Situación de los compañeros del Subte de NY

Eric me mandó un mail, con la situación de los compañeros del Subte de NY
El mail está tal cual lo mandó, no le hice correcciones, pero se entiende bastante bien. Para quienes no lo conocieron en su viaje a Bs.As. Eric es un compañero del metro de Nueva York. Trabaja hace muchos años, es un compañero militante y combativo en el TWU, el Sindicato de Transporte de Nueva York, lo conocimos en Detroit, en la conferencia de Labor Notes, y viajo a Bs. As. luego, donde compartimos experiencias, en el cuarto de Tráfico de la Línea D.


Desde Eric, the Bronx. Envio los mensajes de hoy del boletin internet de Steve Downs. Contiene casi toda la noticia que hemos aprendido sobre las negociaciones entre el MTA y el TWU. El articulo y editorial, al lado, naturalmente, de la MTA son de las "Daily News," un de los 3 diarios grandes de Nueva York. Es de centro-derecha, pero su lectores historicamente son obreros blancos de las region. Por eso, el "News" se reclama a veces defensor de los sindicatos.

Parece que las concesiones que Samuelsen ha ofrecido a la MTA son de jubilacion anticipada, pagada por mas contribuciones del salario por nosotros, los obreros. En vuelta, Samuelsen pide un clausulo convenial proibiendo los despidos durante el convenio actual (hacia enero 15, 2012). La MTA a rechazado este demanda, y por eso el sindicato a salido de las negociaciones. Como menciona las "News," centenos de obreros de colectivo se tienen que presentar manana para ser despedidos. Se van agregar a los 266 boleteros ya despedidos; y la MTA intenta despidir al menos 200 boleteros ademas, tanto que mas que 100 limpiadores de estaciones y coches y mas que 100 mecanicos de coches.

Creo que necesitamos al menos una asemblea general (la cual seria la unica verdadera desde diciembre 2005, para no contar los "mass meetings" anuales del anciano presidente Toussaint, sin discusion ni votacion). Samuelsen se tiene que explicar frente a los militantes, y los ultimos tenemos que planificar y votar como defendernos. EricJ


MTA nixed our bid to save $35M and


workers' jobs, says
transit union chief

BY Pete Donohue
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, June 27th 2010, 4:00 AM


DelMundo for NewsTransport Workers Union Local 100 President John Samuelsen lays the blame for the MTA's budget cuts and layoffs squarely at the feet of Jay Walder (above). The MTA rejected a union offer of approximately $35 million a year in employee contributions that would have avoided laying off workers, the transit union chief told the Daily News.
The offer would have also staved off some service cuts already in motion, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President John Samuelsen said yesterday.

The union contributions were earmarked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's participation in a state-approved early retirement program. The
money would allow the authority to reduce head count more slowly through attrition - rather than abrupt layoffs.
Hundreds of pink-slipped bus drivers, mechanics and other workers have been told to turn in their uniforms and badges at a NYC Transit facility tomorrow.
Service cuts, including the elimination of dozens of express and local bus routes, have begun. Some routes saw their last runs Friday, and others shut
down last night. "We want the riding public to know this is on Jay
Walder, and not on the union," Samuelsen said, referring to the MTA chairman.

"We made a reasonable offer to provide immediate funding in the short term to get through this crisis, and he walked away from it."
Under the union proposal, deductions would be made automatically from workers' biweekly paychecks on a temporary basis, Samuelsen said. There are
approximately 34,000 MTA workers represented by Local 100.
The MTA yesterday released a statement saying it agreed to mediation but it wouldn't stop the layoffs. If talks are successful, workers potentially could be
brought back, the MTA said.
In exchange for the funding, the union wanted the MTA to agree in writing not to lay off transit workers during the contribution time period.
Steve Downs
Chair, T/O Division of TWU 100


Below is an editorial from the Daily News. While calling on the TWU to make
concessions, it ignores the fact that the MTA refuses to guarantee that there will be no layoffs if the TWU does agree to concessions. It also makes it clear that the MTA, with the backing of the NYC power structure, is using its short-term financial problems to try to extort long-lasting givebacks from the union. The concessions the MTA wants would do little to offset its immediate budget crisis, but they would save hundreds of millions over the long-term.
sd



Save the workers: The MTA and the TWU must reach a deal to avoid layoffs

Editorials

Friday, June 25th 2010, 3:35 PM

There's a deal to be made that would enable the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to avoid laying off 700 workers Monday and to return to the payroll an additional 260 who have already been cut loose.

The choice is largely up to the Transport Workers Union, headed by John Samuelsen. It is a simple, although painful one: Rescue jobs by providing labor savings.

With bus drivers, mechanics, train operators and others about to be thrown into unemployment, the conflict between public-sector labor costs and personnel expenses is all of a sudden starkly real. Something has to give.

MTA Chairman Jay Walder has sought to make up for plummeting revenues from dedicated taxes as well as for hits to state funding by cutting expenses, hiking fares and slashing service. Millions of riders are about to lose bus and subway lines or have to cope with more-crowded trains.

These realities are no more the fault of the TWU than of the public at large. But they are hard facts that demand action.

Walder has presented Samuelsen with a savings plan that would start the MTA toward long-term fiscal health, avert layoffs and permit rehirings - while sparing the agency's 34,000 workers any financial sacrifice.

The proposal is fair and offered in the spirit of easing the severe consequences that will otherwise befall a huge cadre of wage earners. If anything, Walder's plan is open to the criticism of asking the union for too little at a time when the MTA appears likely to go deeper into the red.

His scheme would apply only to new workers. Fresh recruits - and only fresh recruits - would be asked to make modest contributions to pension costs; work a few years longer to reach retirement eligibility, contribute to health care premiums, and wait five years to reach top pay rather than three.

Those terms are widely applied among New York's public workers, in part because the Legislature this year approved pension reforms for all levels of government in the state - except, shamefully, for the MTA and the city.

A single provision would be unique to the TWU. Walder would have workers forgo a 3% raise in 2011 and accept the same amount of money in a one-time payment at the end of the year.

The collective savings plus flexibility in assigning workers would allow the MTA to shift from layoffs to trimming staff by normal retirements and resignations. There would still be suffering - but only on the part of the riders as staff reductions forced service cuts.

Samuelsen says he is not open to amending contract provisions, such as pension and health benefits, for the long term. He says, however, that he has an alternative cost-saving plan that would allow the MTA to cut the payroll through attrition. He declined to make it public.

With Walder's cards on the table, Samuelsen needs to explain how he would save his members from hitting the bricks.