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FOES EXCHANGE FRIENDLY WORDSDecember 11, 2002 -- The men who hold the possibility of a transit strike in their hands - MTA honcho Peter Kalikow and Transport Workers Union boss Roger Toussaint - had an impromptu face-to-face meeting yesterday. "I have a good reputation when it comes to labor negotiations," Kalikow assured Toussaint when the two bumped into each other at a legislative hearing on a fare hike. Toussaint - who was flanked by Ed Watt, the union's secretary-treasurer, and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) - nodded as Kalikow whispered to him. "We'll see what we can do," Kalikow told him. The foursome were huddled in a corner of a 19th floor conference room at 250 Broadway for nearly a minute - just before Kalikow and Toussaint appeared before state Assembly members about the MTA's proposed fare hike. But a fare increase was far from anyone's mind, as Sunday's strike deadline loomed with both sides miles apart going into today's negotiating session. Before Toussaint walked into the room, Kalikow said he was "hopeful" an agreement would be hammered out. "I do know that my experience with collective bargaining has taught me that you never get up," he said. "You sit at the table and you negotiate until five minutes after 12. You just never stop." The union wants a 24 percent salary hike over three years. The cash-strapped MTA made the union an offer last week that granted its workers no raises in the first year and potential wage increases in the last two years based on productivity. Kalikow and Toussaint were spotted together again after the MTA chairman testified - this time in the back of the room, shaking hands and sporting huge grins. Asked if they had reached a settlement, Kalikow joked, "The one thing we can agree on is being friends." After Kalikow left the room, Toussaint said both sides are "two continents apart," but added there was still time to hammer out a deal. "There is plenty of opportunity to avoid a catastrophe," he said. Toussaint said threats by the city to fine union members does not help the process. "[The contract] can't be resolved through threats or intimidation against transit workers," he said. Later in the day, Toussaint had dinner at the tony City Hall restaurant with Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, and Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. Both Lynch and Cassidy said they support the TWU but sidestepped questions on whether they would back a strike. "All unions should stand behind the TWU in their fight for a fair contract in this negotiation," Lynch said. "That's what it's all about. This is the first round in the long round for every union that's out there." Additional reporting by David Seifman
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