TWU President Samuelsen Talks Negotiations

Over the years, I have covered the never ending war between the MTA & Transport Workers Union. The latest round in that war is looming as negotiations for a new labor deal are right around the corner. A few days ago, TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen went on The Brian Lehrer Show to discuss the negotiations.

The interview is what I expected it to be which is mostly John echoing his displeasure for former MTA CEO Jay Walder while maintaining the union’s hard line stance of not giving into threats from the MTA in terms of wage freezes & layoffs. He feels optimistic about the upcoming negotiating process with interim MTA CEO & Chairman Joseph Lhota. This is an interesting stance considering Mr. Lhota’s reputation for being an extreme cost cutter.

In my opinion, the highlight of the interview focused on John’s mention of the union having no intention of striking as it did in 2005. While he did not come out & promise that, it does seem like it would take something going extremely wrong for that to be an option. Hopefully that is the case as the last thing any of us wants to see is a repeat of 2005 unless it is absolutely necessary.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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