By Azi Paybarah

Ask transit advocate Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign how we got our first transit strike in a quarter of a century.

“It seems to me it was harder three years ago when [Transit Workers Union local 100 leader] Roger Touissant was new and fiscal times were tough. My sense is that neither [MTA chairman Peter] Kalikow or Toussaint wanted a strike this time, and, you know, factors ended up and there is one now.”

So what exactly are those mysterious “factors” that got New Yawkers sharing cabs and car-pooling, and left only Rangers fans, Long Islanders and Hudson News employees manning Penn Station?

First is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The public authority is run by a 17-member board, all of whom are nominated by the governor—and immune from public pressure as such. So perhaps it’s no surprise that the Authority had a habit of keeping two sets of books—and of spontaneously pulling conveniently-timed surpluses and deficits out of thin air. How loose are they with their numbers? Put it this way: When they announced a few moths ago that they’d found an $833 million surplus, a review by the state comptroller revealed they were shorting themselves by nearly $100 million. What better time for the MTA to pull out free money than right before a contract fight, right? Hey, union, we found this money, but we can’t give any to you or we’ll go broke.

This is the same agency that set things up so that the union’s contract expired just before Christmas, when it’s perfect walking weather.

Then there is the TWU, which is after its cut of that free money. Founded by a tough-talking old Irish Republican Army member in 1934, the TWU has an old-school get money mentality that brings back the days when major unions would do anything for a raise. And not only does the TWU want a raise, but they want to keep starting salaries up (motormen make twice as much to start with as cops, for instance), lower retirement ages and not chip in any more for health care co-pays that are far below what most people in the private sector pay.

“Mike Bloomberg should shut up,” the ever-diplomatic Toussaint said earlier this month when told of the mayor’s insistence that his union not strike. Tuesday, they did strike, of course—the first transit strike since spring of 1980, when the system shut down for 11 days. At least it was warm then.

Toussaint, who came to Brooklyn from Trinidad because the post-colonial country still had what he called an “atmosphere of harassment and retaliation,” started out cleaning subways for the MTA in 1984. Around that time he started “On Track,” a newsletter to air workers’ beefs. A decade later, he ran for a union post on the New Directions slate and won his first such gig, heading the 1,800-member Track Division. One year later, the union elected its first black president, former bus driver and deacon Willie James.

Toussaint continued beating the drum of worker complaints, now with union backing, winning him anything but love and adoration from the MTA. When James went up against Rudy Giuliani in 1996, he made some initial noise about a strike or slowdown, but was warned that not only would the Taylor Law be enforced, but, as the mayor also pointed out in a radio address,“In addition to that, all of the expenses and all of the damages that the City incurs will have to be paid by the union, and the union will lose its right to set off dues in order to collect the dues from its members.” James got the message—back off or be crushed. He negotiated a contract where his members got a barely noticeable raise and agreed to let welfare recipients do union work without actually joining the union. Despite Toussaint’s effort, the rank-and-file members narrowly approved the contract. Then, after the contract was a done deal, the MTA discovered a $125 million surplus. The following year, in a three-way election, James finished dead last and Toussaint walked away with 60 percent of the union vote.

In 2002, it was Toussaint’s turn to negotiate with the state’s most corrupt authority. With threats of a strike that sent newly elected mayor Bloomberg rushing out to buy a $660 bike, Toussaint won a four to five percent increase for union members, far below the rate of inflation. The union also agreed to a 50 percent increase in worker’s medical co-payments. And the one-time $1,000 check to union members turned into a $500 check after taxes—you can’t even buy a good bike for that.

The left-over frustration from the 2002  contract was further flamed when the MTA announced its nearly billion-dollar surplus and a discounted holiday fare for riders in advance of their contract talks with the union. Hoping not to be the next Willie James, and dogged by union veeps who often opposed his politics and platform, Toussaint muttered about a strike early and often—until it was the only thing left on the negotiating table.

That leaves the odd couple. Governor George Pataki was so concerned about the original deadline for negotiations that he ran out of town just before the deadline, popping up at a New Hampshire fundraiser. The negotiating back in Gotham was left to Peter Kalikow, the noted real estate developer who was appointed MTA Chairman. The trenchcoat and fedora-loving chairman wants to offer union members, more of a turtle cap and Sean John crowd, single-digit pay increases, lower starting salaries, higher contributions to their pensions and a longer tenure before actually tapping into those pensions.

His domestic partner, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has been left holding the contingency plans and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge with the foot commuters caught in the middle of all those “factors”.

When Kalikow and Touissant broke off talks Monday night at the swanky Grand Hyatt hotel, the only thing left at the table was the impression that nobody was budging.

“I was told [the MTA] put the offer on the table, the union rejected it and told us they were going to the union hall. Okay, thank you all very much,” said MTA spokesman Tom Kelly an hour before the deadline. At 3 a.m. the strike was official. Fifteen minutes later, in the swiftest move of his administration, Pataki released a statement, saying he hoped everyone can “work together to overcome the unnecessary crisis that has been set upon us by this illegal strike.” Leadership.

“We did not want a strike; the MTA, the governor and the mayor did,” Toussaint said in a statement.

City Comptroller Bill Thompson said the strike will cost the city $1.6 billion for the first week, just slightly more than what the MTA banked away in that surplus they announced.

Also, the striking members may lose two-days pay per day they strike, thanks to the state’s Taylor Law, inspired after the first transit strike in 1966 (led by TWU founder Mike “the judge can drop dead” Quill).

Those stiff penalties became part of the bargaining during the 1985 transit strike, which ended when Mayor Ed Koch agreed to not actually enforce the law or try collecting the millions in fines the union owed.

So that the city doesn’t miss out on the chance to recoup some money, it asked a judge to levy $1 million a day against the union for the duration of the strike.

This year, Bloomberg is trying to live up to that 1996 promise, but, will probably have to act a bit more like its 1985 (anyone wanna watch Breakfast Club when this is all over?).

With all this fining, it’s hard to imagine anybody having any money left to actually pay for a new contract.