Top reasons why ACRE members voted for the contract.

Anyone that exercised care and good judgment before casting their ballot for the contract, either pro or con, should be commended. The statements listed below are some of the reasons offered by various ACRE members for voting yes for the contract. The explanations were offered in conversations with other ACRE members. Not all of the following statements are factual, the satirical statements will be revealed at the end of the list.

Before we begin the list, thanks to Mike Canino, General Chairman of the UTU Committee on the LIRR. Without his efforts in obtaining the pension benefit for his post 1988 members, ACRE would never even have discussed the pension.

1. The pension is great, the rest of the deal is awful.

2. I owed Tony a favor.

3. I didn't want Tony to look bad to the company if we turned it down.

4. I'm dyslexic, I thought I voted no.

5. I wanted a free ACRE hat.

6. Tony told me if the contract was voted down, he'd have to call for an immediate reelection of

officers because the company would lose confidence in him.

7. I thought the signing bonus was actually a 2% raise.

8. I liked the vision plan.

9. I saw that poor injured Bob Felicetta, while on light duty, riding trains to convince members to

vote yes for the contract, I had to reward the effort.

10. I wanted a 50% discount on an ACRE jacket.

11. I wanted a vacation change.

12. I want to get my kid hired.

13. If I voted no, I was afraid ACRE would know.

14. I wanted to reward all of Tony and Mike's hard work.  Remember after the UTU agreed to a deal,

they bad mouthed the proposal until it was ratified, then asked Gary D. what they could do

about it, he gave them a deal within a few weeks, and their only problem was how to sell it to

the members.

15. I was promised a tour of Tony's new $850,000 house, the rumored price is $700,000 to

$1,000,000, we split the difference.

16. Tony and Mike said to trust them, they'll get the 3% pension contribution reduced to 10

years on the next contract.

17. Tony told me I'd get a vote if the MTA tried to have us co-pay health and welfare coverage

in the next contract.

18. ACRE says they can't negotiate for people that don't work here yet.

19. Screw the younger employee, I want out.

20. I think it is great, the young guy is paying for my pension.

21. I don't care about anyone else, I care about me.

22. I voted yes, and then I found out that unless you leave under “normal retirement” provisions,

you don't have health and welfare coverage, I wish I had my ballot back.

23. I need a personal day, my request was denied.

24. Tony called me at home and asked me to vote yes on the contract, he ended the call by saying

“God Bless You”, how can you not trust anyone that says God Bless You?

25. I like the vacation wheel.

26. I only liked the pension, I voted yes to show respect for Mike Canino's hard work.

27. I voted yes because Mike and Tony offered three (3) different methods to obtain the health

and welfare coverage like the LIRR's. Tony said he and Mike could go back to the MTA and

request health and welfare coverage for other than “normal retirement” to be included in this

deal. Mike said ACRE could take the issue to a board. The final idea is for Mike and Tony to

handle each individual retiree's case if the employee isn't covered under “normal retirement”.

They would approach the company and request the benefits for each member on an individual

basis.

28. I let my wife fill out the ballot.

29. I let an ACRE officer run a pension projection for me. Did you know that in 20 years I'll be

averaging $196,000 per year?

30. I thought I could get out at 55. Then I found out that if I didn't have 30 years in the plan at

55, I'll take a 27% reduction on my pension and I don't get health and welfare coverage. I

wish I had my ballot back.

31. I wanted Tony and Mike to be able to fulfill their contract with the MTA.

32. Tony and Mike said to forget that we could have got the pension last contract for a lot less

cost. Remember, they said the Vanguard was the way to go and we would have to “have our

heads examined” if we elected union officers that would negotiate away our Vanguard.

33. The offer is awful but I'm voting yes because we won't get any better.

Here we are, time to reveal the factual from the fictional statements:

Factual: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, 29, 30, 33

Fictional: 4, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 23, 24, 26, 28, 31, 32