“The working class needs better health care, wages, and retirement.”
New York transit workers discuss issues in contract battle
By
a WSWS reporting team
9 January 2017
New York City transit workers attending the mass membership meeting at Madison Square Garden Saturday spoke with the World Socialist Web Site about the issues in their contract fight. The current five-year labor agreement, which covers 34,000 subway, bus and other transit workers, expires on Sunday, January 15. A report on the meeting can be found here.
Jose, a car equipment inspector with five years, told the WSWS, “The last contract was eight percent over five years. What we got should have been more. With the minimum wage up to $11 dollars an hour, that is close to us, and we should be getting more. I hope we get a 15 or 16 percent raise this time.
“Nothing happened for two-and-a-half years after the last contract expired. [Transport Workers Union President John] Samuelson was just saying ‘no’ to three bad offers. I don’t agree with doing nothing for two-and-a-half years after our contract ends. We waited so long last time that we, the transit workers, got screwed. This time around we should do something now and get more.
“I don’t agree with Samuelson saying we should get just a little more than two percent. He should speak up for what we want. I don’t think we are on the side of Cuomo, but last time Samuelson praised and called on Cuomo to give us a contract.
“Samuelson will not do anything on January 15 when our contract runs out. This leaves us out in the cold. We have no one to speak for us.
“I think Trump’s election is worse for us, and we are going to have to struggle harder. I think we should do something like that, uniting the whole working class, and come…