He spoke of having parking-meter workers collect more money in less time, trying a possible incentive program to encourage city workers to take fewer sick days, and administering the city's workers' compensation program less expensively.
The scare began last summer when, in an effort to replace mercury-filled gas meters, a worker noticed mercury on the floor of a house, a discovery that raised the possibility of spills in about 200,000 other homes.
A strike would involve cable splicers, power plant workers, meter readers, repair workers and customer service representatives.
A18 Attorney General John Ashcroft told senators that the administration intended to proceed with the creation of a system for truck and bus drivers, port workers, meter readers, letter carriers and others to report suspicious activities.
The union, which represents meter readers, linemen, transmission workers, manhole workers and others, last went on strike in 1983.
The As Sidrah oil port facility has been hobbled by a destroyed metering system, but workers are getting around the problem by estimating the amount of oil in tanks and tankers before or after they are filled.
This liquid steel then burst through the windows and door of an adjoining room five meters away where workers had gathered during a change of shifts, engulfing that room entirely.
At 7 05 p.m., after the men's 60 meters, a crew of workers, all in blue shirts and tan pants, scurried to the middle of the arena.
It belies a tide of systematic abuse – including blackmail, beatings and rapes – metered out against sex workers, a section of society seen by some as sub-humans deserving of anything that comes to them.
"Everybody is used to seeing garbage trucks and public street workers and electric meter readers out every day," he said.
