MTA is pattern PEF members deserve
By ROGER E. BENSON
In the last days of 1999, Gov. George Pataki set a new
compensation pattern for all state employees when he
reached agreement with the 33,000 state employees
represented by Transit Workers Union Local 100, who work
for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The pattern the governor
set is a three-year agreement with with no give-backs and
an immediate 5 percent wage increase in the first year, a
3 percent increase in the second year and a percent
increase in the third year. Additionally, the agreement
included a reduction in the amount of pension
contributions to 2 percent for employees who are required
to make payments into the retirement system.
After almost six months since the governor proposed his
delayed raises, health benefit give-backs, union busting
proposals, and his attacks on our professionalism, we
have shown that we will not give in. What we are asking
for is fair. We are asking to be treated the same way the
governor has already treated the largest block of state
employees outside of PEF and CSEA. The governor is
treating us as second-class citizens. He gave the
employees at the MTA a contract with a total value of up
to 18 percent, while he expects us to get by on less than
2 percent per year after his concessions are factored in.
PEF’s original contract proposal to the state is
very close to what the Governor agreed to for the MTA
workers. However, in order to spur negotiations, we
restructured our contract proposal to more closely
resemble what the state had already given the MTA.
We have begun a media campaign that will last well into
April to drive home our message concerning the pattern
the governor set with the MTA. Our message is that we
provide vital services to the citizens of New York State;
we've earned the right to be treated with the same
fairness and respect the governor gave the workers at the
MTA.
All state workers and their families deserve nothing less
than the governor has already agreed to for the MTA. Call
the governor, tell your friends and neighbors that all
state employees deserve to be treated with the same
respect as the Transit Workers at the MTA.
The governor set the pattern, it is up to us to make sure
we get to share in it.