NEW YORK, Dec. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Representatives for the Transportation Workers Union (TWU) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) resumed contract negotiations Monday as transportation workers picketed two bus companies in Queens, New York.

    At issue continues to be wages, pensions and disciplinary action.

    At a Monday morning press conference TWU president Roger Toussaint said that there was still time to resolve the impasse between the MTA and the TWU, but maintained that trains and buses will come to a halt as of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday unless there is a substantial effort in contract negotiations made by the MTA beforethen.

    Toussaint said that the union would agree to lower its wage demands to a six percent increase for each year of the three year contract if the MTA agrees to make security improvements. The TWU's new demand is double the 3 percent raise per year that the MTA has offered.

    Workers from the Queen's based Triboro Coaches and Jamaica bus lines fulfilled their promise to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Monday leaving 50,000 riders scrambling for other ways to get around.

    The Transport Workers Union imposed the partial strike after a deal was not reached by midnight Sunday. Toussaint joined the striking bus workers on the picket line in Queens.

    The MTA's head negotiator did not sound very confident that a deal could be reached in time to avert a strike at a Sunday night press conference.

    "I think in addition to the fact that there's no progress to report, I think the MTA is very concerned that we are down to the wire," said Gary Dellaverson. "Obviously the MTA does not have any deadline on these talks. We have said we will continue to negotiate for as long as it's fruitful."

    Toussaint insists that tomorrow's 12:01 a.m. deadline is for real. In an interview with local newspaper New York Daily News, he said, "we will not delay this deadline."

    He also shed some light on his decision to call first for the limited strike of the two private bus lines.

    "The preference would be to systematically escalate the challenge, to always retain the ability to up the ante, maximize the impact on the MTA, minimize the impact on my members," he said.     

    He said that he decided not to call a system-wide strike Thursday night after seeing signs of progress in the MTA's contract offer.

    It gave the union the opportunity not to strike just before the weekend, when rider ship is less but fines for striking would be just as high.

    The TWU said Sunday that it plans to challenge the MTA's pension plan proposal in court. Lawyers for the TWU are filing a complaint with the state's Public Employment Relations Board seeking a court order barring the MTA from making pension demands part of its final offer for a new contract.

    The TWU claims that the MTA is breaking state law by demanding changes in pension changes for new hires. If the board rules in favor of the union, the MTA would be forced to take the pension issue off the table.

    The MTA dismissed the complaint saying that an official impassehas to be declared before the union complaint could even be considered valid.

    Given the TWU's rejection of the offer on the table, if a deal is not reached before Monday's strike deadline, the next step in the process would be a formal declaration of an impasse.

    The TWU has also publicly rejected the idea of arbitration, which by law would follow an impasse declaration.

    If the job action proceeds as planned, it will be the city's first transit strike since 1980. City officials say a full-fledged transit strike would debilitate the city and cost billions of dollars. Enditem