Did somebody say transit strike? The contract between the MTA and TWU Local 100 expired more than a week ago and negotiations have (mostly) continued in good faith since—but that doesn't mean they will forever. "We would never take a strike off the table, never," TWU head John Samuelson—who walked out of talks last Thursday in a huff—said in Albany yesterday.
"We don’t want a strike," Samuelson explained yesterday. "But philosophically, we believe we have the right to strike." And, as we all learned in 2005, they sure do have the right to strike—and be fined heavily for it.
And so the talks between the MTA and TWU continue, with the same issues holding everything up. Namely, the TWU wants raises for its workers (even tiny ones) and the MTA has a mandate to keep its over-stretched budget flat. On the plus side—and in a major difference from 2005—the union and the Authority's heads actually seem to generally be getting along. Earlier this week Samuelsson told the Times that "The union is not planning to strike," (emphasis ours) before continuing that new MTA head Joe "Lhota has gone out of his way to distinguish himself from his predecessor, Jay Walder. The union recognizes that, and the union is looking to get back to the bargaining table."
To heck with going back to the bargaining table though, we're looking forward to a signed deal so we don't have another transit strike looming on the horizon.
