Based on a law prohibiting strikes on key public services, the New York State Supreme Court judge called the Transport Workers Union in contempt of court for the work stoppage, and fined the union $1 million for each day that they remain off the job, said a spokesman for the city's Law Department.
The move increased the pressure on the union as New York instituted emergency controls on Tuesday to prevent a total paralysis by the strike, which left more than 7 million people without their usual ride to work.
Under a bright blue sky on Tuesday morning, throngs of people made the long, cold trek into the city on bikes, skates or on foot.
With no subway trains or buses running, and with strict rules in place that limited early-morning access to much of the city to cars carrying four or more people, many were forced to walk - including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"The city is functioning and functioning well, considering the severe circumstances that we are in," he said.
Resourceful New Yorkers used everything from bikes to skates and skateboards to make their morning commute into Manhattan.
Amanda Boyd, 32, a graphic designer, roller-skated from Brooklyn to Manhattan, stopping for red lights along the way. "It's my first time doing this," she said. "It's so cold, it feels like skiing!"
For lawyer Kevin Carey, the walk to the office took one hour. "It's a pain in the neck," he said. "I think they [the transit workers] are paid pretty well, and they want an 8 percent raise per year! You can't get that in the private sector. It's unrealistic."
Some welcomed the unexpected exercise and fresh air, while others said that they were just taking the day off from work.
Earlier on Tuesday union leaders rejected the latest contract offer by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and voted to go on strike for the first time in 25 years, in open defiance of a state law banning strikes by public workers.
Transport union leader Roger Toussaint, who announced the strike, insisted in a statement on Tuesday that the union "did not want a strike".
"In an attempt to save mass transit and in deference to our riders, we postponed our deadline and attempted to continue talking to the MTA," he said.
But he charged that, "from the beginning, the MTA approached these negotiations in bad faith, demanding arbitration before even trying to resolve the contract.
"This is a fight over whether hard work will be rewarded with a decent retirement - over the erosion or eventual elimination of health benefit coverage for working people. And it is a fight over dignity and respect on the job, a concept that is very alien to the MTA," Toussaint said.
Bloomberg said that he would ask a judge to take appropriate action.
"We will seek to show that the TWU is in contempt ... and ask the court to impose severe fines on the union and its members," he said.
The mayor called the TWU's decision to strike "illegal and morally reprehensible".
Negotiations between the 33,700-strong TWU and the MTA reached the breaking point on several occasions, but a Friday deadline for a strike was pushed back to Monday, as both sides had hoped to avert a strike that some officials say could cost the city $400 million a day.
The talks on pay, pensions and health insurance faced a major hurdle in the MTA's insistence that the retirement age be increased to 62 from 55.
"For their own selfish reasons, the TWU has decided that their demands are more important than the law, the city and the people they serve," Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg urged denizens of the city to be "patient, considerate and resilient" during the strike.
"Let's show our determination, by walking, cycling or carpooling to get to work. ... We will show that the city of New York works even when our buses and our subways don't," the mayor said.
"I have no doubt that by working together we can and will get through this."
The previous transport strike, which lasted 11 days in 1980, cost the city's public and private sectors roughly $1 billion.
© 2005 Agence France-Presse
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