New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Talks between the union representing transit workers at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were set to continue on Tuesday, a day after the three-year contract between the two parties expired.
Transport Workers Union Local 100 has rejected a proposal freezing wages for three years starting this year, demanding that wages keep pace with inflation.
Hundreds of workers marked Martin Luther King day on Monday with a rally outside the Sheraton Hotel, where negotiations between MTA officials and union president John Samuelsen were underway.
The MTA has implemented cost-cutting measures in the past two years, laying off workers, raising fares and cutting service under a legislative rescue package designed to close a budget gap caused by the weak economy.
The cost-cutting is expected to save $3.8 billion by 2014, savings the MTA, the biggest transport system in North America, has said will prevent further toll hikes this year.
The Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation, the two largest state unions in New York, each ratified a contract last year that similarly froze wage increases for three years.
Apart from a wage freeze, the MTA wants workers to pay more for health benefits, including 10 percent of insurance premiums, to agree to five unpaid furlough days in the first two years and policies limiting sick days and overtime.
In addition, the MTA plans to rely on part-time employees for some of its operations.
The union has called the demands “non-starters.” Last week, it added the reinstatement of 100 laid off transit workers to its list of demands.
“State employees accepted furloughs as an alternative to layoffs, whereas transit workers already took the layoffs,” the union said in a statement last week. “These giveback demands do not take account of the real conditions and real history of transit.”
Samuelsen used far more colorful language on Sunday, according to local reports quoting his remarks. But in a late Monday night update, the union assured it would continue with talks.
“Tentative progress has been made,” it said, citing issues such as sanitary facilities for women workers and promotion opportunities for trainees. “We do not intend to walk away from the table until we have a fair contract in hand.”
The union did not disclose details of the negotiations. According to the New York Daily News, Samuelsen has told the MTA he is open to wage hikes as low as 1 percent.
The union represents 38,000 workers in New York City who operate trains and buses, man token booths, clean platforms and maintain tracks.
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