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Partly Cloudy MTA to negotiate with LIRR unions to stall strike
Officials prepare to discuss wage freeze, concessions in D.C. this week
After a dozen members of Congress from New York urged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to reconsider its contractual demands for a three-year wage freeze on Long Island Rail Road workers, MTA officials have chosen to launch negotiations with union laborers to avoid a strike as early as next month.
U.S. Reps. Peter King, Steve Israel, Carolyn McCarthy, Timothy Bishop, Gregory Meeks, Grace Meng, Hakeem Jeffries, Yvette Clarke, Jerrold Nadler, Michael Grimm, Carolyn Maloney and Joseph Crowley signed a letter sent to MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast on Feb. 19, encouraging the agency to “reconsider its decision to entirely reject the recommendations” submitted by a board of mediators — which was appointed by President Barack Obama last November to settle a contract dispute between MTA officials and its workers — that largely favored LIRR unions.
“The recommendations issued… may not have included everything that either side had hoped,” the letter said, “however, we believe that it could serve as a model for the types of concessions that can be made to move an agreement forward.”
The letter also requested that the MTA call for another Presidential Emergency Board to facilitate an agreement between officials and LIRR union workers, who are preparing to strike on March 21.
Prendergast responded to representatives in his own letter dated Feb. 20, assuring them that MTA officials have agreed to initiate negotiations with LIRR union workers in Washington D.C. next week to dissolve the threat of a labor strike.
“You may rest assured… if those meditated negotiations do not result in a settlement,” the letter said, “the MTA LIRR will request a second [Presidential Emergency Board] and there will be no lawful job actions earlier than July 20, 2014.”
After a weeklong hearing late last year, the first board ruled that the MTA could afford to give workers annual raises of 2.83 percent over six years without raising fares, but MTA officials rejected these recommendations.
