Resourceful New Yorkers used everything from bikes to tricycles to skates to make their morning commute.(Photo: Xinhua/Reuters)

A state judge slapped the union with a fine of 1 million dollars a day, while a mediation session aimed at stopping a transit strike that has stranded 7 million commuters is slated for Tuesday afternoon.

State Justice Theodore Jones leveled the sanction against the Transport Workers Union (TWU) for violating a state law that bars public employees from going on strike.

"This is a very, very sad day in the history of labor relations for New York City," the judge said in imposing the fine.

The union vowed to immediately appeal, calling it an excessive fine.

The heavy penalty could force the union off the picket lines and back on the job. Its 33,000 members are already facing individual fines of two days' pay for every day they are on strike.

Representatives of the MTA and TWU met for a second session at 11 a.m., but no details from that closed-door session have been released. New York City Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo also attended the emergency session arguing the city will lose hundreds of millions of dollars if the strike continues.

"The city of New York today will lose 20 million dollars today," Cardozo said. The judge denied a union attorney's request for more time to prepare for the 11 a.m. hearing.

The nation's largest transit system ground to a halt after 3 a.m. when the 33,000- member union called the strike after a late round of negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) broke down Monday night. The subway and buses provide more than 7 million rides per day.

Public officials wasted no time to carry out their threat of quick legal action, heading into Brooklyn courtrooms to obtain sanctions against the union for violating state law.

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow said the strike is "a slap in the face" to all New Yorkers, while Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the walkout "a cowardly attempt" by the union "to bring the city to its knees to create leverage for their own bargaining position."

Bloomberg has said the walkout could cost the city as much as 400 million dollars a day, and would be particularly harsh at the height of the holiday shopping and tourist season. He said a strike would freeze traffic into "gridlock that will tie the record for all gridlocks."

Governor George Pataki said the striking transit workers have broken the trust of the people of New York, and endangered not only the city and state's economy, but also the health and safety of each and every New Yorker.

MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said the agency "put a fair offer" on the table before talks broke down. "Unfortunately, that offer has been rejected."

But the union said it wanted a better offer from the MTA, especially when the agency has a 1 billion-dollar surplus this year.