9.8% lift in transit deal
The city’s largest transit worker union scored a decent set of pay bumps in a tentative deal with the MTA, officials said Thursday.
The proposed contract between the agency and Transport Workers Union Local 100 announced Wednesday is a four-year deal that will last into 2023, and comes with a 2% raise for workers in 2019, a 2.25% increase in 2020, a 2.5% incresae in 2021 and a 2.75% increase in 2022.
By the time the contract expires, workers will be making 9.8% more than their current pay.
The previous contract between the two sides expired on May 15. Workers will receive the 2% pay increase for 2019 retroactively.
Bus drivers who operate long articulated buses will also get a $1-per-hour raise.
Health care premiums for workers won’t go up under the deal, but their coverage will change some.
The proposed contract includes higher co-pays for emergency room visits and nongeneric drugs. Those health care changes will save the agency about $27 million each year, the MTA said.
The MTA agreed to a nolayoff clause for its station and train car cleaners — a point of contention in the contract since the agency spent $9.5 million on private companies to “deep clean” 106 stations and 3,000 train cars earlier this year.
Local 100 agreed to allow the outside vendors to clean another 180 subway stations.
The union signed a memorandum of understanding with the MTA that the two sides would work in good faith to increase worker availability by 1.5 days per year. Agency data shows that transit workers missed an average of 54 days last year, which includes vacation days, sick days and time off due to workplace injuries.
The deal also includes a provision that allows workers to trade shifts, which MTA spokesman Ken Lovett said will help reduce overtime costs.
The MTA estimates the availability improvements will save another $17 million per year.
Local 100’s executive board approved the contract Thursday morning by a vote of 42-4 with three abstentions. The deal will go to the union’s roughly 37,000 rankand-file members for a vote, which will be conducted via mail-in ballots. The union expects to release the results in early January, said Local 100 spokesman Pete Donohue.
The proposed contract is nearly twice as long as the previous one between the MTA and Local 100, which was a 28-month deal that gave workers 2.5% annual raises and a $500 bonus in its final two months.
“We had a real fight on our hands, but transit workers stood together and we were able to secure a fair contract,” Local 100 President Tony Utano (photo) said.