***UPDATE***

On Wednesday, March 27th the MTA board ratified the agreement.  As soon as we recieve the implementation schedule we will post it here.

The 2018 - 2020 MSII contract was overwhelmingly ratified by the membership on Friday, March 22nd.

The agreement will now go to the MTA Borard on Wednesday, March 27th for final ratification.

Once the agreement is ratified by the Board we will kepp everyone updated on the implementation schedule.

I would like to thank the members and Officers for their support of the agreement!

We are happy to announce that we have reached a tentative contract agreement.  We believe this contract provides the MSIIs with important and significant gains.

Some of the gains we were able to achieve this round of negotiations include:

• Two 2.5% Wage Increases with Full Retroactivity
• $500 Pensionable Lump-sum Payment
• Expansion of Night Differential Hours
• A Full-Time MSII Union Representative 
• $820 Annual Supervisor Maintenance Bonus
• Increases in Annual Longevity Bonuses
• OTO Pilot Program
• Full Dental & Vision Coverage for Dependent Children through the Age of 26
• Step Children Added to Death in Family

The contract ratification process will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and will be done by electronic ballot.  The ratification vote will be open to only members in good standing.  Ballot Notification will be mailed on Friday, March 8^th. Ballots are due back by Friday, March 22^nd, at 10AM.  If the contract is ratified by the members, it will then go to the MTA Board on Wednesday, March 27^th, for final ratification.

I would like to thank the Officers for all of their input, assistance and support in these negotiations.

Fraternally,

Vincent Modafferi

President

*** Implementation Update ***

The below dates have been confirmed:

• Sunday, February 10th – New Wage Rates and 2% Medical Contribution rate go into effect.
• Thursday, February 21^st – MTA Bus RWA Deferral Commitments Due.
• Thursday, March 28^th – RWA’s are paid on a separate check.
• 2% Medical Contribution in arrears to December 28, 2018 will be deducted from the RWA check in a lump sum.
• New Union Dues Rates will go into effect with the GWI's on February 10^th.
• Military Buy-back is in effect

We still do not know when the new pension contribution rate will go into effect. We will continue to follow-up on this and let you know.

The Company is not going to have the RWA amount available to the members until AFTER it is paid and the commitment forms are due.  This was done when the last RWA was paid as well. 

RWA Calculator - Data should only be entered into the yellow fields.

***FINAL Arbitration Update ***

As we said from the very beginning exceeding the pattern would be an uphill battle.  However, we believed that if any bargaining unit would be able to break the bargaining pattern it would this bargaining unit in this round of negotiations, but as you can see the arbitrator upheld the contract pattern.  To say the least, we are very disappointed with the outcome. 

We had argued that the current disparity in wages between our members at MTA Bus and their OA & TA counterparts is the fault of the Company – for hiring those who were formerly non-represented at egregiously low starting wages and then expecting the Union to shoulder the entire burden of closing that gap through bargaining concessions.  Throughout this entire process, the Company would neither admit nor accept responsibility for the current wage disparity that exists.  We believed this process should have cured that problem, but it did not – which leads to the larger concern about the rigid application of a pattern to this dispute.  The word “pattern” is not in the statute.  However, the Company purposefully and without justification ignores the very specific factors set forth in the law – effectively reading them out of the stature – and holds that the only factor that matters is a pattern previously set by other bargaining units, without any consideration of the unique circumstances of this bargaining unit. 

We will begin negotiating a successor agreement in early January and will schedule a member meeting in January as well to discuss the award and our next round of negotiations.  I would like to thank everyone for their patience and support throughout this long and arduous process.   If you have any questions please contact me.

Fraternally,

Vinny