Benefits Drive Transit Talks

Workers Urge Improvements

Benefits Drive Transit Talks 

 

Transport Workers' Union Local 100 held informational pickets Nov. 15 to mark the beginning of a 30day countdown to the end of contract negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane MAN ON THE MOVE: Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Ed Watt (right foreground) toured four boroughs Nov. 15 to visit subway yards and bus depots that were holding informational pickets as a show of union strength. He closed out a whirlwind day at his old workplace, the Jackie Gleason Depot in Sunset Park. Local 100 members were out in force at subway yards and bus depots, brandishing signs calling for better health care and pensions, and wearing blue and white T-shirts emblazoned with the TWU logo.

Benefits Battleground

The union leadership has been in contract talks with the MTA since Oct. 15 and has published several membership updates indicating the agency is pressing for more leeway to broadband titles and cut its pension and health-care costs by demanding higher worker contributions.

The MTA also wants to create a pension tier for new hires that would prohibit retirement until age 62, according to the union. NYC Transit officials didn't return calls for comment.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane ROUGH RIDE DOWN MOMMY TRACK: Bus Operator Cherie Fahie (center) says pregnant transit workers have to use up their sick days and comp days to cover maternity leave, a policy that's particularly hard on new hires who haven't accrued much time on the job. Transit workers who were interviewed said inadequate pension coverage and rising health-care costs were their primary concerns.

"I live in New Jersey, and it used to be that we would have a choice between GHI and HIP, that's what our contract promises," said Charles Pardee, a Bus Operator who demonstrated last week outside the Jackie Gleason depot in Sunset Park. He was referring to the two most popular health plans among union members, Group Health Incorporated and the Health Insurance Plan of New York.

"HIP no longer covers New Jersey, and while new hires get to choose between GHI and Aetna, I don't get that option," he said. "I either use GHI or nothing, and GHI in New Jersey doesn't get you a heck of a lot."

Another Bus Operator, Steve Woolsey, said he's fearful of what will happen when he retires as planned next year.

Coverage Gap

"I have no real health coverage until Medicaid kicks in for me. I'm retiring at 57, so that's kind of a big gap," he said. "Transit does offer HIP, but only if you stay in-state, and I was planning to retire and head south."

The approximately 100 Bus Operators who demonstrated at Jackie Gleason Depot, like other MTA employees at the Coney Island Yard, the 207th Street depot, and the 126th Street depot, carried signs saying, "No Outsourcing!" and "Rider and Worker Safety First!"

But the most prominent sign by far was for "20/50," a reference to transit workers desire to change MTA retirement regulations so they can qualify for full pension after 20 years of continuous service if they have reached age 50. Currently, employees qualify after 25 years' service if they are 55 or older.

Cites Health Linkage

"We would like to get out a little earlier because sometimes your health really goes downhill the longer you stay on the job," said Paul SanFilippo, a Bus Operator. "And if we don't get better health coverage during retirement, half our pension checks will go for our medical bills. I don't care if you have the best pension plan in the world, if you can't afford to pay for your medications or treatments, you can't retire."

Some of the female Bus Operators in the crowd were calling for safer bathrooms they could use on their routes, stating that they were often forced to find facilities in dangerous and unsanitary places. They also complained bitterly about the lack of maternity leave, which was not covered under the last contract.

Women must use up their sick leave, vacation days or comp time, which Bus Operator Cheri Fahie said often denied new mothers enough time at home, especially if they were recent hires.

Their Own Horn Section

The crowd of Local 100 workers got plenty of help making noise. Cars, MTA buses, ambulances, private trucks, a ConEd vehicle - even a police car - all honked loudly as they zipped under an overhanging string of Christmas lights that spelled out Sunset Park at the intersection of 36th St. and Fifth Ave.

Depot Chairman J.P. Patafio, one of many Local 100 officers at the demonstration, applauded the community for its staunch support of transit workers.

"We work hard to get people where they need to go, and I think the citizens understand pretty well that we're out here in their interests as well as our own," he said, as an MTA bus crested the street rise near the depot.

"Honk it if you want a raise," Mr. Patafio shouted, setting off a crescendo of horns from the bus and cars stopped at the red light.

Despite the large turnout at most yards, it was not the day of perfect union solidarity that Local 100 President Roger Toussaint wanted.

A few days earlier he issued a memo to Barry Roberts, vice president of Local 100's Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority division, Mike Tutrone, a division chairman, and Brian Clarke, another division chairman, accusing them of trying to organize against the planned demonstrations.

'Embarrassing Us'

"I have received reliable reports that each of you have told [Operating Authority] Division Officers and members not to participate in the planned Nov. 15 Day of Protest and Solidarity," Mr. Toussaint wrote. "These reports were confirmed from multiple sources including Officers who are upset at being placed in such an outrageous situation given these critical times of our contract negotiations. This [day of action] was designed to send a message to the MTA and the TA brass. You apparently decided to reverse course and aim that day instead at embarrassing our union! Whom does that serve? Our members? Or management?"

Mr. Toussaint said he convened a special meeting more than a month ago with all OA Officers, including Mr. Roberts, Mr. Tutrone, and Mr. Clarke, to discuss the importance of having a united front for the contract talks.

Mr. Roberts didn't return calls for comment. The three men Nov. 18 responded to Mr. Toussaint's memo with one of their own.

"We want to make it very clear that we did not 'boycott' the Nov. 15 day of action event. We were in fact by-passed by your administration," said the letter. "Your hand-picked staff went on OA properties without even discussing with the Local 100 Vice President and his Division officers what their agenda was, or when, where or what they were going to say to OA members! We certainly were the ones being boycotted by your administration, and have been for some time."

Denies Move to Undercut

William Pelletier, Vice President of TA Surface, said he was unaware of any attempt to undercut Mr. Toussaint's authority or the impact of the day of action.

"I was in Flatbush, participating with the Maintenance demonstration," he said. "But nobody approached me or said anything to me about encouraging members in TA or OA to skip events."

Mr. Pelletier, who is part of a dissident faction that sued Mr. Toussaint in January, said his group accepted a ceasefire offer while the contract is negotiated because "the membership is everything. At some point, all these people playing politics are going to have to stop. There's been no effort to undermine Mr. Toussaint. We stand behind him as we negotiate this contract." Local 100 plans to hold a variety of different events every Tuesday until Dec. 13, the last Tuesday before the contract deadline.