January 9, 2009
Angry MTA chair rails against transit union
Transit union chief Roger Toussaint is in jail. His union was hit for millions in fines. But MTA chairman Peter Kalikow is still raving mad over the strike.
"There was a criminal act committed against riders of this system. The poorest people in this city were denied paychecks at Christmas time," Kalikow said Wednesday.
He refused to consider approving the MTA's previous contract offer that the Transport Workers Union Local 100 voted for last week after initally rejecting it by seven votes.
"They have no right to push that deal, in its exact form down our throat, as we have no right to push a deal down their throat," an angry and red-faced Kalikow said during a lengthy diatribe at the agency¹s monthly board meeting.
"I negotiated that agreement in good faith. I was in the room," he continued.
"I pleaded with Roger Toussaint not to leave. I begged him. I can't remember the last time I begged somebody to do something, but I did that night. I said, 'Roger please don't leave.' And Roger got up, walked out and took his union out on an illegal strike," he said.
Toussaint, who was also fined $1,000 for the three-day December strike, began serving his 10-day jail sentence on Monday.
Kalikow killed any hope the union had that its post-strike contract, with 10.5% in raises over three years and pension refunds worth $130 million, would be ratified.
Instead, Kalikow, said binding arbitration by a state mediator would settle the dispute.
The outburst was prompted by a question from nonvoting board member Tony Bottalico, who represents the only Metro-North workers' union with a contract. He asked Kalikow to restore a "reservoir of trust" and accept the contract that was initially rejected, then approved by the TWU.
Only one voting board member, Mitch Pally, who represents Long Island, said the MTA should accept the contract.
The transit union was banking that public pressure would force the MTA to accept the contract.
"The only reasonable and smart way to get this contract behind us is for the MTA board to approve the contract that was ratified by transit workers. Not only did the chairman not do that today but his remarks were provocative and insulting to every transit worker," said Ed Watt, the No. 2 official at the union and a nonvoting MTA board member.
MTA watchdogs were shocked at Kalikow's tirade.
"He clearly still harbors a very personal grudge from the December negotiations," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. "And that doesn't augur well for the near future."
During the public comments period of the meeting, he told Kalikow, "Right now, you have the unenviable record of having the worst labor relations in the near 40-year existence of the MTA."
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