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To
all Train Service Employees:
A
good contract proposal should sell itself, stand up to scrutiny
by the membership and reduce member concerns. All information
should be included for review and clearly defined by union
officers. Member questions should be answered truthfully.
Members should not still harbor doubts as they prepare to
cast their ballot. If serious concerns are still evident,
a member has but one option when the time comes to mark
the ballot, vote no.
ACRE
failed to include at least two sidebar letters in the last
contract promotion, and it does appear at least one sidebar
agreement, the agreement the Teamsters released, to increase
union officers pensions based upon a combination of Metro-North
earnings and union salaries is missing. Maintaining ACRE
contract promotion policy, circulated information is distorted
and important details of the proposal are omitted.
A
prime example is the co-payment of health and welfare issue.
ACRE stated during promotion of the last agreement that
the issue was addressed and only new hires would have to
co-pay, and anyone working here at the time of contract
ratification would never have to co-pay
the benefit. Last summer ACRE blamed the Metro-North Coalition
because the MTA was seeking a co-payment for health and
welfare benefits of 1½% of an employees gross wages.
The co-payment issue was removed from the bargaining table
in favor of the age 62 retirement for new hires. Mike Doyle
recently informed a group of Engineers the MTA will attempt
to obtain a co-payment in the next contract. 1½%
of the gross wage, even though the Teamsters agreed to a
co-payment feature of only 2% on a 40-hour workweek. How
could anyone believe ACRE when they claim the age 62 retirement
tier is for new hires only? The MTA will include a provision
to place all employees in this pension tier in a future
contract, probably during the contract after next.
Additional
details of ACRE Local Division 1's proposed agreement:
•
Wages: last scheduled raise is 1/1/09.
Contract terms are 1/1/07 to 6/15/10. This is 5½
months with no raise, a zero . Any
period without a raise is a zero; ACRE's comments regarding
this 5½-month period cannot alter this fact.
The basic wage package was negotiated by TWU Local 100
in December 2005, without any zero included.
•
Conductor rate of $34.55 per hour upon contract
ratification: This extra 5½% above the
4% for 2007 increase is for Conductors only. What about
the Trainmen?
•
3% employee salary contribution into the pension
plan: Now capped at 10 years. The LIRR received
this upon implementation of the MTA Pension Plan in
their last contract. It cost ACRE members .09% (payroll
percentage) to cap the 3% employee salary contribution
this contract.
•
Retirement incentive: Everyone is paying
for this option, 2½ months of the 5½-month
zero. How many employees are expected to retire before
age 60?
•
Age 62 retirement for all new hires: Overtime
earnings in excess of 20% of “regular wages” are not
included in the calculation of retirement benefits.
Unless the “committee” mentioned in the sidebar letter
changes the definition, regular wages are an employee's
40-hour workweek.
•
Hand held computer: ACRE waives any
claims for additional compensation for this device or
any future device to sell tickets, etc. This issue should
have been negotiated separately. The Railway Labor Act
provides the ability for a union to negotiate any change
to the collective bargaining agreement or work conditions,
at any time. More leverage could have been applied by
a non-company union for an arbitrary payment for all
passenger Conductors and Trainmen as the MTA nears a
date for implementation of the device. All factors affecting
an employee's service should be considered when a responsible
union negotiates an issue of this importance.
•
Meal period window: Reducing the meal
period from 30 minutes to 20 minutes negates any potential
gain from the reduction in the meal window to 4 to 6½
hours.
•
Mediation for attendance policy and return to
duty status (after an on the job injury): Why
would ACRE agree to language in a contract if the organization
is seeking mediation to resolve the dispute? Allowing
language to be included in the agreement limiting an
employee's options concerning an on the job injury weakens
ACRE's “position”. If the dispute is progressed to mediation,
the mediator will probably have the same questions.
•
Health and welfare contributions for new hires:
This provision costs everyone 3 months of the
5½-month zero. The issue is not settled and should
be addressed now instead of the next agreement. All
employees, instead of just the new hires, should co-pay,
similar to the Teamsters deal. If this contract is ratified,
all employees currently co-paying for their medical,
should receive retroactive compensation for all contributions
after 1/1/07.
•
Early retirement health benefit: Age
55, with 10 years of service, The LIRR obtained this
benefit in their last contract.
•
Vacations: Changing the vacation wheel
again. Remains to be seen after implementation if this
is a good idea. Allowing the Carrier to randomly select
a date before September 1 st to determine an employee's
geographic location for the vacation pick is not beneficial
to some members.
•
30% of weekend assignments up to 10½
hours long: ACRE does not police the current
agreement with the company. This will affect weekend
relief day work, and besides, who really wants to work
10½ hours on the weekend. Remember the weekend
schedule is usually your holiday schedule.
•
Extra list: Benefits cannot be fully
determined on some issues until after implementation.
•
Extra list positions not annulled on the holiday:
The BLE on Metro-North won this award 12 to
13 years ago. After the award was implemented, Ron Flomsbee
asked Bottalico, then a UTU General Chairman at the
time, to attempt to obtain the same agreement. Bottalico
responded that it would cost the company too much money.
•
Job guarantee: The job guarantee was
always for number of employees, approximately 450 Conductors
and Trainmen. The 6/15/98 date appears to protect 500
to 525 members.
•
Yankee Stadium: as stated in a sidebar
letter “service to and from Yankee Stadium will not
violate any provision of the collective bargaining agreement
and will not be subject to claims for additional compensation
or penalty”. When has the Company not attempted to interpret
an agreement differently than a union, at least that
is, before ACRE became the bargaining agent?
Summary:
There are too many serious issues in this contract
that affect a large number of members in a negative manner,
age 62 retirement and overtime earnings restrictions, hand
held computer with no additional compensation, 5½
months of another zero (in consecutive contracts), the sick
time and on the job injury return to work dispute, less
of a raise for Trainmen opposed to Conductors, the 30% weekend
assignments up to 10½ hours long, etc. This contract
does contain some good features, but these items cannot
counter balance the negative aspects of this contract proposal.
A member that expects to work in train service for an extended
period of time has a single option when marking their ballot,
and that is to vote no .
Sincerely,
Art
May
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