The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the transit workers' union announced a settlement yesterday in which the authority abandoned its demand for concessions on pensions and the union agreed to have all workers pay a portion of their health insurance premiums. þþLast night the executive board of the union, Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, voted 37 to 4 to approve the tentative 37-month contract. One member abstained. The city's 33,700 subway and bus workers are expected to vote on the agreement early next month; some are expected to oppose it out of unhappiness over having to pay toward health premiums for the first time.þþThe agreement calls for transit workers to pay 1.5 percent of their wages toward the premiums, cutting into the raises they receive. That comes on top of the fines of slightly more than $1,000 that most transit workers face for participating in last week's illegal transit strike.þþThe settlement calls for raises of 3 percent in the deal's first year, 4 percent in the second year and 3.5 percent in the third year. The subway and bus workers' current base pay averages $47,000 a year, and with overtime, their average yearly earnings total $55,000.þþÿThese were huge items for our membership,ÿ said Marvin W. Holland, a station cleaner and board member who voted to approve the contract. ÿIf it took a strike to get it, so be it. I think this is an overwhelming success.ÿþþThe settlement is the latest chapter in a labor dispute that led to New York City's first transit shutdown in 25 years, one that prompted bitter public exchanges between political and union leaders, while hurting the city's economy.þþBowing to the authority's wishes, the union agreed to a 37-month contract instead of a 36-month contract, making the expiration date Jan. 15, 2009, rather than Dec. 15, 2008. That move will no doubt please Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the city's retailers, because it removes the risk of a paralyzing strike at the peak of the holiday shopping season.þþLast Thursday, the authority persuaded the union to end a 60-hour strike by signaling that it would drop its demand for future workers to contribute more toward their pensions - the issue that had caused the talks to fall apart. In exchange, the union indicated that it would agree to the concession on health care to help the authority bring its soaring benefits costs under control. The agreement on health premiums will save the authority nearly $32 million a year.þþGeorge Perlstein, a subway road-car inspector and the sole board member who abstained, said the health care contribution would set a precedent for further increases. ÿThe health care contribution is going to be absolutely disastrous in the future,ÿ he said. ÿInstead of holding our ground, we're acquiescing to the anti-labor ideology of Bloomberg, Pataki and the Republican agenda.ÿþþThe transit agreement, coming after a fight that highlighted concerns about the rising cost of pensions for government employees, could have major implications for other public-employee unions because officials in City Hall and Albany often seek to use the transit contract as a precedent. The pact could thus influence District Council 37, the city's largest union of municipal workers, and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, whose contracts have already expired.þþThe transportation authority and the union as well as much of New York will no doubt debate who won and who lost. The authority is expected to boast that it won important concessions on health insurance. The Local 100 president, Roger Toussaint, could say that he won sizable raises - although he originally demanded raises of 8 percent a year - and pressured the authority to abandon its demands for concessions on pensions and for treating future workers worse than current ones.þþIn an appearance around 11 p.m., after the board meeting, Mr. Toussaint detailed the many benefits of the new contract, but he kept his comments brief. He thanked union members for ÿtheir unerring support and their perseveranceÿ and thanked ÿthe riders and the working people of New York for their patience, forbearance and understanding.ÿþþAfter using harsh words to denounce the union last week, Mr. Bloomberg congratulated the union and the transportation authority last night. þþÿThis tentative contract provides the necessary cost savings and productivity to keep the M.T.A. solvent, mitigate fare increases and allow for vital investments in our transportation infrastructure,ÿ he said. þþEarlier yesterday, negotiators from the union and the authority were discussing ways to sweeten the deal because of fears of widespread rank-and-file opposition. If the members vote down the settlement, it will put Mr. Toussaint and the transportation authority in a difficult position.þþOne sweetener approved will provide better health coverage to retirees who are under 65 and live outside the metropolitan area. Another idea was to give the transit workers a one-time bonus, to help offset the fines from the strike. The authority rejected that idea. þþIn another sweetener that union officials said was worth tens of millions of dollars, the authority will reimburse some 16,000 transit workers for certain pension contributions they made before 2001. That year, the annual pension contribution paid by most transit workers was reduced to 2 percent from 5.3 percent.þþThe settlement differs from the last offer that the authority made on Dec. 19, shortly before the strike deadline. At that time, Peter S. Kalikow, the authority's chairman, dropped his demand to increase the retirement age to 62 for future workers, from the current 55. But he added a demand that future workers contribute 6 percent of their earnings toward their pensions, up from 2 percent for current transit employees.þþIn urging his union to carry out its first citywide strike since 1980, Mr. Toussaint cited that proposal as particularly objectionable. He vowed that he would never accept a contract that would ÿsell out our unbornÿ -one that treats future workers worse than current ones.þþBut the deal announced yesterday contains a provision that he also said he strongly opposed - health premiums for all workers.þþThroughout the negotiations, the authority's main goal was to rein in its fast-rising benefit costs. Its pension costs for transit workers jumped to $453 million this year from $145 million in 2002, while it expects its health outlays for those workers to jump to $380 million this year, from $262 million in 2002.þþWorried about a nearly $1 billion deficit forecast for 2009, the authority's chief negotiator, Gary J. Dellaverson, put concessions on pension and health benefits at the center of the authority's bargaining position. þþBut Mr. Toussaint and many transit workers insisted that there was no justification for concessions in a year when the authority enjoyed an unexpected $1 billion surplus.þþThe union originally called for a far more generous pension plan, proposing that workers be eligible to retire with a pension equal to half their annual pay at age 50 after 20 years on the job. Workers now can receive such pensions at age 55, after 25 years on the job.þþThe authority originally proposed a 3 percent raise in the first year and 2 percent in the second, but it later improved that offer to raises of 3 percent a year for three years. Yesterday's settlement included the same raises that the authority offered on the eve of the strike. þþIn his final prestrike offer, Mr. Kalikow agreed to make Martin Luther King's Birthday a paid holiday and to provide extra money for training. In addition, he withdrew a demand that new workers pay 1 percent of their wages toward health insurance premiums - a provision that was revived when talks resumed.þþOne union leader close to the talks said Mr. Toussaint was eager to be able to show his union's members that he delivered a better contract than the one received by 5,000 Philadelphia transit workers after their one-week strike last month. þþThe Philadelphia workers received raises of 3 percent a year for three years and their union agreed, for the first time, to have workers pay 1 percent of their wages toward their health premiums.þþMr. Toussaint agreed to higher premiums but he can say he obtained bigger raises than the Philadelphia union received. þþThe settlement applies not only to Local 100, but also to two Amalgamated Transit Union locals that represent authority bus workers in Queens and on Staten Island. The deal also covers Local 100 members at five private bus companies the authority is taking over.þþDays before the strike began, Mr. Toussaint said he would accept raises of 6 percent a year, rather than 8 percent, but only if the authority agreed to a 25 percent cut in the number of disciplinary citations each year. Last year, supervisors issued 15,200 such citations to the union's 33,700 members. Under yesterday's settlement, the authority agreed to hire an independent consultant to help improve the disciplinary system. þþThe settlement reached last night is nearly identical to one proposed on Friday by three state mediators: Richard A. Curreri, director of conciliation at the state's Public Employment Relations Board, and two veteran mediators, Martin F. Scheinman and Alan R. Viani.þþThe three mediators brokered the framework that enabled the strike to end Dec. 22, but the extent of their involvement in drafting the final settlement has not been disclosed. þþÿWe do so with some reluctance, since it is not our custom to take such a formal role in parties' negotiations,ÿ the mediators wrote in a statement on Friday accompanying the proposed settlement. ÿIn this instance, however, we firmly believe it to be in the best interests of both the parties and the public.ÿ þþ
Source: NY Times
