Published 19 May, 2014
Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees who run New York City’s subway and bus system overwhelmingly voted in favor a tentative contract deal that would provide retroactive pay and boosts in benefits.
Transport Workers Union Approves Contract: Workers Vote in Favor of the Deal by an 82% Margin
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By ANDREW TANGEL
Updated May 19, 2014 4:27 p.m. ET
Gov. Andrew Cuomo joins Tom Prendergast, Chairman and CEO of the MTA, center and union leader John Samuelson in April. Associated Press
Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees who run New York City’s subway and bus system overwhelmingly voted in favor a tentative contract deal that would provide retroactive pay and boosts in benefits.
Members of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 ratified the agreement with the MTA by a margin of more than 82%, with 12,458 in favor and 2,681 against, according to the union.
The MTA had pushed to avoid net increases in labor costs as negotiations with its largest union dragged on for more than two years.
But, in a deal struck in April, the MTA agreed to pay 1% retroactive wage increases in both 2012 and 2013, as well as 2% raises this year and the following two years.
“We fought back and we won,” John Samuelsen, the union’s president, said he announced the vote tally at a hotel in downtown Brooklyn on Monday.
The MTA must still approve the deal before it goes into effect. The agency’s board is expected to consider the agreement at its meeting on Wednesday.
An MTA spokesman said the agency hopes its board will approve the contract.
“Both sides had to compromise in order to reach this negotiated solution, and we are pleased to be able (to offer) a fair and reasonable package of pay and benefits for our hardworking subway and bus employees,” an MTA spokesman said.