Union Ups Rhetoric Against Metro-North Over Negotiations

NEW YORK — Two weeks after members of the Transport Workers Union of America handed strike-warning fliers to commuters at Grand Central and the Metro-North train station in New Haven, the union has taken out full-page ads in three newspapers accusing the MTA of being "on the fast track to strike action."

MTA spokesman Michael Cortez issued a statement in response: "There is no imminent risk of a strike and to suggest otherwise is extremely misleading."

Nearly 600 union members at Metro-North, including car inspectors, coach cleaners, and carmen mechanics, represented by Locals 2001 and 2055, have been without a contract since 2019.

Union officials said they recently entered into mediation with Metro-North under the legal process established by the Railway Labor Act, but described the first session as "not productive."

The terms demanded by Metro-North fall short of the prevailing labor contract pattern, which covers most MTA workers, TWU officials said. In particular, they said they could not accept a Metro-North contract demand that "would allow the employer to unilaterally change the terms of the agreement at any time, even on whim."

Under the labor act, workgroups have the right to strike in New York, union officials said.

The purposes of the labor act are to avoid any interruption of interstate commerce, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

While it does protect the right of employees to unionize and bargain collectively, "The RLA imposes a duty on carriers and employees to exert every reasonable effort to make and maintain collective bargaining agreements, and to settle all disputes, whether arising out of the application of such agreements or otherwise. The RLA also provides mandatory dispute resolution procedures that preclude strikes over union representation and grievance disputes, and postpone the ability of the parties to take action in bargaining disputes until they have completed an elaborate, time-consuming process involving negotiation, mediation by the NMB, possible review by a Presidential Emergency Board ("PEB"), and cooling-off periods."

Born from the ashes of Penn Central, Metro-North Railroad turned 40 at the beginning of 2023. It has three main commuter lines, plus spurs, east of the Hudson River, and two west of the river. In 40, ridership had more than doubled, to 86.6 million trips per year, before the COVID-19 pandemic. It now carries 70+ percent of its pre-pandemic ridership.