1. Each Year, a Real Cut in Our Wages
Every Local 100 member should know Utano & Co. are lying when they
say their proposed contract will raise our wages above inflation. The truth is
that unless we vote No and fight for a better deal, this proposed contract
means a real cut in our take home pay.
We all know from our experience of daily life that the cost of living is
rising faster than what the rigged official figures say. Heck, the average cost
of auto insurance in New York City increased 24% this year!* And as for the
most basic expenses, Con Edison, for example, just announced that they’re
raising the price of gas and electricity by 7.7% and 4% respectively this
January, with even bigger hikes in the following years, and you can bet
businesses will pass those increased expenses onto consumers.**
This contract gives some Departments special wage increases and other
sweeteners to divide and conquer Local 100 members. We must reject this, stay
united and vote NO!
* ‘Car Insurance
Rates by State 2019,’ Insure.com, www.insure.com/car-insurance/car-insurance-rates.html.
** ‘Con Ed on verge
of three-year rate hike,’ NY Daily News, Dec. 9, www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-con-edison-rate-hike-20191209-digfaf6fhffazioypz4tf2xlqq-story.html.
2. Major Health Care Givebacks including
a new $100 Emergency Room Co-Pay and big increases in prescription drug co-pays!
3. The Stations Department Agreement opens the door to layoffs
of Station Agents and invites unsafe work and speed-up for all
members!
Station Agents are the members facing the most dire threat of layoff and
they are the ones that this contract does not protect with a No-Layoff clause.
And the contract’s approval of the continued use of private contractors’
non-union labor in the deep cleaning of Stations sets up Local 100 cleaners to
be pressured to accept unsafe conditions and harder work than ever before.
4. The LIRR “Me Too Clause” is an empty
lie!
We all know that LIRR workers earn much more than MTA workers for doing
the same, if not easier, work. This contract does nothing to close that gap.
The leadership’s Vote Yes propaganda claims they won a real “Me Too clause”
that would see our wages rise at the same rate as LIRR workers if they win a
better deal. But in reality the contract only states that “this Agreement shall
reopen” if that’s the case – there’s no guarantee, and the MTA has no intention
of giving LIRR workers a better deal anyway.
5. The “Group Employee Availability
Initiative”
The proposed contract states that “the parties anticipate that at least
a one and a half day improvement in Employee Availability will be achieved. For
each additional improvement above one day in Overall Employee Availability the
union and the MTA will share equally in the savings as they shall each
determine.” This gives the union leadership a direct financial incentive to
encourage union members to work as many days as possible, even if sick or
injured, to help the MTA bosses!
A competent union leadership would tell the MTA that if they are concerned
about Employee Availability they should agree to contract terms that guarantee
safer working conditions with guaranteed breaks and better healthcare, and they
should end the “Plantation Justice” Labor Relations system that unfairly
punishes transit workers.
6. Health and Safety
The entire section on Health and Safety says: “Local 100 will be
notified, in advance, of the introduction of all chemicals and or tools before
these items are used.” That means there are no guarantees that the union will
be able to approve or reject the introduction of new and possibly dangerous
chemicals or tools. This, in the wake of the discovery that a Bus Depot in East
New York was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos for decades! This, from union
leaders who allowed the work of Cleaners to be outsourced to private non-union
contractors using dangerous chemicals and methods that have never been used
before in the history of NYC transit!
We shouldn’t be surprised that this is the level of “commitment” to
safety from union leaders who have long been in bed with Management. Remember,
for example, that President Utano and MOW VP John Chiarello refused to lift a
finger to force Management to remove loose rail and other debris from elevated track
throughout the system that later fell and nearly killed pedestrians in a number
of incidents. Utano and Chiarello also refused for months to take any action to
force Management to repair broken and warped catwalk areas that could have
killed union members. They even admitted they refused to do anything out of
spite because Local 100 Fightback publicized these conditions instead of
begging them privately for action!
7. The empty words
of a “Labor-Management Committee to discuss potential set-aside work for pregnant
women and disabled workers.”
We need contractual guarantees providing members who are pregnant or
disabled with safe work positions. It’s not complicated. The MTA is in violation
of any standard of “reasonable accommodation” for these members. They have been
sued successfully in court and the union is currently suing them over this
exact issue. How could Utano & Co. bring us another contract that fails to
solve this? Not to mention the gross corruption that is going unaddressed where
MTA Management has for decades violated NYS Civil service law by hiring people
by resumé. Similarly unchecked will be MTA Managers’ rewarding friends, family
members and sexual partners with light duty assignments while forcing injured
workers into unemployment by claiming no light duty assignments were available
in their title.
8. New York Paid Family Leave
The proposed contract states that “As soon
as practicable … members will be eligible for NYS Paid Family Leave. Employers
to deduct statutory amounts from wages (as capped by law). Parties to form
Joint Labor Management Committee to discuss issues related to interplay between
NYS Paid Family Leave and contractual entitlements/FMLA, which will precede
implementation.” But the union isn’t explaining how much members could see
deducted from their paychecks, and the contract offers no protections from
management pushing to take away existing benefits. Members will be denied the
democratic right to vote on those specifics and are expected to trust what the
Local 100 leadership agrees to.
9. Car Equipment Productivity Committee
This is Management-speak for more work for the same or less money. More
job duties added to job titles with no increase in pay. And more work done by fewer
workers always leads to job cuts!
10. What Gains for RTO?
The two most important “gains” that our RTO leadership is saying they won
are subject to further negotiations or are the subject of some Committee that
hasn't even been created yet:
- The RTO cellphone policy language patterned on the policy in Busses is not written yet and is subject to further meetings;
- The RTO Disciplinary changes they are bragging about are also subject to further negotiations.
This is not how you negotiate contract language. Everything has to be
spelled out in detail or we can’t hold Management to anything! Are we really
supposed to trust our union officers that they will get the language right? And
as with all of these side agreements and negotiations with Management, if this
Contract passes RTO members will not get a vote on what they come up with.
Then there’s the agreement to create a “Standing Grievance and
Discipline Committee,” with 2 union and 2 management appointees, “to address
areas of concern regarding the Grievance and Discipline process.” “Any changes
with regard to Contractual procedures will require mutual agreement in writing
in order to be effective” This means that management will be able to veto any
changes and 4 people will decide what they think are fair changes to the
Discipline and Grievance process for nearly 40,000 transit workers. We will not
have a chance to vote on any of these changes until the next contract. This
denies us some of our most basic rights as union members.
What’s at Stake in
this Contract Vote?
The Utano leadership showed throughout these contract negotiations they
want union members kept on the sidelines, passively accepting whatever deals they make
with the MTA bosses and Governor Cuomo behind our backs. They have done
everything possible to silence the membership and even had to be dragged
kicking and screaming by the members into calling a single contract rally that
they tried for avoid for 5½ months.
Utano & Co. did nothing during that time to encourage members to
take action to enforce their contractual rights and shut down unsafe work.
Members who did organize to do that were abandoned by their elected RTO leaders
under orders from Tony Utano! When members in multiple departments banded
together to organize a transit worker unity rally at 2 Broadway and take on the
MTA Board directly, their union leadership called them “unelected troublemakers”
and encouraged workers not to attend.
A Yes vote will mean real cuts in our wages, hikes in our health
insurance costs, job cuts and more unsafe work. What’s more, Utano & Co.
will claim that a Yes vote shows support for their undemocratic, sellout
leadership and its continued collaboration with Cuomo and MTA management's
attacks on our union and every other working-class person in this city.
Vote NO on Utano, Cuomo, and MTA Management’s
Wage-Cutting, Giveback Contract! And let’s continue the work of building a
new leadership for our union.
