Breaking Strike News

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--State mediators have devised a preliminary framework for
a settlement of the New York City transit strike that would allow strikers to
return to work later Thursday, according to four people close to the
negotiations, The New York Times reported on its Web site.
The framework was devised after meeting with both sides through the night, the
report said.
The sources emphasized that the details of a final settlement would take at
least a day or two longer to be finalized, although buses and subways would be
running before that, according to the Times report.
The agreement, the sources said, would give every side some of what it asked
for, the Times reported.
According to the Times, the framework would allow Gov. George E. Pataki to
save face because the final negotiations would not take place until the
strikers return to work, the people said, and it would apparently allow the
union's president, Roger Toussaint, to save face because, they believe, the
authority's pension demands - which are at the crux of the deadlock - have been
significantly scaled back.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-22-05 1102ET
Copyright (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 11 02 AM EST 12-22-05