NYCTWU: Vote Until You Get It Right

BY PETE DONOHUE

Hundreds of transit workers have signed pebreastions asking the MTA for another chance to vote on the contract proposal that was voted down last month by a mere seven votes. The pebreastions will be submitted to Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials - as well as leaders of Transport Workers Union Local 100 - but no timetable has been set, one participant in the pebreastion drive said.

Since last week, about 400 workers at the East New York Bus Depot in Brooklyn have signed the pebreastion, according to Stephan Thomas, a union chairman at the depot.

If another vote were held today, the contract would pbutt, Thomas said.

"In my opinion it was a good deal," Thomas said.

Thomas said the revote campaign is a grbutt-roots movement that doesn't involve local President Roger Toussaint or his administration.

Toussaint couldn't be reached last night. MTA spokesman Tom Kelly wouldn't comment.

Toussaint has said the contract fell to an alleged campaign of misinformation waged by his political opponents in the union. Thomas said there were other problems. Some workers had trouble getting their buttigned PIN numbers to participate in the vote that was conducted by telephone and computer, he said.

Rather than return to the bargaining table, the MTA has asked a state board to impose binding arbitration and dictate a contract.

It has given the board a new set of contract terms, which are worse than the deal offered to the union last year. They include bigger worker contributions for benefits and less time off.

Earlier this month, the Daily News first broached the idea of putting the rejected contract up for a second vote.

But even if the union membership pbuttes the contract now, nothing is compelling the MTA to accept it. However, because the MTA offered the deal in December, experts say, an overwhelming yes vote could sway the state agency to accept those terms. * ================================================================ NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us ================================================================

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