Posted on 01/20/2006 5:08:30 PM PST by Man50D
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Transport Workers Union, which shut down the New York subway and bus system for three days during the Christmas shopping season, has narrowly rejected the contract offer recommended by union leaders.
The offer from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which required a simple majority vote to ratify, was rejected by just seven votes out of more than 22,000 votes cast, a union official who asked not to be identified told Reuters on Friday.
The tally was 11,234 against and 11,227 in favor, he said.
Union leader Roger Toussaint told a televised news conference the contract failed to win ratification and it was "back to the drawing board." He gave no indication of whether another strike could be called.
"We will communicate with the MTA the results of this vote and we will reach out to meet with them in the near future," Toussaint said.
The MTA was not immediately available for comment.
The union's dispute with the MTA over pay, pensions and health care led to a three-day strike that caused traffic havoc in America's most populous city and cost the economy more than $1 billion, according to city officials.
The contract offer put before the nearly 34,000 union members called for wage increases of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3-1/2 percent for the next three years.
The union's executive board had voted 37 in favor and four against, with one abstention, in accepting the MTA offer and calling an end to the strike.
Now what happens?
And here I just praised the subways on another thread!
Fire all government workers that go on strike period.
let them work without a contract - 0% pay raises. the union executive board will not authorize another strike.
we can hope they're not rewarded!!!
the local NYC leftie media lets them point to the figure of "only two & a half days" that they we out on strike
HOWEVER,that entire week was shot-to-s**t,...
the preceding days were spent getting ready
and afterwards, most everyone was pissed off
much of the city's workforce lost money,now the union threatens to shoot itself again,sheeesh
Nothing like having a terrorist organization running transportation in NYC...Maybe they should make a video yelling "Allah Akbar" while standing over a picture of NYC
STRIKERS TO RIKERS!!
As a NY State worker, I agree with you 100%. They should have been fired just like Ronaldus Maximus did with the Air Traffic Controllers. To appease the Democrats, we'll replace them all with Mexican illegals making eight bucks an hour with no benefits.
Seriously, after fifteen years on the state payroll, I make about half what a NYC bus driver makes, with significantly worse benefits. Not that I don't have a great deal- that's why I work for the state and not in the private sector.
NY politicians of every stripe, including King George Pataki, are in the habit of buying votes with generous union raises. His deal with SEIU local 1199 (the big NYC health care union) cost us taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in return for their endorsement.
Then the state cut things like hospital staffing, bridge maintenance, dam inspections, etc. to pay for those raises.
For reference, my last contract was 0%-3%-2 1/2% with givebacks, and we were glad to get it. Personally I would have preferred 0% for three years with an agreement to fill some of the vacant jobs in things like bridge repair, snow plowing, nursing- all those nonessential jobs.
Hmmm. No answer...hiding...ashamed and embarrassed for their friends the union thugs...I might have known.
I think this Toussaint guy is going to end up working as a janitor in Haiti, or Trinidad, or New Orleans -- wherever the hell he's from.
best news ever because the offer was stupid. Now the government can tell them all to take a hike. They are not going to get public support.
He's from Trinidad...and the word from my Trinidadian pals is that he's got a screw loose in a classically Trinidadian way.
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