The leader of the New York City transit workers' union last night rejected the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's latest contract proposal ? one that is harsher than the settlement his members rejected last week ? but said he still hoped to arrive at a new settlement rather than submit to binding arbitration, as the authority has urged. The authority's new offer contained the provision that union members pay 1.5 percent of their wages toward health-insurance premiums.
See "Toussaint Rejects the M.T.A.'s Latest Contract Proposal", Sewell Chan, The New York Times, January 26, 2006