Management Gives Demands for Contract

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APRIL 29, 2026—In a bargaining session Wednesday afternoon, it was the MTA's turn to hand over their main table contract demands, and as usual, they are going to try and extract a high number of concessions.

Some of them are financial, like a proposal that would more than double of the cost of health insurance contributions, another to change the prescription drug plan to cap costs to the agency, and one to reduce premium pay on an RDO by changing the overtime eligibility requirement from three worked days to four. 

There is another proposal to "discourage excessive reliance on ER visits" by raising the co-pay for those seeking emergency care, including those whose tours create schedules that make visiting doctors or urgent cares difficult if not impossible.

But that's not all the MTA is looking to change.

They want to implement more restrictive sick rules, increasing the amount of time to call out from one hour to four. They want to slash in half the amount of time we currently have to address sick leave documentation errors.

Management also wants to strip away pick rights—one demand is that those out on leave for over 30 days be ineligible to pick. What that means is that the Bus Operator or Conductor or other member who has been assaulted on the job and is on leave dealing with the aftermath of a brutal attack would lose their right to pick, regardless of how many years they have on the job. That amounts to kicking someone when they're already down.

They also proposed speeding up bus maintenance work, at a time when our audits at depots have revealed dozens of buses management deemed fit for service that are still in need of repairs to operate safely.

Some of these demands from the MTA have been on their wish list for years, non-starter proposals that we cannot and will not concede. 

Maybe most telling of all was proposal #2, wages: "To be determined".

We move New York 24/7, no matter what. Millions of people rely on us every single day. Without us, the city stops. We deserve a contract that reflects that reality, and accounts for the rising costs of everything, from basic groceries to healthcare and housing.

Join us as we return to 2 Broadway this Friday at 5 to rally for a fair contract on May Day. When we come together and turn out in numbers, we show everyone—not just management—what this contract means to us, our families and our futures.