The MTA is Stiffing Thousands of our Fellow Transit Workers

They toiled through the coronavirus pandemic just like we did – and lost many co-workers to the deadly virus. 

The four Amalgamated Transit Union Locals representing MTA Bus Operators, Mechanics and Cleaners want the same wage and benefits package TWU Local 100 negotiated in December. The Authority, however, has refused to negotiate with the Locals, which have gone without a contract since May 2019.

“After all we’ve been through, after all we have done, the MTA is treating us with total disrespect,” Danny Cassella, president of ATU Local 726 in Staten Island, said in a statement Wednesday. “MTA executives call us heroes but in reality they treat us like zeroes. It’s incredibly shameful.”   Cassella led a spirited rally against the MTA’s “zeroes to heroes” position.

Local 100 President Tony Utano, one of the labor leaders invited to speak from the podium, blasted the MTA as “bums” and vowed to support the ATU in its fight.  (see video above)

Historically, the MTA negotiates a contract with its biggest union – Transport Workers Union Local 100 – and then extends the same package of wage increases and benefits to Local 726 and Queens-based ATU Locals 1056, 1179 and 1181. The ATU members do exactly the same work as Local 100 members in bus operations for the same employer.

The MTA and TWU negotiated a contract in December that grants raises of nearly 10% over four years. It was ratified overwhelmingly in January. But MTA Labor Relations told the ATU Locals it was “not in a position” to negotiate a contract at this time. They didn’t elaborate.

The Subway Surface Supervisors Association and the UTLO also are without contracts.   The ATU Locals represent about 5,000 bus operators, mechanics and cleaners working out of MTA depots in Staten Island and Queens. They have lost more than a dozen members to COVID-19.