“We should take a stand and reject this contract”
New York transit workers denounce sellout agreement
By
a WSWS reporting team
20 January 2017
New York transit workers reacted with dissatisfaction and anger over the tentative settlement worked out between Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The agreement, which covers about 38,000 bus and subway workers, was reached Monday, hours after the old contract expired on January 15.
One of the complaints of workers is that the union is urging them to vote ‘yes’ on a contract that they have not even seen. Instead the TWU has circulated a “highlights” document that presents the deal in the best light. What little has been revealed, however, includes an insulting annual wage increase of 2.14 percent over the 28-month contract. This is a mere 0.14 percent more than what the MTA budgeted for employee raises. The increase would do nothing to reverse the fall in real wages workers have suffered due to the concessions the union has accepted for decades.
In 2012, the TWU pushed through a five-year contract that increased worker contributions to health benefits and lengthened the time new employees must work to reach top pay from three years to five years. These concessions remain, along with substandard pension plans for newer workers despite the union’s claims that it would “Fix Tier 6.”
A World Socialist Web Site reporting team spoke with transit workers in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. Alec is a car maintenance inspector who complained about the TWU local and its relationship with Democratic Governor Cuomo, whom the union endorsed in the last election
“I don’t know why the contract runs for 28 months. That is weird, and the union…