Union Votes to OK Strike Against MTA

The union representing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus and train supervisors announced Tuesday that it has voted to authorize a strike if protracted contract talks aren’t resolved soon.

The vote, necessary because of state and federal labor laws governing protocol for labor stoppages, was taken by members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union. Eighty-seven percent of the union’s 136 members who voted gave approval for the authorization, clearing way for the union to strike if it chooses to do so, said Kevin McGrath, vice president of AFSCME’s Local 3634.

The union has been locked in difficult negotiations with the MTA over a labor contract for nearly two years, making little progress.

Representing about 500 workers, union members make up only 5% of the transit agency’s work force. But its members, responsible for such jobs as overseeing bus drivers, rail operators and maintenance workers, are vital to keeping the MTA’s bus and rail fleet running efficiently. The union’s workers make an average of $63,000 a year, according to the MTA.

While pay increases have been an issue, the most contentious element of the talks has been the MTA’s handling of benefits. The union is pressing for retroactive changes that would boost pensions, but the transit agency says such a move would be far too costly and make little sense.

If AFSCME workers strike, 2,000 members of the MTA’s powerful mechanics and maintenance workers union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, would honor their picket lines, ATU President Neil Silver said. Both unions are members of the AFL-CIO.

The union representing bus and rail drivers, the United Transportation Union, would not comment. Tension between the UTU and AFSCME emerged during the nearly monthlong strike in 2000, when some AFSCME members crossed the drivers’ picket lines.

An important backdrop to the AFSCME dispute is that negotiations are soon to begin with the mechanics union, followed by talks next year with the drivers union.