TWU Sticker Shock

The Daily News reported Feb. 6 that Transport Workers' Union Local 100 officials believe that members are so dismayed by the wage offer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in the wake of the rejection of a tentative contract that they say a new vote on the rejected terms would produce easy ratification.

Local 100 wants to see whether the MTA would agree to the old terms before holding the vote, but management is offering no indication as to how it would react.

Union members have no reason to be stunned that the new MTA offer makes the old deal seem a lot better: as we've noted before, there is a powerful disincentive to sweeten the pot if an initial contract is voted down. That is why union members should only reject a tentative deal if they think it is truly bad; not because they find it a shade worse than what they had hoped for.