At a news conference the morning of December 22, 2005, it was announced that the state mediator, Richard Curreri, had reached a preliminary agreement between the MTA and a TWU team including Roger Toussaint for transit workers to return to work for a time without a contract. Progress had also been made on the pensions issue. At 2:35 p.m. EST, December 22, the agreement was approved by the executive board of the TWU local (36 yes, 5 no and 2 abstentions). Agreements were made on the ability to use restroom facilities by workers during shifts. Workers began to restore services. Buses and subways were restored at midnight, while signals, switches, stations, and other things were checked out. The MTA says that service was incrementally added during the later morning rush hour. By late morning service was running on a normal weekday schedule.