Editorial: The MTA & TWU Need To Bargain
Most of the latest round of war between the MTA & Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU Local 100) has been fought in the media. I like others including TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen feel the two sides need to negotiate privately instead of through the media.
Now we can add a writer to this list of people understand what needs to be done. An editorial in today’s New York Daily News takes a look at how both sides need to sit down & bargain instead of sniping at each other:
Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen has made clear that he can give as good as he gets by delivering a member-pleasing critique of Metropolitan Transportation Authority management.
Visiting the Daily News Editorial Board, MTA Chairman Jay Walder last week said that he would seek productivity improvements from the TWU as a way to blunt service cuts and fare hikes.
In response, Samuelsen came to the table yesterday and got personal, saying: “I bet you Walder has a Cadillac health plan and, not for nothing, he has the best severance package in the history of the public sector. I really can’t get past the hypocrisy of a rich guy coming into town, making $350,000 a year, with a wonderful severance package – he makes more money if he leaves than he does if he stays, almost, with a housing allowance – and he comes and talks about NYC Transit workers and antiquated work rules.”
The exchange encapsulates the intense polarization that has frozen public-employee labor relations as officials struggle to trim expenses in response to historic declines in revenue and union leaders hold militantly to the status quo.
Click here for the complete editorial.
I feel the editorial was well written & hammered on some of the same points I shared here. In the end, we really need to have these two sides meet & hammer out something beneficial to both sides.
xoxo Transit Blogger
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment