Mayor Bloomberg hit the boiling point yesterday.
During a press conference at City Hall, Bloomberg – using the strongest language he has on any subject since taking office – lit into the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and its leader, Roger Toussaint, for going on strike.
“Shameful,” “thuggish,” “selfish,” “unconscionable” – those were some of the choice words the mayor heaped on Toussaint.
“Roger Toussaint and the TWU have shamefully decided they don’t care about the people they work for and . . . have no respect for the law,” Bloomberg fumed.
“The leadership of the TWU has thuggishly turned their backs on New York City, and disgraced the noble concept of public service.”
Asked if he’d ever been so angry during his four-year stretch as mayor, the normally business-like Bloomberg gave an unusually personal response.
“Nobody’s ever deliberately tried to hurt the people of this city during my watch in such an explicit way. This is just unconscionable,” the mayor said.
Bloomberg also said the TWU shouldn’t be allowed near a bargaining table until its members end the strike.
“Until the workers go back, I don’t think anybody should be negotiating anything,” the mayor fumed.
“You can’t break the law and then use that as a negotiating tactic. The public, the city, the state and the country will not stand for that.”
While he insisted he was steering clear of the TWU’s internal politics, Bloomberg openly questioned whether the union’s leadership was adequately looking out for its members.
“If I were a TWU member, I’d be hard pressed to explain to my family why this isn’t a very good contract and why going on strike will not hurt my ability to feed my family,” Bloomberg said.
The TWU wasn’t the only union feeling the mayor’s wrath yesterday. Bloomberg also slammed labor bosses who stood with Toussaint in the days before he took his troops off the job.
“Union leaders that think by standing there [they] didn’t encourage this strike are sadly disingenuous or very naive,” he said.
“I’ve expressed that view to some of the union leaders, who have since said, ‘Oh, we were not in favor of an illegal strike. We’re just trying to show support.’ You can’t have it both ways.”
The mayor’s tone was equally stern nearly 12 hours earlier, when he spoke from Office of Emergency Management headquarters in Brooklyn at 3:30 yesterday morning, less than a half-hour after the strike commenced.
“Roger Toussaint and the TWU have taken the illegal and morally reprehensible action of ordering a citywide strike of our mass transit system,” Bloomberg thundered after grabbing a couple of hours of shuteye on a no-frills OEM cot.
Less than four hours later, Bloomberg appeared on the Brooklyn Bridge to re-enact Ed Koch’s defiant stroll 25 years ago in the face of the city’s last transit strike.
But Koch marched in April – and many commuters who yesterday walked through icy December temperatures seemed annoyed by the hordes around Bloomberg.
“Keep it moving,” shouted one cyclist.
“Move out of the way,” another hollered.
Hizzoner also had little luck generating the energy exhibited by Koch 2½ decades ago, mostly keeping his head down and plowing through the freezing winds.
Still, some frigid New Yorkers were pleased to see the mayor – clad in a leather jacket, light jeans and tassled black loafers – joining their plight.
“Give ’em hell, Mike,” one Brooklyn-bound walker yelled.
Arriving at City Hall a little before 7:45 a.m., Bloomberg planted himself at his desk, according to aides, and furiously worked the phones to get updates on how the city was coping with the strike.
For six hours, he spoke with agency heads, top aides, business leaders, Gov. Pataki and others to gauge the city’s response. Shortly after his second press conference ended, Bloomberg returned to his 79th Street townhouse.
He was set to head back to his sparse OEM digs last night.
And this morning, he’s planning to put his walking loafers back on and again go to work on foot – if he finds time to remove his foot from Toussaint’s neck.