whitehouselogoWASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, March 20, signed an executive order creating a second Presidential Emergency Board to help resolve an ongoing dispute between the Long Island Rail Road and some of its unionized employees.

The appointment of a second PEB means that a strike by members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers and other union employees that could have come as early as March 21 will now be put off until July at the earliest.

PEB 245 will provide a structure that allows the two sides to attempt to resolve their disagreements. In the 60 days following its establishment, the PEB will obtain final offers for settlement of the dispute from each side, and then produce a report to the president that selects the offer that the board finds to be the most reasonable.

The board’s report is not binding, but the party whose offer is not selected would be prohibited by law from receiving certain benefits if a work stoppage subsequently occurs. If the two sides fail to reach a compromise based on the recommendations of the second PEB, LIRR workers can legally strike as early as July 19.

“I am obviously disappointed that New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority rejected the findings of PEB 244,” said SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich. “While the board’s recommendations did not include everything our members on the LIRR were seeking, I do think they provided an equitable framework for resolving this matter without a work stoppage.”

The first PEB recommended that the LIRR pay wage increases totaling 18.4 percent over six years (2.9 percent per year) and that employees begin contributing to health insurance premium costs. After factoring in the recommended employee health insurance contributions, the board’s recommendations will produce net wage increases of 2.5 percent per year.

The recommendations were retroactive to June 2010.

“The recommendations of the first Presidential Emergency Board ignored the enormous burden that a 17 percent wage increase over six years without a single change in work rules or other cost offset would place on the MTA’s budget,” said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan.

The members of PEB 245 are: Joshua M. Javits, appointee for chairman; Elizabeth C. Wesman, appointee for member; and M. David Vaughn, appointee for member.

“I appreciate that these dedicated individuals have agreed to devote their talent and years of experience working on labor-management disputes to help reach a swift and smooth resolution of this issue,” Obama said.

Javits is a self-employed mediator and arbitrator for labor-management, pension, commercial, contract and a variety of other disputes. He served on PEBs in 2007 and in 2009. From 1993 to 2001, Javits was a Partner at Ford & Harrison L.L.P., where he also served as Executive Director of the Labor Relations Association of Passenger Railroads. He was appointed as chairman and member of the National Mediation Board (NMB) from 1988 to 1993, where he was responsible for administering the Railway Labor Act governing labor relations in the airline and railroad industries. He was a labor-management arbitrator of record in more than 100 cases between 1985 and 1988, serving on numerous arbitration panels, including the AAA, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the NMB.

Wesman has been a full-time labor and employment arbitrator since 2000 and has practiced arbitration/mediation since 1981. She has arbitrated disputes in a wide array of industries, including railroads, aerospace, police and fire departments and public and private universities. She was previously associate professor of Strategy and Human Resources/Industrial Relations at Syracuse University from 1981 to 2000. She was also an adjunct professor at the Rochester, New York, Extension Division of Cornell University from 1990 to 2000.

Vaughn has been a full-time neutral arbitrator and mediator specializing in labor and employment disputes since 1984. He has served on three previous railroad industry PEBs. He has been handling railroad cases since 1984 and has issued hundreds of awards. His current public law board appointments include Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) and United Transportation Union (UTU), CSX and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen – Teamsters (BLET), and BNSF and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes – Teamsters (BMWET). He holds numerous umpireships and panel appointments, including Railway Labor Act panels withUnited Continental and Air Line Pilots Association, USAir and Association of Flight Attendants, and UPSA and Teamsters.

cameraThe Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad plan to install inward-facing and outward-facing video cameras and audio recorders on most of their trains, MTA officials said.

In response to calls from federal investigators for stepped-up safety measures on two of the busiest commuter rail systems in the country, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Wednesday that it intends to put out a request for proposal to find a vendor to design, manufacture and install the recording technology on newer LIRR and Metro-North electrical passenger cars and all locomotives.

Read the complete story at Newsday.

The federal government needs to do a top-to-bottom review of the Long Island Rail Road to see if it is “rotten” and rife with safety problems like its sister agency, the Metro-North Railroad, Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday, March 18.

The Federal Railroad Administration last week released a scathing report describing lax supervision, subpar training and other problems at Metro-North. The report was the result of an intensive 60-day review prompted by a spate of Metro-North accidents, including the Dec. 1 derailment in the Bronx that killed four passengers and injured more than 70 others.

Read the complete story at the New York Daily News.

The MTA wants Long Island Rail Road workers to give up a piece of their LIRR pensions if they are also collecting federal occupational disability benefits – a plan that union leaders say would unfairly punish the legitimately injured.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials say the proposal – among the concessions sought in the agency’s contract impasse with railroad unions – aims to curb widespread abuse of a U.S. Railroad Retirement Board occupational disability program by LIRR retirees.

Read the complete story at Newsday.

Members of the Long Island congressional delegation are beginning to pressure the MTA to settle a contract dispute with Long Island Rail Road union workers and avert a strike that could cripple the nation’s largest commuter rail system as soon as next month.

But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has still not said whether it intends to defuse the strike threat by requesting a second Presidential Emergency Board after earlier rejecting the recommendations of the first emergency board.

Read the complete story at Newsday.

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Simon

Following the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Jan. 15 announcement that it is rejecting a proposed series of wage increases for unionized employees on the Long Island Rail Road, SMART Transportation Division General Committee of Adjustment GO 505 has signaled that its members are prepared to strike as early as March 21.

The wage increases and other recommendations were the findings of Presidential Emergency Board 244, which was appointed by President Barack Obama to settle a long-running dispute between LIRR management and its unionized employees.

“With the guidance and support of our SMART International Union, along with the teamwork and solidarity of our brothers and sisters from the sheet metal side of SMART, the Transportation Communications Union and the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers, 70 percent of the represented workforce on LIRR is prepared to deliver on the actions allowable by the process of self-help, as per the Railway Labor Act,” said GO 505 General Chairperson Anthony Simon.

“In addition, we have the support of Transport Workers Union Local 100, which demonstrates an overwhelming sign of solidarity from labor to MTA.”

“Due to the MTA’s unwillingness to accept the recommendations of PEB 244, and without their request for a second board, our labor coalition is prepared to strike as early as March 21. While we have said time and time again that this is not what labor wants for the riders at the MTA, it will be the sole result of the MTA’s unwillingness to take the next step.”

The three board members recommended that the LIRR pay wage increases totaling 18.4 percent over six years (2.9 percent per year) and that employees begin contributing to health insurance premium costs. After factoring in the recommended employee health insurance contributions, the board’s recommendations will produce net wage increases of 2.5 percent per year.

The board’s wage recommendations are retroactive to the first year of the contract dispute, which has been ongoing for more than three years. The board rejected MTA’s demand that workers accept three years of net zero wage increases, followed by two, two-percent increases over five years.

The board also rejected MTA’s demand for major concessions in pensions, including a permanent five-percent employee contribution.

In its recommendations issued Dec. 22, the PEB said the wage increases were comparable to recent commuter settlements in large cities like Chicago and Boston.

Simon said that since its Jan. 15 announcement, the MTA has refused to say if it would seek a second PEB and has declined to meet with him or leaders of any of the other affected unions in the bargaining group.

“Strong leadership requires strong action. Now is the time our SMART membership, and the membership of our supporting unions, realize that we are ready to deliver. Ready for March 21 … or with MTA action, ready for the next step.”

“We need the full support of our members and their full trust in their leadership. The-long standing battle cry for labor has never been more true, ‘progress through unity.’”

To view the complete PEB report, click here.

The Long Island Railroad will start keeping track of employees’ hours by having them sign in and out of work with their fingerprints.

An audit by the city comptroller found that neither Metro-North nor the LIRR had a good system in place for regulating worker overtime or keeping records of the hours that employees worked.

Read the complete story at NY1.

The Long Island Railroad rolled closer to a possible summer strike Jan. 15 when transit executives rejected a proposed series of raises for workers.

MTA Labor Relations Director Anita Miller notified the National Mediation Board that the authority would not enact a contract settlement for the commuter railroad that was crafted by an independent panel. The move prompted an angry response from a top union leader representing LIRR workers, who have labored without a contract since 2010.

Read the complete story at the New York Daily News.

Officers and members of SMART Transportation Division General Committee of Adjustment GO 505 on the Long Island Rail Road Dec. 18 delivered a $5,000 check to support a program for autistic children in the Town of Islip, N.Y.
The donation adds to the committee’s yearly commitment to autism services in the local community, which it is proud to serve with reliable and safe transportation.
As reported earlier this year, GO 505 sponsors a golf outing annually to raise funds for Autism Speaks and autism services in Long Island, N.Y. Autism Speaks is a leading autism science and advocacy organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism.
While supporting research to assist in the continued efforts to aid families affected by autism, SMART leadership of the committee was determined to set additional funds aside to give to families in the local community, General Chairperson Anthony Simon said.
Simon, Vice General Chairperson Vinnie Tessitore and Local Chairperson Michael Denn met with Town of Islip Councilman Anthony Senft Jr. to learn about a new program in the community called Inclusive Sports and Fitness (ISF). The program, founded and managed by Alexander Lopez, utilizes mentoring and therapeutic principals inherent in sports to foster positive personal, social, and physical growth in an inclusive way for all children.
“On behalf of our railroad union members, we are pleased to assist in getting this program expanded to assist more children in our community. SMART members are proud to give back to the neighbors we serve,” Simon said.

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SMART Transportation Division GO 505 officers Anthony Simon, Vinnie Tessitore and Michael Denn
present a check to Alexander Lopez, with the support and appreciation of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Town of Islip Councilmen Senft and Flotteron. Also pictured are Inclusive Sports and Fitness volunteers and children enrolled in the program.

whitehouselogoPresidential Emergency Board 244 issued its recommendations Dec. 21 for settling a dispute between the Long Island Rail Road and its unionized employees represented by the SMART Transportation Division and several other labor unions.

The board’s recommendations are non-binding and the parties now have 120 days to reach agreement based on the recommendations.

The three board members recommended that the LIRR pay wage increase totaling 18.4 percent over six years (2.9 percent per year) and employees begin contributing to health insurance premium costs. After factoring in the recommended employee health insurance contributions, the board’s recommendations would still produce net wage increases of 2.5 percent per year.

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Simon

“Obviously, I am satisfied with the board’s findings,” said SMART TD GO 505 General Chairperson Anthony Simon. “The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Long Island Rail Road management had been demanding three years of ‘net zero’ wage increases and larger contributions to our health and welfare plans. They were also seeking numerous work-rule changes to our contract, which the board rejected. This is a ‘home run’ for the employees we represent.”

“All unions on LIRR will accept the board’s recommendations – although they’re not everything that we bargained for – so we can avoid any inconvenience to the riding public,” Simon said. “We hope the MTA will do the same.”

“I thank SMART General President Joe Nigro, SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich, Vice President John Lesniewski, Vice General Chairperson Vinnie Tessitore Jr. and the entire negotiating committee from GO 505 for their support and guidance during this process.”

In its report to the President Barack Obama, the board stated that, “It simply cannot be concluded that the MTA’s current financial position is one in which it is unable to pay for wage adjustments that are otherwise warranted.”

The board’s wage recommendations are retroactive to the first year of the contract dispute, which has been ongoing for more than three years. The board rejected MTA’s demand that workers accept three years of net zero wage increases, followed by two, two-percent increases over five years.

The board also rejected MTA’s demand for major concessions in pensions, including a permanent five percent employee contribution.

The PEB also rejected MTA’s demand that retirees begin paying for health insurance and that railroad retirement disability pensions be offset by LIRR’s pension payments.

PEB recommendations include that employees begin contributing to health insurance premium costs, beginning at one percent of 40 hours straight-time pay, at the contract’s opening date of June 16, 2010, and increasing by .25 percent increments each year thereafter. MTA had proposed larger employee contributions, while the affected unions had proposed no contributions from current employees.

If no agreement is reached, the company or the governor of New York can ask for a second PEB to be appointed, whose recommendations would also be non-binding. If no agreement between LIRR and its unions is reached following the second PEB’s recommendations, the unions would be free to strike.

Simon said he did not expect that a second PEB’s findings would be much different from that of the first.

The board’s recommendations come after holding hearings for a full week that began Dec. 2.

“After an intensive and relentless week of deliberations, I can say that our organization left no stones unturned during these proceedings,” Simon said at the time. “We presented an excellent case before the board and we are determined to fight for our members in order to obtain a fair and well-deserved agreement for all,” he said.

The board’s members included chairman Ira F. Jaffe, Roberta Golick and Arnold M. Zack.

To view the complete PEB report, click here.