Transit union leaders last night called on their members to ratify the contract settlement that the union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reached two weeks ago after transit workers went on strike for the first time in 25 years.þþThis week, the union, Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, is mailing 33,700 subway and bus workers copies of the agreement. The membership of the union has not rejected a contract since 1992, but the contract negotiations last month - culminating in a three-day walkout that nearly shut down the city and resulted in fines against the union and its members - were particularly bitter. þþAfter leaving a two-hour membership meeting, several workers said they could not support the settlement because the wage increases were insufficient and the concessions on health care too great. þþÿI don't particularly care for the contract, and I'm leaning toward voting no,ÿ said Georgene Simmons, 40, who brought her 10-year-old son, Devon, to the meeting. ÿI'm a single mother and I can't afford child care. I have to work double shifts to make ends meet.ÿ þþRichard J. Watson, 37, a station agent and a union shop steward, distributed a flier urging other station workers to vote no. ÿWe did not strike to give more and get less, but that's what's happened,ÿ he said. þþAfter an increased health care contribution, lost wages and strike-related fines are factored in, he said, many workers may earn less this year than last year, even after the 3 percent raise called for in the first year of the proposed contract. þþThe union's president, Roger Toussaint, spoke to more than 400 union members who filled a meeting room at the Y.W.C.A. of Brooklyn shortly after 7 p.m. The meeting was closed to the public, but several in attendance said that Mr. Toussaint gave a detailed presentation about the benefits of the settlement. Additional meetings are planned for workers in Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan.þþMr. Toussaint emphasized that the authority dropped its insistence that new workers wait longer before being eligible to collect full pensions or contribute a much higher percentage of their wages toward the pension plan. Those pension demands were at the crux of the deadlock that prompted the strike. þþThe 37-month settlement calls for wage increases averaging 3.5 percent a year. It also includes improvements in health coverage for about 2,600 retirees who live outside the metropolitan area and are younger than 65. þþThe settlement also gives about 20,000 workers refunds of a portion of pension contributions they made from 1994 to 2001. þþIn its major concession, the union agreed to have all workers pay a portion of their wages toward their health insurance premiums: 1.5 percent, indexed to future increases in the authority's health care costs. þþUnion members interviewed last night appeared to be sharply divided in their views of the settlement.þþÿYou've got to look out for the people who are on the job right now,ÿ said Shawn H. Dougherty, 39, a train operator hired in 1993. He said that Mr. Toussaint's refusal to ÿsell out our unbornÿ - that is, to treat future workers worse than current ones - came at the expense of having all workers make sacrifices.þþParminderjit S. Parmar, 47, a train operator hired in 1988, said that Mr. Toussaint made a tactical mistake by allowing the authority to offer the pension refunds as a concession. Gov. George E. Pataki twice, in 2000 and 2001, vetoed legislation that would have provided the refunds, and many union members believe the refunds would have been granted next year under a new governor. þþÿThe pension refunds should not have been used as a bargaining chip,ÿ Mr. Parmar said.þþGrigoriy Dunichev, a subway-car equipment worker and a member of the union's executive board, said the improved health benefits for retirees were ÿa huge victory.ÿ Asked whether he would encourage others to ratify the settlement, he said: ÿI'm not here to sell the contract but to explain every paragraph and every chapter to my members. They are all mature enough to make their own decisions.ÿþþThe union has hired the American Arbitration Association to conduct the election. In this election, unlike past ones, workers can vote only by telephone or the Internet, not by mail. The voting is to be completed by Jan. 20. If the members ratify the deal, the authority's board will vote on the contract on Jan. 25. þþ
Source: NY Times
