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One-time payment to transit workers will cost $110 million(New York Daily News (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) NEW YORK _ Thousands of bus and subway workers are poised to reap up to $14,000 each in a new contract pension windfall that will ease the pain of their strike penalties _ but will cost commuters an estimated $110 million. News of the surprise Metropolitan Transportation Authority payout to up to 20,000 union members follows last week's crippling three-day strike, which cost the city an estimated $1 billion and wreaked pre-holiday chaos. The $110 million represents a refund of extra pension contributions that up to 20,000 union members made between 1994 and 2000. The new transit contract will give workers back the 2.3 percent of wages they paid toward pensions for those six years _ plus interest. "It'll probably balance out, but it's actually our money," said bus driver Alfred Kwiatkowski, 50, of the lower East Side. The MTA and Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint wouldn't comment Wednesday, but some workers said the deal made last week's strike worthwhile. "Roger finally got us our money back," said bus driver Ray Rios, 48, of Queens, a 17-year veteran who has clamored for a refund since 2000. "We've been wanting our money back ever since." Thousands of MTA workers like Rios paid 2.3 percent extra into the pension fund for six years so they could retire at 55 instead of 62. But when the Legislature lowered the retirement age for all MTA workers to 55 in 2000, their extra contributions were for naught. Gov. George Pataki twice vetoed bills that would have returned the money to workers like Rios, saying it was a matter for the bargaining table. So that's what the MTA did _ agreeing to the one-time payment. Under the tentative pact, the 33,700 union members will for the first time pay 1.5 percent of their wages for health care, though health coverage will be improved and will cover them through retirement. They also get modest wage increases, a paid holiday on Martin Luther King's birthday and their first maternity leave benefits _ while the MTA gets a 37-month pact eliminating the threat of another pre-Christmas strike. And the pension benefits may ease the sting of Taylor Law penalties for the illegal strike, which are estimated to average $1,000 per employee. Workers forfeit two days' pay for every day of the strike _ but quirks in vacation and work schedules mean some employees will lose six days' pay from the 60-hour strike, while others will lose nothing at all. "I got hit by double days for all three days," said bus driver Joe De La Cruz, 61. "Other guys only got hit for two days." Union members will vote on the pact by mail next month, and it must still be approved by the MTA board. "We're all happy with it for the most part," said station agent Debra Taylor, 44, of Plainfield, N.J. "I think it was worth it." But other workers are still fuming over the contract terms _ fearing that the first contributions to the health plan are just opening the door to more increases in the future. "I think we got shafted," fumed William Vargas, a veteran MTA bus driver from Carteret, N.J. "I don't think we should pay for health benefits. We never did and we shouldn't start now." Outsiders said there was no clear winner in the contract _ or even a consensus about whether the union was smart to walk out. "They both got what they could live with, which is what collective bargaining is all about," said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Westchester. ___ (New York Daily News correspondent Tamer El-Ghobashy contributed to this report.) ___ (c) 2005, New York Daily News. Visit the Daily News online at http://www.nydailynews.com/ Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected]. |