and held a press conference, threatening to go on strike again if the MTA does not stop "keeping secrets." Roger Toussaint however, disagrees with the representatives and claims "the contract is fair enough." On January 5, 2006, MTA chairman Peter Kalikow, a Pataki appointee, conceded that making the pension cutback demand was an error. On January 20, 2006 it was announced that the contract was rejected by 7 votes out of approximately 22,000 cast. On January 31, 2006 Local 100's executive board met to decide on its response to both the MTA latest offer and the rank and file's rejection. On March 15, 2006, Toussaint announced that he wanted a revote on the rejected contract and two days later, there was a vote of 24-12 in favor of a revote and on April 18, Toussaint announced that the union has approved it by a vote of 14,716 to 5,877. The MTA, however, has said the contract is no longer on the table and sought binding arbitration to settle negotiation, which the arbitrator did on December 15 when the board imposed a new three-year contract that both the MTA and TWU Local 100 must accept. Beginning in June 2006, the Taylor law penalties were deducted from striking workers' checks. Withholding of the Union checkoff was withheld until early 2007. The TWU agree to pay over $300,000 a month towards strike-related penalties. Public response According to a NY1 news poll, 41% of New Yorkers thought both the MTA and the Transport Workers Union were to blame for the strike. About 27% solely faulted the MTA, while 25% blamed the union for the walkout. 54% of New Yorkers thought what the union wanted was fair compared to 36% who did not. But race was also shown to play into this result: 38% of white New Yorkers thought the TWU's demands were fair, while nearly three-quarters of both African-Americans and Latinos agreed with the TWU's proposals. Three times as many white New Yorkers said the union is more to blame for the strike than did African-American New Yorkers. As for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's handling of the crisis, 51% said he did "not so good" or "poor," while 45% said he did "great" or "good," Governor George E. Pataki attracted more blame, with 69% saying his performance was "not good" or "poor," and just 23% saying he did "great" or "good." One day before the