NYC Transit Union Demands 'Around The Clock' Contract Talks

NEW YORK — The MTA signaled Thursday that it is ready for intensive negotiations to resolve a contract dispute with New York City's transit workers union after the group called for "around the clock" talks.

In a letter to MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano said transit officials should come to the table nex tweek and hash out a new pact once and for all — or else the union might take matters into its own hands.

"I will negotiate around the clock until the contract is resolved — commencing as soon as Tuesday, November 12," Utano wrote Thursday. "... Please let me know if the MTA is serious about negotiating a fair contract, or if Local 100 should consider other alternatives."

Utano also slammed Foye's approach to the negotiations, which he said has involved "sporadic" and "counterproductive" meetings "followed by nasty, vitriolic, personally derogatory emails."

The 40,000-member transit union has been without an MTA contract since May, and the negotiations have grown increasingly bitter in recent weeks. The transportation authority's asks for higher employee health care contributions and overtime cutbacks are among the sticking points in the talks, according to union officials and news reports.

Utano's letter came a week union leaders and thousands of transit workers threatened to shut down the city if they don't get their way at a fiery rally outside the MTA's Lower Manhattan headquarters.

Union officials directed their ire toward Foye in particular, whom they derisively nicknamed "Pat Fraud" and accused of not dealing in good faith with the workers who keep the city's subways and buses moving.

But MTA officials are ready to sit down with the union until both sides can reach a deal, Chief Communications Officer Abbey Collins said.

"The Chairman’s focus since day one has been on reaching a fair contract and we invite TWU Local 100 to our offices tomorrow to negotiate in good faith a mutually acceptable agreement," Collins said in a statement Thursday.

"There’s no reason to wait and we accept the offer to remain in the room until a deal is done."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who controls the MTA, also received Utano's letter and supports putting an end to the tense dispute with marathon talks if needed, a top aide to the Democratic governor said.

Cuomo "will advise his (MTA) Board Members that he believes they should sit at the bargaining table until an agreement is reached," Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa said in a statement.

Transit workers could protest any further breakdown in the negotiations by slowing down bus and subway service, according to news reports. Some union members have already delayed bus commutes to put pressure on the MTA, THE CITY has reported.

"Transit workers are the ones who put the system back together, and they could dismantle it very quickly," Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen told the New York Daily News. "That’s how serious this is."