Negotiations got off to a tense start yesterday for New York City's 34,000 subway and bus workers, as their union demanded major improvements in wages and benefits to catch up with their suburban counterparts.þþBut New York City Transit, which is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the recession and the drop in revenues and ridership that the agency had experienced recently would make it hard to grant large raises.þþWith the union's contract expiring on Dec. 15, both sides predicted the talks would be especially difficult, and union officials said they were not ruling out the possibility of a strike, even though strikes by public employees are prohibited under state law.þþÿWe will do everything possible to arrive at a contract on Dec. 15, but we will not surrender our right to strike,ÿ said Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union of America.þþAt the first negotiating session, which in an unusual gesture was open to the news media, Mr. Toussaint said his members felt they were being treated as second-class citizens.þþIn a presentation that used colored charts and a slide show, he complained that workers for New York City Transit received worse wages, health coverage and other benefits than workers for Metro North and the Long Island Rail Road — which are also part of the M.T.A..þþÿNeither the union, nor the authority can allow this second-class treatment to continue,ÿ Mr. Toussaint said in a 45-minute opening statement at the Roosevelt Hotel. ÿOur wages have not kept pace with other transit workers.ÿþþIn a 30-page list of contract demands, the union did not specify what percentage raise it was seeking, saying only that it wanted a ÿsubstantial raise.ÿþþPeter S. Kalikow, chairman of the M.T.A., said it would be difficult to be as generous as three years ago, when the economy was booming and transit ridership and revenues were rising. ÿToday we face much more difficult times,ÿ Mr. Kalikow said in opening remarks that were less confrontational. ÿThe effect has been to open large gaps in our operating budget.ÿþþMr. Kalikow said the M.T.A. was working hard to find ways to balance its income with its expenses. ÿWe will have to make many difficult decisions in the weeks and months ahead,ÿ he said. ÿLabor costs are clearly part of this equation.ÿþþMr. Toussaint said train operators for New York City Transit earned $24.35 an hour, while Metro North train operators earned $31.89. Signal maintainers for the New York City Transit earned $24.54, he said, while those on the L.I.R.R. earned nearly $2.50 more. Maintaining signs in the subway tunnels, he said, is a dirtier, more dangerous job.þþMr. Toussaint also demanded improvements in health benefits. He displayed one slide showing that New York City Transit contributed about $2.50 an hour per employee toward health insurance, while the Long Island Rail Road contributed $4.50.þþMr. Toussaint also criticized New York City Transit's disciplinary procedures, which he called arbitrary and demeaning.þþThe M.T.A. is scheduled to make its proposals next week. Officials said yesterday that they had no point-by-point response to the union presentation. ÿI am confident that this round of bargaining will be successful for all concerned,ÿ Mr. Kalikow said.þþþ
Source: NY Times
