We applaud both the MTA and union officials for reaching an agreement to avert a transit strike that would have affected more than 300,000 Long Island commuters – even though that agreement came just one day before the strike deadline.
This deal could have been reached weeks ago. The contract that has been agreed to by the union leaders but not yet approved by the rank and file calls for a 17 percent wage increase over the next six-and-a-half years for current employees and requires new hires to contribute to their health-care and pension costs. The precise amount of that contribution has yet to be disclosed.
It’s not unusual for incoming employees to be thrown under the bus or, in this case, the train.
The good news for commuters is that MTA officials say the deal won’t force the MTA to raise fares or delay badly needed capital improvements.
Congress was wise not to get involved in the negotiations. As hard as it would have been to live with, a strike would not have had national impact and congressional involvement would have set a bad precedent.
We don’t know exactly what Gov. Andrew Cuomo brought to the table. What we do know is that two days after he said he wasn’t getting involved, there he was looking like he saved the day.
Maybe he did. Or maybe the negotiations went the way both always sides thought they would.
In a joint statement on Thursday, Long Island congressmen Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills), Peter King (R-Seaford) and Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) gave Cuomo credit for “finalizing an agreement that will avoid a strike, and we have worked with him and both parties over the past months to help facilitate this outcome … we have worked on a bipartisan basis with the Governor and both parties to keep negotiations going, and today’s outcome is exactly what we envisioned.”
All’s well that ends well. But it could have ended weeks ago and saved a lot of nail biting for thousands of commuters.
