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Local 100 Revamps Private Bus Lines;
More Divisions
Local 100 Revamps Private Bus
Lines
Three Divisions The executive board decided that Private Lines will have three divisions: school buses and paratransit, the former private lines now known as Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bus, and private companies whose workers are represented by Local 100. "Each will have an elected Division Chair and Division Committee," wrote Mr. Toussaint. "The change will also require changing the Local 100 By-Laws. We have started this process." Neil Winberry, a Queens-based Bus Operator who served as division vice president until December of 2006, was pleased by the change but insisted that he proposed the move in 2004. "The restructuring needed to be done badly," he said. "This division is the most complex division because of the different varieties of transportation we're dealing with here." The situation is dire, he added, because the division is currently without a contract and without a vice president. He speculated that Mr. Toussaint announced the change in order to win the favor of division members. Mr. Winberry ran for re-election on Mr. Toussaint's slate, but was defeated by Rod Bailey, who ran on the opposition Rail and Bus slate. In April, Mr. Bailey left the bargaining unit to take a management position, leaving a vacancy. "I think it's because of the political turmoil - the Private Lines Division not having a contract and us being dissatisfied with the leadership," he said of the executive board's decision to restructure the division. Confronted Sander Private Lines drivers held a rally at the MTA's rodeo at Belmont Racetrack July 14, protesting the lack of a contract. According to Joe Sexton, chairman of the Queens Division, the workers made enough of a scene to get the attention of MTA Executive Director and CEO Elliot G. Sander, who spoke with the workers about the stasis in contract negotiations. "It was a real home run," said Mr. Sexton. As John Day, a Bus Operator in Queens, explained, MTA Bus is offering a contract that would pay, overall, a Private Lines Bus Operator 3.9 percent less than a TA Surface or Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority driver. "That's a major problem for us," he said, calling it a $13-million giveback to MTA Bus. He was outraged at the idea that Private Lines drivers would have to contribute 1.5 percent of their pay for health coverage, which members working for NYC Transit already do under the current contract. "We're not even going to make the same as TA and [MaBSTOA] drivers," Mr. Day said. Health Care Concern Members are also worried, he said, that they would lose the ability to keep their children on union health benefits if they are between 19 and 24 years of age and in college. Until last year, MTA Bus paid $82 per year of service for a worker's pension, which they can receive at age 57 if they have 20 years of service, he explained, but management wants to change this to $105 per year if they retire at age 61. "That's garbage," Mr. Day said. Mr. Day was the runner-up in the last vice presidential election, running on the opposition Fresh Start slate. Local 100 also opened a new Private Lines Division office in Yonkers with Gil Bobe as its appointed head. "It puts union representation and union services where they belong," Mr. Toussaint wrote. "You will be seeing these union reps on the job. Complaints will be processed faster." Wants New Election In addition to resolving the contract issues, Mr. Winberry believed that in restructuring the division, Local 100 should immediately hold an election for division vice president, something he petitioned for last month. Mr. Winberry, who has declined to say whether he would seek the job, planned to raise the issue at a general membership meeting for the division in Queens July 20. "I'm going to keep emphasizing an election," he said. "The democracy of the union should be followed through." |
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