MTA layoffs nixed under relief rules

A bipartisan stimulus agreement struck in Congress over the weekend includes $4 billion in COVID-19 relief funding for the MTA — but also comes with a provision that prohibits the agency from cutting its rank-and-file staff.

In order to receive the money, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority must certify all of the funding will go toward its payroll and will not coincide with any layoffs, according to the legislation agreed upon by congressional leaders and pending approval Monday by the House and Senate.

The MTA is the only transit agency in the nation to have a no-layoff stipulation tied to its relief funding. That’s in part because the MTA is set to receive about 28% of the $14 billion earmarked for American transit agencies through the bill.

Congress also signed off on $4 billion for the MTA in March through the CARES Act, but that money came without a ban on layoffs or strict rules that required it to go straight to the agency’s payroll.

“The worker protections in this stimulus deal is a testament to the power [of] the trade union movement,” said Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen. “Do you think the Democrats would have done this without us? It’s impossible.”

MTA officials have for months warned they’d be forced to lay off more than 9,300 workers and slash the city’s bus and subway service by 40% without immediate federal relief. The pandemic has over the past nine months caused mass transit ridership and local tax subsidies to plummet, which has in turn cratered the agency’s finances.

MTA Chairman Patrick Foye said Monday the relief money would keep prevent those layoffs or service cuts for the rest of 2021 — but warned the agency needs another $8 billion in the coming years to plug its deficits.

“Had we not gotten this federal aid ... we would have been faced with a situation where our hand would have been forced,” Foye said during an interview on NPR. “Having said that, we still face massive deficits in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.”

Samuelsen said the MTA shouldn’t expect annual handouts from the federal government — and pushed state officials to establish other taxes like a surcharge on stock transfers to pay the MTA’s bills for the long term.

“There’s an absolute need for new streams of revenue at the MTA,” said Samuelsen. “The $4 billion is enough to get through 2021, but it’s not good enough.”