It was just a week and a half ago that the Transit Workers Union promised not to strike again. A new day had dawned for the MTA and its labor relations.
But as with all good things, it wasn’t meant to be. Over the weekend, Pete Donohue dropped a twin bombshell: The MTA may eliminate 600 token booth workers, and the agency would like to offer up raises of just 1.5 percent next year. The TWU, as anyone may imagine, was not too happy with this development.
First, the news about the station workers:
The MTA’s doomsday budget includes closing many subway token booths and eliminating the program that shifted some agents into stations to help riders, the Daily News has learned. Dozens of booths would be shuttered if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board approves the plan next month and implements it next year, a source familiar with the document said.
Also on the chopping block is the three-year-old Station Customer Assistant program that moved approximately 600 clerks out of their booths to help riders with MetroCard vending machines and directions, the source said…
Transit officials have said layoffs are on the table, but it’s unclear if those 600 or so agents would get pink slips or be redeployed.
The MTA has yet to comment on this issue, and it’s quite possible that this so-called “doomsday budget” never comes to pass. But hand in hand with this news was a retort from the TWU about a potentially lower-than-normal salary increase:
The cash-strapped MTA plans to help balance its books by skimping on raises for its workers next year, financial plans show. Agency bean counters predict the MTA can save $40 million by limiting 2009 raises for the Transit Workers Union to less than 1.5%.
“Their position is ridiculous, and it won’t happen,” TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint told the Daily News.
Toussaint, ever the politician, fired a salvo at the MTA over the Daily News’ unsourced report. “This is the first time they are putting into the public space, and into the airwaves, this type of garbage,” he said.
Personally, I’m not quite sure what the MTA stands to gain with the current red-vest station assistance program. While these workers lend subway stations a modicum of safety, the vast majority of reports have these employees refusing to offer assistance when asked, and of course, a good many of them seem to sleep on on the job.
Of course, the other side of the coin is a dangerous one. If the MTA upsets the TWU, things could get ugly in a hurry. We remember, not so fondly, the subway strike in 2005. A repeat of that dark time would be a bit disastrous for a city teetering on the brink of economic collapse.
Right now, though, the jury is still out. Later this week, we’ll know more about the MTA’s concrete proposals, and only then can we — and Roger Toussaint — really analyze the situation. Until then, we wait.
10 comments
A few responses: Time to break up these single union monopolies. What can we do to provide the TWU with competition? They need to be keep them in the realm of reality. The MTA has every right to discontinue a program that isn’t meeting expectations. 600 token booth clerks… in the age of the Metrocard, really? And I thought those wandering around in vests were maintenance crew. Finally, let’s remove those token booths and put in place retail stands – the entrepreneur who wants to sell the Daily News and tic-tacs will be much more friendly and helpful.
The whole point of unions is collective bargaining. If there are two unions, they’ll just compete in a race to the bottom, and the workers are as badly off as if they didn’t have any union.
Great article in yesterdays NY Post about the MTA and cutting jobs.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11162008…oat_138950.htm
Increased ridership shouldn’t equal increased marketing, advertising, clerical, and less front line employees that are actually involved with the railroad on a day to day basis.
I think Ray has some good points there, specifically about the unions. (As a compromise, can the clerks sell Tic-Tacs instead of tokens?)
However, this plan of shuttering token booths won’t fly. For every full-time booth that’s closed, you need to (1) replace the regular turnstiles with HEETS, which will likely take years and cost more than the clerk salaries, or (2) shutter the entrance, possibly creating a dangerous situation in an emergency evacuation. Some part-time booth entrances already have HEETs, so that might be an easier conversion.
We’ll see what happens as a result of the ABC News and subsequent Inspector General’s report on the situation (the link goes to Part 2 of the story). Maybe it’ll be just a scolding of the MTA, or maybe something dramatic will change. Wait and see….
I really wish someone explained to the American unions that the reason every non-union worker in America hates them is that they demand large pay raises in recession times.
It’s especially frustrating because in countries with stronger unions, this doesn’t happen. In the 1990s and early 00s, when Germany had weak growth, the unions held off on the strikes, waiting until Germany recovered from reunification to start demanding raises. Half of Germany’s economic prowess comes from having good union-business relationships, unlike the US and Britain (where business destroyed the private sector unions), and France and Italy (where people are either on strike or on vacation).
I really wish someone explained to the American unions that the reason every non-union worker in America hates them is that they demand large pay raises in recession times.
And “20 and out” retirement with full pension, and total job security even for workers who literally sleep the day away. YES. A couple of people in the last discussion about the snoozing workers really need to figure this out.
I’m completely pro-union and pro-labor, as long as the unions are willing to live and negotiate in the real world.
It’s the public sector, which is weird in general. You should compare unionized to non-unionized jobs within the same sector. Usually, unionized workers get paid more and get some more benefits, but it’s rarely that egregious. (However, one of the Broadway theater unions – I believe it’s the stagehands – somehow has gotten its members average salaries deep into the six figures.)
[…] Authority may save money is to eliminate 600 token booth workers, but they’ll do so with the possibility of another strike by the Transit Workers Union. [2nd Ave […]
[…] to the MTA’s “Doomsday plans.” The paper has run stories on the MTA’s potentially axing station agents and raising the base fare to […]
Well the 2005 Union strike was not so much about money,as it was about protecting benefits,pensions and both active and retiree healthcare,the union has very powerful button on the left that says nuclear and stike written under it,no matter anyone says about 2005 strike and people “walking”,I was in NYC at that time,and the city was in a sense shut down,it just basically stopped for 3 days,many people just didnp;t show up for work,nothing moved,what was mormally a 40 minute commute turned into a 4 hour commute..If you have that kind of power to shut down one of the largest cities in the world,certainly the most important in the world financially to protect what you have,you can’t be afraid to use it when threatened,the MTA quickly then dropped any mention of any type of benefit reductions in it’s contract talks and hasn’t since ever said a word about them.