If you are a Metro-North employee in train or engine service, you should be aware of the 100-day vacation waiver Mike Doyle mentions in his General Chairman's report to ACRE Local 9 members at the monthly association meeting held on January 9 th .

Doyle states “meeting with Ray Burney to possibly finalize the 100-day vacation waiver. In order to get the waiver back, jobs will be allowed to be changed pre-Christmas and pre-New Years week. Members will continue to be whole for the week. In addition, members will not exercise their seniority when the jobs are changed for MLK day. Members will be made whole for MLK day.” This vacation waiver allows a member to leave in January instead of working their assignment until they fulfill the 100-day work requirement for vacation credit for the following year.

Train and engine service employees had received and enjoyed this 100-day vacation waiver in the past. Metro-North discontinued this policy for train and engine service employees after members from other unions complained and stated their desire for their retirees to receive the same 100-day waiver. When labor relations took back the 100-day waiver from train and service employees, Mike and Tony should have informed Metro-North labor relations that we had received and enjoyed this benefit in the past and would take this issue to an arbitration board and argue under “past practice”. Instead Mike and Tony let the company take back this benefit and never filed a complaint nor said a word.

Now for the return of the 100-day waiver, (why all of a sudden is this now an issue) Mike Doyle intends to give Metro-North the ability to change all engine assignments for a two week period (14 days), and not permit any employee to exercise their seniority for these two weeks and on MLK day (which Tony Bottalico stated at his monthly meeting, that he would get MLK day as a holiday for his members with the next contract). What about the time and a half after 14:00, 14b payments and bubble starts on New Year's Eve? These items are not guaranteed nor included in our regular earnings. Why not make all of these days' holidays, then Metro-North can do whatever they like to the schedules? Basically, ACRE and Metro-North are doing the same thing, only without the overtime.

Why would Doyle negotiate these issues for a policy which benefits a few ACRE members and implement an agreement that affects every ACRE member and benefits Metro-North forever. Simply put, this arrangement greatly favors Metro-North. Metro-North established past practice by allowing the 100-day waiver for years. The past practice door in arbitration awards swings both ways for the unions and the carriers. Why won't Mike Doyle progress this issue to a board? The obvious answer is that this issue is contrary to Metro-North's best interest. Mike Doyle is using the 100-day waiver issue as a springboard to give Metro-North exactly what they want regarding the changing of engine assignments during pre-Christmas and pre-New Year's Eve weeks.

If Doyle and by extension, Bottalico, wish to negotiate these issues with Metro-North labor relations, instead of presenting them at a board, they should present these matters before the entire ACRE membership, along with all of the costs and any real benefits of this proposal for the entire ACRE membership, and let the entire ACRE membership decide the merits of this proposal in the form of a referendum ballot. What Mike Doyle and ACRE really stand for: A ny C osts for R etiring E ngineers.