MTA Mechanics Give Union OK to Call Strike

Metropolitan Transportation Authority mechanics and maintenance workers have given their union leader authority to call a strike if current labor talks break down.

The union and the MTA, which have been trying to hash out a new contract for about seven months, have recently clashed over issues such as wage increases and benefit packages, said Neil Silver, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents the workers.

The union’s last contract expired this month, but the MTA is honoring its terms while negotiations proceed. MTA spokesman Marc Littman said that he thinks a solution can be found in the coming weeks and that neither side would benefit from a work stoppage. The transit agency is struggling with state and federal funding problems.

Silver said he has no plans to strike. Still, his roughly 2,000-member MTA unit voted Friday night to give him the ability to call a work stoppage if he thinks the talks are not advancing.

About 700 union members voted on the matter, with about 90% approving a measure to give Silver strike authority.

The powerful transit union joined MTA bus drivers in a monthlong work stoppage that shut down the nation’s second-largest transportation agency for 32 days in 2000. The union came away from that strike with a 27-month contract.

The two sides have a series of meetings scheduled this week. Silver would not go into details on several proposals considered by both sides, but said that he was disappointed with the MTA’s latest offers.