Health Payments Key Issue
Paratransit Strike in 2nd Week

By ARI PAUL

Drivers for Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Paratransit, which provides transport for the disabled and elderly, went on strike Dec. 10, demanding higher wages without increases in employee contributions for health-care premiums.

The Chief-Leader/Eric Weiss ON STRIKE: Drivers for MV Transportation, one of the four Paratransit companies contracting with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, rallied outside the company's Brooklyn headquarters last week. Workers have been on strike since Dec. 10, saying that they want higher wages and no increases in employee contributions to health benefits.

As this newspaper went to press a week later, talks between the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 and the four companies involved were on hold. The two sides returned to the bargaining table Dec. 17, the union announced.

The four companies affected are Maggie's Paratransit Corporation, Atlantic, MV Transportation and the Transit Facility Management Corporation. Access-A-Ride was still operating. Service to clients in the paratransit system has been off by more than 30 percent.

'Passengers Back Us'

"The passengers, they support us 100 percent," said Alex Santos, a striking Maggie's Paratransit driver, adding that customers knew since September that there was the likelihood of a strike. "There's probably only a few that don't."

The union and the companies had previously reached a tentative contract but it was rejected by the 1,500-member bargaining unit in two separate votes.

Since 1997 the drivers had paid $15 per week, 40 weeks per year, in health-care premiums, said Jeff Pollack, management's chief negotiator. That would increase to $20 per week, 52 weeks per year, starting in 2009 under management's proposal, and jump to $25 weekly in 2011.

He said that management offered workers bonuses and increases in a 401(k) plan.

"It's always two issues: wages and health care," Mr. Pollack said. "In this particular case, I believe health care is the driving one here."

Management representatives insisted that they have offered all they can to the workers and will not consider making any more monetary concessions. While the companies contract with the MTA, the workers are considered private-sector employees and are not barred from striking under the state's Taylor Law.

Diane Williams, a driver with MV Paratransit, said that workers did not want to strike but believed they had to in order to secure a living wage. She also complained that the union's leadership did not inform workers how to handle the strike. Local 1181 held an informational meeting about the work stoppage two days before workers walked off the job.

A statement from New York City Transit Dec. 13 said, "Paratransit providers were able to accept reservations for approximately 68 percent of the trips requested on a normal Thursday. While a normal Thursday sees in excess of 18,500 trips, today Access-A-Ride booked 12,216 trips."

Strikers' 'Heavy Heart'

Local 1181 Trustee Tommy Mullins said while the strike was justified, the workers sympathized with the inconvenienced riders.

"We made this decision with a very heavy heart," said Mr. Mullins. "They are very compassionate about the customers that they transport, but they have to look out for their own families."