turn to other forms of direct action, such as wildcat stoppages and slowdowns.

From NYtimes.com on January 22, 2006:

New York City’s nearly 34,000 transit workers shut down the country’s largest public transportation system last month in a three-day strike that became a battle between working-class New Yorkers and the bosses, politicians and ruling elite of the city.

34,000 New York City transport workers are on an illegal strike, shutting down the entire city's transit system to oppose benefit cuts, despite large profits. Their Transport Workers Union is now being fined $1m per day that the strike continues.

From http://news.bbc.co.uk:
The 34,000 members of the Transport Workers Union went on strike after talks over their contracts collapsed.

Back in April the MTA Board, which runs Muni (the bus and streetcar system in San Francisco) voted to increase the transit fare from $1.25 to $1.50, to cut service on many bus lines, and to lay off about 200 drivers. This Thursday, Sept 1, is when the fare hike is supposed to go into effect. This is the second fare hike in two years. Since 2003 the fare has gone up 50 percent.