On December 17th the parties appeared before the Arbitrator to clarify and discuss issues that were not addressed in the original arbitration award.  If there was any doubt in the original award that MCH depot is an OA depot the supplemental award CONFIRMS that MCH is an OA DEPOT!

This decision is a historic victory for our Union because the award confirms our position that with the closing of 126^th Street Depot all of the supervisory work in Manhattan should become TSO represented work.  The decision also recognized the concerns raised by the SSSA in that displacing long-term employees will negatively impacted those employees by not allowing them to continue to work in Manhattan.

The outcome of this award is dramatically different from where we began in this dispute.  Initially, the Authority took the position that they were going to transfer 126^th Street work and the SSSA supervisors into MCH depot, as well as them retaining all of their Road Control positions. This caused us to file two grievances.  We then attempted to negotiate a resolution where we would eventually get all of the SSSA’s work in Manhattan.  Throughout these negotiations, it was our strategy to be reasonable and flexible.  After months of negotiation, we failed to reach an agreement, but we did succeed in getting the Authority to abandon their plan to transfer the 126^th Street work into MCH depot.  Once we got this agreement from them, we then agreed to a tri-lateral arbitration that would be heard by Howard Edelman.

It is clear from his decision that our strategy worked to our advantage in this proceeding, and as a result of this award, the Authority will no longer hire any new TA supervisors to work in Manhattan.  Our Union will eventually gain nearly 60 additional jobs for our members, and for the first time in the history of this great Organization, we will represent all of the supervisory work in Manhattan!

If you would like a copy of the award, please contact the Union office.