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'We mean business': MTA's largest union starts contract negotiations
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Apr 17, 2023
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By
Stephen Nessen
Published Apr 17, 2023
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Contract negotiations kicked off Monday between the MTA and Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents a majority of the agency’s workforce.
Local 100 President Richard Davis said he gave the union’s demands to MTA leadership, which he said include wage increases that align with inflation as well as improved health care and mental health benefits. The union also wants the MTA to support state legislation that would lift a cap on overtime pay for some transit workers.
“We deserve a fair contract. We mean business. Our time is now,” Davis wrote in a statement. “When most of NYC was isolated at home, we were on the job, moving essential workers, keeping the hospitals open and staffed, ensuring the food supply chain was functioning so families could put food on the table.”
The current three-year contract between Local 100 and the MTA expires on May 15. The union represents roughly 40,000 subway and bus workers in the city, but is banned by state law from going on strike.
Davis warned the MTA should not “nickel and dime” transit workers, and pointed to data from the union that shows at least 110 of its members died of COVID.
After pressure from Local 100 leaders, the MTA board in 2020 approved a $500,000 lump-sum benefit for the families of workers who died of COVID, as well as three years of health coverage for their spouses and dependents.
The start of negotiations come as lawmakers in Albany are yet to finalize a state budget, which MTA officials said must allocate an additional $600 million for the agency this year to to balance its books.
The MTA has repeatedly warned that if Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature fail to fill the budget gap this year — and an expected $1.2 billion deficit next year — service and job cuts will be necessary.
Hochul earlier this year proposed to fill the gap through an increase to the payroll mobility tax, which pulls from the payrolls of employers in New York City, Long Island and parts of the Hudson Valley. She also called for the city to kick in an extra $500 million a year for the MTA, a proposal Mayor Eric Adams has publicly opposed.
“Safe, reliable and affordable mass transit is critical to the success of the region and that is why we are working hard in Albany to make sure it’s fully funded," said MTA spokesperson Shanifah Rieara. "We have a terrific workforce and look forward to productive discussions with our labor partners on a range of topics that can make transit work better for New Yorkers.”
The MTA in December approved its budget for 2023, which included a 2% pay increase for workers. If the pay increase negotiated with Local 100 ends up being higher, “this means more money will be needed from Albany,” said Rachael Fauss, a senior analyst at the good government group Reinvent Albany.
“Both the contract negotiations and the timing of the state budget point to the MTA's budget being as much a political document as a spending or revenue plan,” Fauss said.
Watchdogs at the Citizens Budget Commission suggested in a 2021 report the MTA could find $2.9 billion in “recurring annual savings” through labor changes, like allowing one worker to operate subway trains rather than two.
The MTA has pledged to find $100 million in “operating efficiencies” this year, which would increase to $416 million a year by 2026. The MTA board also plans to raise transit fares by at least 5.5% this year.
Local 100’s previous contract with the MTA expired in May 2019, and the union didn’t come to a new deal with the agency until December of that year.
Tagged
new york city
Politics
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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