A distinct pattern has developed in ACRE's collective bargaining policy. This trend creates a contractual situation separating a group of members from within the union. This action cannot be considered progressive bargaining.

This pattern emerged in the 1999 agreement. Bottalico and Doyle, then UTU and BLE General Chairman settled an agreement that established a division of labor. Instead of providing an employer contribution of 5 ½% for all members in train and engine service towards their Vanguard account, the defined contribution benefit, Bottalico and Doyle agreed to a contract with employer contributions of 7% for members with over 19 years of service and 4% for members with less than 19 years of service.

ACRE's 2004 contract contained a provision for all new employees to co-pay for their health and welfare benefits. ACRE's response to member questions concerning the impact for the new employees co-paying was uniform, “ACRE has addressed the co-payment of health and welfare issue, only future new hires will ever have to co-pay. We cannot bargain for people that are not here yet. What do you care about the new guy”? This approach to collective bargaining set the stage for the most recent contract scenario.

Establishing a new pension tier for new employees will create difficulty in future negotiations and will serve to alienate these new employees affected by creating this new pension tier. Retirement at age 62 with a 20% cap on their overtime earnings calculated on their base salary.

ACRE members currently co-paying for health and welfare benefits will be confronted with a difficult decision. Recognizing the way they were sacrificed in the last agreement, they will have to decide whether or not to sacrifice the new employees coming behind them to ease their financial burden of co-paying for their health and welfare benefits. This choice is not simple due to the long-term goal of the MTA to place all employees in this new pension tier. The temptation of eliminating this financial drain on their income, currently as high as $2,500.00 per year for the Empire family plan will not be easy to ignore.

The pattern of creating separate groups within the primary body of a union's membership through the collective bargaining process is counterproductive. If this trend is not halted, the entire membership will ultimately experience extremely negative consequences.

The officers of UTU Local 77