LIRR Union Negotiations/Newsday Editorial

truck6018 wrote:

LIRR272 wrote:If a strike happens it would not be a pretty pciture for either side. The newspapers would dig up all the past info on salaries and benefits railroad employees receive compared to other non-railroad workers receive. That would drum up alot of mixed emotions in the public even on this discussion board. I hope something happens quick.

It's not about looking pretty, it's about the employee's livelihood regardless of the emotions. It is my best guess that the only thing that will happen short of a strike is if an 11th hour deal is accepted.

I know its not about looking pretty----Duh! Its a figure of speech. I know its about peoples lives. All I was trying to say is in the court of public opinion which I know really doesn't matter people will throw everything at the workers. Most people who do not know the ins and outs of situation or the work railroaders do on a daily basis will judge them harshly. That's all.

You guys know that it is railroad employees and not the public that were defrauded by the disability scams? That money was taken out of the federal Railroad Retirement fund (or whatever its called). Folks paying into social security were not affected. Newsday, which is trying to bust its unions, never seems to publish that. I might be wrong but aren't the owners of Newsday the same good folk who want taxpayers to fund their stadiums? They reap profits and stick us and our kids and grandkids with the tax bill. I just can't see how $20 for a hotdog helps the Long Island economy.

Rob

Question. What unions can't reach an agreement? BLE,UTU, machinists, clerks, signalmen etc? Or are they covered in another way, separate from the way the class 1s and others are?
I ask because I honestly don't know.

It's to my understanding the BLE for the LIRR was not released, although the UTU was. There was a coalition here at Metro North compromised of various unions and they all had mutual concerns that the carrier was imposing (wage freezes, health care, Tier 6, new hire reform.) Like I said before, the vast majority of people are in agreement with contributing for health care. But the carrier wants it to be based on a percentage of gross earnings with no cap. Meaning, if an agreement was ratified and for arguments sake it was 2% of earnings it wouldn't be a locked in rate for the next 10 years, the percentage will also be back on the table. If you think about it, each time you get a raise, you will be kicking in more for health care since it's tied in. Since the benefits that people in train service are no different than that of a station cleaner, if the agreement was ratified train service people will be paying more for the same coverage that station cleaners have. Also worth mentioning if you chose to opt out of the health care because your spouse has coverage, you will still be kicking in the imposed 2%. So when they gave you money for opting out (also subjected to being taxed) and doing the math of 2% of earnings on a 40/hr work week, you were basically breaking even. I should note the original offer was 2% based on a 40/hr work week, and since that offer was rejected the MTA counter offered with percentages based on gross earnings. If you made more, you paid more.

Tier 6 is also another reform imposed on a lot of other public works employees hired after 2012 and they also want to impose it for the MTA. Although when it was explained to me, it would not work like a traditional Tier 6. Tier 6 contribution has a top out of 6%, and that is when your gross wages are in excess of $100k, and goes down in .5% increments all the way down to $45,000 where you are kicking in 3%. Not sure what they offered LIRR but at MN it was 6% on all wages never minding how much you made.

BART just settled an agreement after their 3 day strike and it seemed they didn't do too bad. In all nobody wants to see a strike, even the workers. If an agreement can be made before then, believe me everyone will be happier.

Thanks Willie, I understand it now.

As a civilian to this post: What exactly is the impasse at this time?

It's also worth mentioning this. About a week after the conductors, engineers and RTC's at MN voted down the contract Lhota bolted to run for NYC mayor and a large sum of money was found within the MTA (in excess of $100mil.) I am no conspiracy theorist but one has to wonder about that.

Steve, I just outlined the impasse. The MTA wants wage freezes for the years with no contract, which equates to 3 zeroes. Minimal raises for the next few years, numerous work rule concessions, and health care not on par with rest of the industry.

It can be argued that the Long Island and Metro-North employees have the best contracts and highest pay in the entire industry. BUT having said that, it is no less true that the ares that these two lines serve also have the highest cost of living in the nation as well. The state pension is great on both the LIRR and Metro -orth but when your property taxes and school taxes take all or nearly all of that money from you what good is it? Many of these employees are glued to the northeast after their retirements due to family attachments or other issues. I worked for Metro-North for four years before living in New York City finally got to me after a long time and I gave up my seniority rights to work for Metro-North for all time, elected to return to Conrail and use my Conrail seniority which I still had while working for Metro-North. I took a cut in pay and lost any claim to a state pension but I improved my living conditions on a large scale and overall had a much lower daily cost of living in Albany than I had in New York City. The employees of Long Island and Metro-North have to have a good contract, probably continue to have the best in the industry just to survive living in New York City, Long Island, Westchester County or Southern Connecticut just simply because of the high taxes and general high cost of living. This is not going to change and if necessary these fine people may have to really fight for what they have coming. Management employees generally favor the workers in this respect because they know whatever the workers get in a new contract they also will benefit.
Noel Weaver

Thank you Noel for pointing that out. I myself have tried to explain to people just how much living expenses really do make a huge difference by region, especially housing. I hear of a lot of people moving farther and farther out into the exurbs in PA, NY, CT, et al just because it is far more affordable (even if the commute is 2-3 hours + one way!)

Middle management hasn't got a raise in five years, so the suits are doing it to us too.
Meanwhile they keep creating six figure jobs for their friends

Thanks for keeping it clean so far, folks. I appreciate that.

nyandw wrote:As a civilian to this post: What exactly is the impasse at this time?

With everyone knowing the times are tough, its safe to say that most LIRR or MNCR employees are not looking for a raise.
We do however like to keep up with Joneses, inflation for last two years is over 5.25% , by getting zeroes we decrease our standard of living 5.25%
and inflation just keeps going, we do not get COLA's so the percentages of raises have to at least match the COLA's of Social security.
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DutchRailnut wrote:

nyandw wrote:As a civilian to this post: What exactly is the impasse at this time?

With everyone knowing the times are tough, its safe to say that most LIRR or MNCR employees are not looking for a raise.
We do however like to keep up with Joneses, inflation for last two years is over 5.25% , by getting zeroes we decrease our standard of living 5.25%
and inflation just keeps going, we do not get COLA's so the percentages of raises have to at least match the COLA's of Social security.
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This, certainally, is not too much to ask for or expect. It should be the bare MINIMUM.
Noel Weaver

With a democratic Gov, and democratic President, I doubt very much you will ever see a strike. They will just pass legislation forcing you back to work. Lets see how it works out.

HI,
AS Mr Doc said..
July 15th is in the middle of the summer... Hmmm almost near the weekend..... STRIKE close down the railroad for a beautiful weekend!!!
I think not!!! Some man who comes out on weekends has a politician friend with pull,he calls down south and hopefully trains run for that weekend..
Plus you would have restaurants ,shops, stores worried about not having the summer crouds!!