Any head of the MTA will inevitably have to work with the city’s various transit labor unions. To that end, Jay Walder is no novice. While at Transpot for London, he constantly interacted with labor unions more prone to strikes than ours are, and many observers and labor proponents in London wonder if Walder is up for the job.
Pete Donohue in The Daily News yesterday had more:
Bus and subway workers could be in for a bumpy ride if former London transit chief Jay Walder becomes MTA chairman, a London labor leader warned Tuesday. Walder pushed for work-rule and job-assignment changes contrary to contracts with London’s subway and bus workers, British labor leader Bob Crow told the Daily News. He was a behind-the-scenes figure who had the ear of former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, said Crow, head of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.
“I predict there will big problems with labor at the MTA as a result of his appointment,” Crow said. “He believed the contracts with our members were too restrictive to run the system efficiently. He wanted the workforce to be at the beck and call of management.”
…Longtime union activist John Samuelsen, who is running for Local 100 President, said he has consulted with Crow about Walder and his work in London.
“He didn’t strike me as anti-union, but he certainly was surprised at the antiquated methods of operation on the Underground and no doubt the duplication of roles and the way staff can certainly spend some time not doing anything at all,” Dick Murray, transport reporter for the London Evening Standard, said of Walder.
Since the 2005 transit strike, the MTA and its various unions have reached an uneasy truce. Many union members feel the authority doesn’t do enough while some transit advocates believe the labor deals are the main force behind the MTA’s unsteady finances.
No matter the reality of that situation, Walder will have to both confront and work with the transit labor officials. It is just another task on the growing list of challenges the new MTA Chair must confront.