Catherwood LibraryILR School

Just over two-and-a-half months into contract negotiations for 34,000 bus and subway employees represented by the Transport Workers Union Local 100 (see WIT for Sep. 20, 2002), and only nine days before the current contract is set to expire, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York City has made its first formal contract offer. Under the terms of the proposal, TWU members would be subjected to a wage freeze in the first year, receive no raises at all during the lifetime of the contract unless they accepted work rule changes, and have to begin paying 2.3 percent of their annual salary for a pension deduction that was eliminated in the previous contract. Local 100 President Roger Toussaint was quick to condemn the offer---in effect a demand by the MTA for a 2.3 percent wage concession from TWU members---that as an outrageous attempt to incite a strike that failed to address members’ concerns and needs.