In scolding language, a state judge refused yesterday to allow the New York City Transport Workers Union to begin automatically collecting dues again from its members, saying he did not find believable the union leaders? assertions that it would not strike again. The ruling by Justice Bruce M. Balter of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn was a blow to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which had urged that the ban on automatic dues collection ? imposed after a 2005 strike ? be lifted for the sake of labor harmony. It was also a victory for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has continued to denounce the union for the 60-hour strike in December 2005, which disrupted the city and forced millions of people to walk, bike or find other ways to get to work.
See "Judge Deals Transit Union a Blow on Collecting Dues", William Neuman, The New York Times, November 8, 2007