Greedy Transit Workers Or Inept Transit Management?
December 13th, 2005
Alex Storozynski in the New York Sun, and an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by City Journal contributing editor Nicole Gelinas, make the same basic point — transit workers don’t have it so bad. “The starting salary for a NYC Transit train operator is $52,644 a year, before overtime. In the new contracts that the city’s municipal unions negotiated this year, the starting salary for a New York Police Department officer will be $25,100 a year,” Storozynski writes.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority “is a generous employer by any standard,” Gelinas writes. “Its employees take home bigger paychecks and more lavish benefits than most of the city’s private employees. The authority is not looking to drastically slash those salaries and benefits. It is merely proposing to increase worker productivity and to cut back modestly on its own pension and health-benefit obligations.”
Storozynski’s essay is entitled “Start Hiring” and recommends that officials “can look to President Reagan’s example of how to deal with an illegal strike” — i.e., as in the 1981 air traffic controllers’ strike, fire them and hire replacements.
Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez sees it differently: “When it comes to money, [Gary Dellaverson, head of MTA labor relations] says, transit workers should act responsibly and accept tough times. In other words, they shouldn’t follow the MTA way.” That way, Gonzalez charges, is “the way of lies, smoke screens and funny money math.” For example, he writes, it is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s long-ago sweetening of the pensions for the workers on the Long Island Rail Road, not in the city, that has created a huge deficit. “As for the transit workers who devoted their careers to working in the city, the MTA’s contributions to the regular municipal retirement system are dramatically lower than they were in the 1980s and 1990s.”
By Jonathan Mandell on December 13, 2005, 9:55 amIn category: Public Finance, Transportation | 12 Comments »


December 13th, 2005 at 10:19 am
Both. That’s the problem.
December 13th, 2005 at 11:04 am
the MTA has no accountability, no transparency and a history of corruption.
They pretend they have no money, then they pretend they have all the money in the world only to reveal a shortfall after the elections (don’t want to hurt their best friend Pataki).
Then it turns out they are using “creative accounting” to come by that defecit that they’ve invented as an excuse to raise fairs (ie. tax the poor).
We need public oversite of the MTA.
I don’t know how anyone can argue against that.
December 13th, 2005 at 11:09 am
Management and workers could be better, but politics is the problem.
City transit workers did in fact receive a huge pension enhancement in 2000, outside of collective bargaining, that contributed to the current hole. And remember that only half of all private sector workers have any retirement plan at all.
During the 1990s, tax subsidies to the MTA were cut, and the money diverted elsewhere, leading to a big debt.
And fares were held down, falling behind inflation, from 1995 to 2002.
“Everybody wins.”
Just because TWU workers didn’t cause all of the problem doesn’t mean they didn’t cause any of it.
But I agree that the 2000 pension enhancement for existing employees shouldn’t be paid for by lower benefits for future employees (again!). The lower pension contributions and health care costs associated with a lower retirement age for future workers should be used, dollar for dollar, for a higher salary for future workers.
December 13th, 2005 at 12:19 pm
By the way, I do not agree that a strike this time of year is more damaging than at other times. More aggravating, perhaps, but not more damaging. Productivity at work is down this time of year. People could shop closer to home.
In fact, if a two-week strike led to the union being hit so hard that there was no possibiity of any additional job actions for another 25 years, that would be less damaging that a threat of a strike every three years, in my opinion.
December 13th, 2005 at 2:09 pm
I just don’t see how on earth they deserve more…
December 13th, 2005 at 2:13 pm
Well, there is inflation.
Unfortunately, “they” get more every year. But it all goes to higher pension and health care costs for the retirees, which active workers cannot see and do not appreciate. Hence — high and rising labor costs, plus disgruntled employees and difficulty in hiring in skilled trades. That’s public sector magic for you, and it might cause a strike.
December 20th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
Fire the greedy transit workers – and start hiring new people, people who’d just be grateful they have a J-O-B, forget about the extra benefits (like unlimited OT, etc.!!)Teach a lesson to all the greedy people in the world. Thank you.
December 21st, 2005 at 12:52 am
I agree that the transit workers should be fired and hire new replacements. They should have been thankful for their wages and benefits package. Everyone is going to have to contribute a little more toward Health Insurance, so they need to suck it up and not cause so much financial heartache to the people of New York.
December 21st, 2005 at 7:52 am
I agree. Plenty of people want, need and would be grateful to work for the MTA. They make more than us hospital workers who are required to have advanced college degrees for our jobs. Fire them because I would like their cushy job!!!
December 21st, 2005 at 9:46 pm
The TWU under Roger Toussaint have cut of their nose to spite their face!They have also crippled their fellow working man!
If there is an injustice in pension benefits aimed at the newly hired workers, sit down at the bargaining table and discuss it in a civil way. Negotiations are the answer. Taking out anger on innocent hard-working people, angering political leaders and facing severe fines and possible jail terms is not the answer. Let’s be civil not
cruel!
December 22nd, 2005 at 12:16 pm
Even with a 6% pension contribution, these transit workers contribute less than 95% of all America workforce.
Oh, woe is us, the greedy transit workers, who insist on 8% raise per year. OMFG… I haven’t had a raise in 6 years.
August 26th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Very thought-provoking idea. I intend to return to this site soon.