*** Update ***
Today we send a Petition for Referral to Public Arbitration Panel to the Director of Conciliation informing him that the parties were at an impasse and that further negotiations would be futile. It is our belief that the Company will not dispute the fact we are at impasse. The PERB Board is scheduled to meet on Thursday, August 31st, and we hope to have this petition for arbitration on their agenda.
We met again with the Company and mediator on June 30th. After some direct and candid discussions it became apparent to the parties that we are at an impasse in our negotiations for this contract.
Thanks and enjoy the July 4th weekend.
We are scheduled to meet again with the mediator on Friday, June 30th.
Although we believe the first mediation session was a complete failure, we see no other option at this point but to comply with the mediators request that the parties meet again. We will continue to bargain in good faith and hope that the Company will do the same.
On March 16, 2017, as directed by the Director of Conciliation, the parties met and conferred. The Company submitted to us a supplemental proposal that, rather than bringing the parties closer together, put us further apart.
We discussed the two items that the Company had indicated would be potentially fruitful avenues in our contract negotiations: a wage progression proposal and the issuance of an Arbitration Award subsequent to the filing of the petition that, in the words of MTA Bus’ counsel, “creates the possibility of further meaningful negotiation . . .” At the meeting the Company made a wage progression proposal that lengthened the time period to top rate - a benefit to the employer. The Company’s proposal on the pension was identical to the position taken by them prior to the issuance of the Award. Despite the “possibility of meaningful negotiation”, the Company made no new proposal on the pension benefit.
We again stated our position that there is a fundamental gulf between the parties that requires resolution and no further bargaining will bridge that divide. Supervisors at MTA Bus are paid far less than their counterparts in NYCT/MaBSTOA. We believe our members are entitled to wage and benefits parity with identically situated Supervisors throughout the New York City Transit system (many of whom we represent). And we will not settle a contract that provides for a pension benefit for its members that is inferior to the pension benefit enjoyed by the hourly employees they supervise.
At the end of the meeting we reemphasized our belief that the parties are at an impasse and that we would contact the Director of Conciliation informing him that we met with the Company and had made no further progress in resolving our impasse. We will also ask him to act as quickly as possible to engage the impasse proceedings.
We recently received a letter from the Director of Conciliation stating that, although he deems an impasse to exist, he suggests "the parties should at least attempt further negotiations..." We will contact the Company and schedule a meeting as soon as possible. Although, we are not hopeful that further negotiations will result in a contract, we will compile with the Directors request and continue to negotiate in good faith.
After months of negotiations with the Company, on Friday, November 4th the Union had reached the conclusion that our bargaining for a successor agreement to the 2013 contract had reached an impasse. On November 10th the Union filed a Declaration of Impasse with PERB. We are now waiting for the Director of Conciliations to assign a mediator to the case and for them to schedule a mediation date.
As everyone probably knows by now, a decision on the Local 100 pension interest arbitration was issued on November 17th. Part of our demands in the impasse filing was that our pension improvement would not be less than that of Local 100. We believe that the arbitration award supports our argument that the multiplier for the supervisors should be high than that of the hourly’s because 1) our range of salaries are very narrow and increasing of the multiplier will not create a windfall for lower salaried employees like it would have in Local 100 and 2) we make more money than Local 100 members.
We will regularly update this page as additional dates and information becomes available.
Thanks and I wish everyone a Happy and Joyous Holiday Season!
Vinny
