DC 37 'Transit' Members Caught in TWU Fallout

BEHROUZ FATHI: 'Playing hardball with us.'

District Council 37 Local 375 has filed an improper practice charge against New York City Transit for failing to honor a longstanding practice of giving Local 375 members it employs the same raises DC 37 negotiated for municipal workers. Instead, the authority has tied the raises to the Transport Workers Union Local 100 contract, which it is now challenging in court.

Behrouz Fathi, president of Local 375's Chapter 2 representing NYC Transit members, explained that in previous years wage increases for DC 37 members in the authority—which are effective in early spring—were tied to the general contract the union had with the city, but in January NYC Transit President Howard H. Roberts told the union it would instead link yearly wage hikes to those under the Local 100 contract.

Court Battle's Collateral Damage

The Local 100 pact expired that month, and the two parties declared an impasse in negotiations and took it to binding arbitration. An award was issued last month granting workers 11-percent raises over three years, which NYC Transit's parent agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is challenging in court.

"This is very new for us in here to make a link between the two contracts, which [have been] very independent from each other," Mr. Fathi said. "We were hopeful that after the arbitration decision that they would grant our wage increase, but apparently it goes into the court process and that's why they are not releasing our wage increase."

Brings Charge Against MTA

The union filed a complaint against the MTA this month with the Public Employment Relations Board, arguing that during this delay the agency is "refusing to engage in good-faith bargaining over the terms of the successor economic agreement."

"The point is that they are obligated to sit with us and negotiate with us and tell us what they want, and they have not," Mr. Fathi said. "Seven, eight months have passed and they have not sat with us."

Local 375, also known as the Civil Service Technical Guild, represents 1,100 workers at NYC Transit. Mr. Fathi said that the lack of a raise in 2009 is causing an economic hardship for the chapter's members. He noted that the chapter has urged DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts to press the issue more vigorously.

"The members mostly they are not happy [about] the situation, although they understand the general economic situation, but Transit and the MTA have not declared bankruptcy," he said. "Apparently there is money for distribution, but they are playing hardball with us."