NEW YORK, Dec. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones imposed a daily fine on two chapters of Amalgamated Transit Union that joined the strike and raised the possibility of sending Transport Workers Union leaders to jail for failing to end the job action.

    The judge imposed a fine of 75,000 dollars on ATU Local 1056 and 50,000 on ATU Local 726. The two Queens bus lines, Triboro Coach and Jamaica, have been acquired by the city, but have yet to be fully absorbed into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, making their unions exempt from the state's Taylor Law, which imposes fines for transit strikes.

    Judge Jones also directed an attorney for TWU to bring its president Roger Toussaint and other top officials to his courtroomin Brooklyn Thursday to answer to a criminal contempt charges filed against them individually.

    Though stopping short of threatening jail time, the judge said it was important for the union leaders to appear before him because of the "distinct possibility" that they could be sent to jail if the strike does not end.

    But TWU lawyer Arthur Schwartz said Toussaint and other top union officials are in negotiations with mediators and that hauling them into court could halt the talks.

    Meanwhile, New York city authority is trying to get a temporary restraining order to force workers back on the job. If the order is granted, the city could then ask for 25,000 dollars in damages per transit worker for every day they are on strike. Transit workers are already facing a penalty of two days' pay for every day they are off the job in the illegal strike. But the judge decided to rule on the restraining order Thursday.

    On Tuesday, the same judge found the TWU to be in contempt of court and slapped the union with a 1-million-dollar fine for everyday its members stay off the job. Union members have also been fined with two days' pay for every day they are on strike. But so far, the union has offered no sign of relief for the city's 7 million commuters.

    "They've just lost one third of their assets. That's a pretty big loss," said corporation counsel Michael Cardozo. "Hopefully they will see the light and they will stop."

    But the TWU is not showing any signs of giving in. Lawyers for the TWU have vowed to appeal the judge's ruling, calling the fine,which could bankrupt it within days, "excessive."

    "No one can afford a million dollars a day," said TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint. "Mayor Bloomberg filed a lawsuit looking for 25,000 dollars a day on these transit workers, doubling each day, Giuliani-style terror to intimidate transit workers."

    Meanwhile, New Yorkers caught in the crossfire continued to struggle to get to work Wednesday by carpooling, taking taxis, piling on to the commuter rails and, of course, walking to get where they need to go.

    The city's strike contingency plan was in effect again during the morning rush. Taxis continue to make multiple pick ups throughout the day, charging $10 by zone instead of calculating fares by the meter.

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg again joined the thousands of New Yorkers making the trek across the Brooklyn Bridge by foot Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, he said if he's going to ask the city's people to do it, than he has got to do it, too.

    In another effort to bring an end to the strike, the MTA filed a Declaration of Impasse with the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) Tuesday, which could lead to PERB mediators being called in to get the two sides to continue negotiations aimed at settling the strike. If a mediator fails to settle the contract dispute, the next step in the process would be binding arbitration, which the transit union has already rejected.

    The courts, the mayor, the governor, and some frustrated commuters have all come down hard on the TWU for walking off the job, even TWU International, the TWU's parent's union has joined the chorus. In a statement on its website, the union's president Michael O'Brien says: "I told them that the only road to contract victory for the membership was not by strike but continued negotiation."

    The lack of support from the parent union could mean Local 100 will be stuck paying the brunt of the penalties and even jail time. Since the strike was not sanctioned by TWU International, there could also be repercussions against Local 100, such as being takenover by the parent union.

    The nearly 34,000 transit workers from TWU Local 100 walked off the job at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning following a vote by the union's executive board, hours after union leaders rejected the MTA's final contract offer at the end of a contentious bargaining session.

    While many transit workers continue to walk the picket lines, one high ranking transit official said some of its members are crossing the lines. NYC Transit President Lawrence Reuter said more than 1,000 employees came to work Tuesday. Though they are not sufficient enough to re-open the city's bus and train routes, he said the employees who came to work are being kept busy, doing some cleaning and paperwork. Enditem