MTA Workers Contemplate Losing Pensions If Called To Strike
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Barbara Jones, a subway station agent with 25 years’ experience, contemplated her retirement yesterday – or rather the risk of losing her pension if the Transport Workers Union called for her to walk off the job if a contract settlement is not reached with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Ms. Jones is 51 and under the current pension plan for transit workers, she has four years until she receives her pension. Participating in a strike is illegal under state law and doing so could cost Ms. Jones her job and her retirement. It was something to think about before charging headlong for the picket lines.
“I need to figure out how it will affect me,” she said. “I’ve been here a long time. I don’t want to lose my job.”
For many older transit union members, the stakes are higher than for their younger counterparts: A lifetime of work is on the line.
A subway car operator, Andres Mato, 60, has 18 years on the job, most recently driving the shuttle between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square. He said he would prefer to continue working without incident until he retires in seven years with a pension that gives him half his current pay. But he said to cross the picket line would be harder than not showing up for work.
“I would prefer not to strike, but we have to do what they tell us,” Mr. Mato said, referring to his union leaders.
For younger workers, the long-term approach means fighting for wage in creases and other benefits MTA would like to reduce.
A conductor on the no. 1 line, Daryl Williams, 34, said the wage increases of 8% a year over three years sought by the union were meant to help middle-class families survive in the city. He said he was ready to strike if the union asked.
“We’re fighting for what we need, not what we want,” Mr. Williams, a single father of a 4-year old girl, said. “It comes down to necessities.”
While a settlement did not appear to be in reach last night, another train operator, Harold Jones, who has 18 years experience, said both sides are simply grandstanding.
“There’ll be no strike,” Mr. Jones, 57, said. “We’ve been here before. It never really happens.”
