MTA: No Money For Raises This Year
Four days ago, I touched on a report in the New York Daily News which talked about how raises for MTA employees were in jeopardy due to their ongoing financial crisis. The prospects of raises looks even bleaker just a few days later as the MTA is preparing to tell workers, they do not have enough money for raises this year. Pete Donohue has more in this followup report:
The cash-strapped MTA will soon tell labor leaders and nonunionized workers it doesn’t have money for raises this year, the Daily News has learned.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Elliot Sander has invited union officials to meetings next Tuesday to discuss the fiscal crisis that has the authority preparing to raise fares up to 30% and enact deep service cuts.
Sources said Sander will announce the MTA can’t afford to pay even the meager 1.5% raises, totaling about $50 million, included in its austere budget approved in December.
The contract with the largest union – Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing bus and subway workers – expired in January. An arbitration panel is charged with dictating the new terms of a contract.
The MTA wouldn’t reveal if it intends to ask the arbitration panel to maintain the existing pay rates for approximately 36,000 bus and subway workers.
Click here for the complete report.
As I noted a few days ago, the prospects of them getting raises looked bleak. I also noted how they would not win the public sentiment battle considering many industries have passed up on issuing raises during this weak economy. If you add that with the sentiment that the majority of employees are lazy & undeserving, you can see how it is impossible to win that P.R. battle.
Thankfully for these employees, individuals such as myself know that the majority of employees are not like the lazy people exposed in these “investigative reports”. Unfortunately this region is filled with many who have no clue about how things really are & allow their bias to overlook actual facts. With this in mind though, it still does not matter in the end as knowledgeable support is not getting them the raises they deserve.
Lastly I hope the MTA is considering the same scenario for management. If you have no money for the blue collar workers who are the heart & soul of your operation, you should have none for management either.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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[…] to an exclusive report by the New York Daily News’ Pete Donohue. He followed that up with a report which talked about the MTA’s intention to lay out this proposal at a meeting on Tuesday. Now […]