Despite Anger, Strike Pain Curbs TWU Itch for Action

THE ONE, TWO PUNCH: Transit workers gathered for a second “Day of Outrage” against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s legal challenge to a contract arbitration award granting 11-percent raises over three years. Transport Workers Union Local 100 members rallied in downtown Brooklyn last week and marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. Subway Car Cleaner Raymond Burke stood outside Brooklyn Supreme Court Oct. 28 with a sign carrying a message that defied the conventional wisdom: The three-day transit strike of 2005 was not illegal.

The way Mr. Burke saw it, the state’s Taylor Law forbids public-sector unions from asserting the right to strike if the employer is bargaining in good faith. Since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York City Transit stopped acting in good faith that December, he said during Transport Workers Union Local 100’s second “Day of Outrage,” the work stoppage was not a cut-and-dry case of illegality.

NOT AN OFFICIAL MESSAGE: While TWU Local 100 leadership has reiterated that it will not organize any work slowdowns, some protesters at last week’s rally believed it was time for the union to take action that would affect transit service. Job actions by public-sector workers are illegal under the state’s Taylor Law. Not Heading for Barricades

Be that as it may, like many transit workers upset by the MTA’s decision to legally challenge a contract arbitration award granting Local 100 members 11-percent raises over 3 years, he was reluctant to say that onthe job actions, such as work-to-rule service slowdowns, were necessary as the next step in the battle against the MTA for their raises.

“I don’t think that we need to strike, I think that what we need to do is follow the process right now, because what they’re trying to appeal we won in binding arbitration,” said the 24- year NYC Transit veteran, standing with 300 other union members. “If [the union wants] to incur the wrath, you know, what’s going to end up happening is that they are going to get sued.”

Mr. Burke, like many union leaders and labor experts, believes that a judge will eventually rule in the union’s favor, because the threshold for overturning a binding arbitration decision is so high; as the raises are close to the pattern set for other city workers, it is difficult for the MTA to argue that the terms of the deal are arbitrary and capricious. But Mr. Burke said that the rallies Local 100 has been leading for the last two months are still necessary.

“We’re holding rallies like this to force the people to keep the ball in motion,” he said. “Every contract that we have ever had during my tenure has been late. We’ve gotten massive retroactive checks in the past. This is nothing new for us.”

Station Agent Troy Paris agreed that the money will come through eventually.

Says MTA Will ‘Drag It Out’

“To me it’s already a done deal,” he said. “It’s in the courts. They’re going to let the money collect interest and then pay us with the interest. I see them dragging it out for another six months.”

But other members believed the time for rallies was over.

“It needs to get stronger,” said one Bus Maintainer, who identified himself only as Robert.

Another member, based at the Manhattanville Depot, held a sign saying

No Raise = No Bus, No Trains.” When asked further about his views, a rally organizer intervened and explained that he did not represent the views of the union and told the member to stop displaying the sign.

Bus Maintainer Jimmy Fitzsimmons explained that even actions such as work-to-rule slowdowns, which are not clear violations of the Taylor Law, were too risky. After the union went on strike in 2005, it lost automatic dues check-off for more than 17 months.

‘Taylor Law Ties Our Hands’

“They should abolish the Taylor Law, because it’s like extortion,” he said. “Our hands are pretty much tied with the Taylor Law.”

The union’s leadership has repeatedly denied claims that it is organizing work slowdowns on buses and trains. In an interview with WBAI Evening News the same day, Local 100 Acting President Curtis Tate said that the MTA’s legal challenge had spurred activism among union members, giving them more energy to organize at the MTA, but also said that the situation would have no impact on transit service.

At last week’s rally, in addition to other unions representing MTA workers, a delegation from the United Federation of Teachers joined in support.

“We’re worried in the UFT about a dangerous precedent being set,” said Geof Sorkin, an education liaison for the union. “We’re showing our unity because we’re all standing together. We’re all middle-class New Yorkers.”