New York: Back to Normal

The bus fumes had never smelled so good, nor had the rumble of the subways sounded so musical. The great New York City transit strike was over. Now came the financial reckoning. For the bankrupt New York City Transit Authority, the $52 million settlement—$16 million more than the 1963 package—was bad enough, but it was almost microscopic compared with the transit union's original demands of $680 million. The strikers received a 15% wage increase spread over two years and substantially improved fringe benefits, failed to get a requested 32-hour week and six...

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