Roger Toussaint, the president of the New York City transit workers' local, has quickly discovered that engaging in an illegal walkout can leave a union with a weak hand. His union faces a $1 million fine for each day on strike, a state judge is threatening to throw him in jail and thousands of individual strikers stand to lose two days' pay for each day out. Not only that, but the mayor, the governor and editorial writers are denouncing the union as greedy and showing contempt for the law.
See "Tough Stance, Tougher Fines: Union Leader Is in a Corner", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, December 21, 2005