Home Asides With station agent hearings on tap, mediation looms for TWU

With station agent hearings on tap, mediation looms for TWU

by Benjamin Kabak

As the MTA and TWU continue to square off over station agent dismissals and other cost-savings proposals that would impact labor, the two sides have reportedly agreed to go to mediation to attempt to settle their disputes. While TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen continues to remain firm in his call for a no-layoffs provision, MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder believes mediation could help lower the MTA’s budget deficit without resorting to further service cuts. “Labor represents a large portion of the cost of doing business here, about two-thirds of the cost of doing business at the MTA. My hope is that we can work together in partnership,” he said.

This news breaks on the eve of the public hearings the MTA must hold before it can shutter more token booths and fire station agents. The hearings are set for Tuesday and Wednesday with two per evening, and Streetsblog has the details: Manhattan and Queens tomorrow; Brooklyn and the Bronx on Wednesday. These hearings come after a state judge deemed the initial layoffs illegal without public comment, but I have to wonder how useful this political charade will be.

For weeks, the TWU has planned to turn the hearings into a labor rally. As a recent release on the union’s Facebook page noted, labor organizers hope to “pack these hearings and deliver a strong message that we’ve had enough.” As the TWU is also alleging that these hearings are illegal, I can’t imagine anything other than animosity tomorrow night. Will TWU officials propose funding mechanisms to keep their jobs? Will they support congestion pricing or bridge tolls? Or should the riders have to pay for jobs that are largely unnecessary?

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20 comments

oscar July 12, 2010 - 1:15 pm

” . .riders have to pay for jobs that are largely unnecessary . ”

That’s the TWU motto

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Sharon July 12, 2010 - 2:23 pm

I was planning to go to the hearing but after reading some reports the TWU is going to intimidate anyone who talks against them. I decided to send in an email comment. When I testified back in 2003 in Manhattan, I almost did not get out of their alive. The place was full of union cronies. The sad part is their are many hard working members of the TWU that are sensible but get drowned out. What most people don’t understand that in NYS you have to pay for the union whether you want to be a member or not. IF you choose not to join, they still take out the dues from your check

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Kid Twist July 12, 2010 - 2:34 pm

We need to rally to deliver a strong message that we’ve had enough … of the TWU.

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Sharon July 12, 2010 - 2:49 pm

We do . I’m in. There are more of us then them. We need had out our own leaflets in the subway. Many people are still do not know the real issues at stake. I have emailed and called Patterson to Veto the stupid bill and called all my reps and emailed as well

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oscar July 12, 2010 - 3:10 pm

well said

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Robert July 12, 2010 - 5:25 pm

Then STOP electing those to congress and Albany who accept favors and union money- And that is mostly democrats.

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Alon Levy July 12, 2010 - 5:26 pm

Yes, let’s get the world-class efficiency experts Pataki and Giuliani back in power. That’ll do the subway a world of good.

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Sharon July 12, 2010 - 10:11 pm

They were just as Corrupt. Pataki sold his soul to the hospitals union when it looked like he may not get reelected. The solution is more transparency which will never happen. A friend that worked up in Albany for a senator told me that they avoid mailing their conflict of interest forms to avoid federal mail fraud charges due to the fiction in them

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Robert July 13, 2010 - 5:23 pm

That is not the point. You sound like the blame bush crowd. If you dont like unions NOW then dont vote for the ones who are supporting them- and that is the dems.

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Benjamin Kabak July 13, 2010 - 5:24 pm

If you dont like unions NOW then dont vote for the ones who are supporting them- and that is the dems.

In New York, every politician supports the union. That’s just the way it is in local politics here.

John July 14, 2010 - 8:24 pm

Negative….not every repub supports the unions..name me one…nope, uh uh..no effing way.

Alon Levy July 13, 2010 - 8:16 pm

Ironically, there are lots of economists who think that card check will help the more responsible unions (SEIU, UNITE-HERE), shifting the power in the union movement away from protectionists and rent-seekers like the Teamsters and the UAW. You won’t get any of this electing Republicans who hate all unions and end up only picking out the smaller unions serving legitimately poor people and leaving up the big, corrupt ones serving the upper middle class.

Nathanael July 19, 2010 - 5:45 pm

Absolutely. Card-check is one of the few ways to make it easy for workers to CHANGE unions, among other things!

rhywun July 12, 2010 - 9:35 pm

I think current NYS Democrats and Republicans are equally corrupt and/or incompetent; we’re not quite at the point where the public is ready to admit there’s a problem – but when it happens, it could be either party who says enough already. Paterson was making the right noises for a while in terms of wanting to get spending under control – until the massive Cuomo machine fell on him like a ton of bricks.

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Sharon July 12, 2010 - 10:08 pm

We really have no choices. The party bosses pick the candidates and people get voted in by default. There is a formula to get elected. Give free bees to seniors and labor unions. Don’t need many votes to get elected. The system is biased against a regular Joe to get on the ballot. The rules resemble the illegal rules that kept african americans and women from voting

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Ed July 12, 2010 - 11:58 pm

Sharon beat me too it. Both parties in New York state politics rely heavily on support from unions and other identified constituencies to elect their candidates. The game is to rely on a few key groups, make sure they vote, and provide labor and money to your campaign, and make sure they don’t vote. The parties also collude to minimize competitive elections, and to make sure any candidate not playing the game has a very weak campaign, assuming they are not knocked off the ballot altogether.

New York state politics resembles politics in a state in Mexico than in most other states in the U.S. The only reason the state isn’t really horribly misgoverned is the willingness of New Yorkers to simply leave the state when they retire, or can get a job elsewhere.

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oscar July 13, 2010 - 10:43 am

“willingness of New Yorkers to simply leave”

planning that as we speak
sad to say, i see no other solution

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Alon Levy July 13, 2010 - 8:31 pm

Ed, the politics in the rest of the US isn’t much better. Illinois is even worse than New York, and California is just as bad. In the Gulf states so many judges have oil industry links that it’s hard to find an impartial judge to preside over the class action lawsuit against BP.

Good-government reform in the US can’t come from leaving one corrupt state for another. It has to come from concerted national efforts, preferably with as much federal backing as possible; Obama would probably support them, as they have a feel-good quality and are popular, but not lead them, as he is incapable of leading on anything.

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Nathanael July 19, 2010 - 5:47 pm

The Upstate Democrats are pretty good in NY actually, and *don’t* follow the same “rules of the game”. Partly because they’re largely excluded by it.

Not that that helps you in NYC and its suburbs. 🙂

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Labor mediation through media wars :: Second Ave. Sagas July 16, 2010 - 12:27 pm

[…] the MTA and TWU prepare to head to mediation over the authority’s proposed cost-savings measures, the two sides are already engaged in a […]

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