MTA approves raises for transit workers
Andrew J. Hawkins
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority unanimously approved its labor contract with the city’s largest transit workers union Wednesday, providing retroactive raises to tens of thousands of workers, who will in turn contribute more toward their health care costs.
Meanwhile, the MTA’s stalemate with the unions representing Long Island Railroad workers deepened Wednesday after a White House-backed panel sided with the workers in their demand for larger raises than what the agency gave to the city-based Transport Workers Union Local 100.
MTA Chairman and President Thomas Prendergast said he was “disheartened and disappointed” by the Presidential Emergency Board 245’s decision to shoot down the agency’s LIRR contract offer, but noted that the panel’s decision was nonbinding.
Mr. Prendergast said the MTA’s offer to LIRR workers is similar to what's in the TWU contract, but the railroad unions claim the deal lacks certain benefits and calls for steeper health care savings than those in the transit workers' contract.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140521/BLOGS04/140529969/mta-approves-raises-for-transit-workers