MTA Bus Members Ratify New Contract

NOVEMBER 24 -- Local 100 members employed by MTA Bus have ratified their new contract by an overwhelming 95 percent margin. The American Arbitration Association announced the results of the referendum at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon.

The contract covers nearly 2,200 members at MTA Bus as Bus Operators, Maintainers, Maintainer Helpers, Cleaner Helpers, Stock Workers and Assistant Stock Workers.

The wage and benefit package mirrors the gains secured in the TA/OA contract, with raises in every year, full retroactivity, and an impressive array of improved and new benefits.

The contract also brings a major breakthrough on the MTA Bus pension, which has been a massive problem for years, and is far less valuable in comparison to the public pensions covering TA and OA members.

Local 100 President John Samuelsen, who led the Negotiating team for the union, was finally able to punch through management's resistance on the pension issue.

Earlier this month, the MTA withdrew its demands that an increase in the MTA pension multiplier be purchased by member concessions, and of great importance, officially recognized the existence of the disparity in the pensions between MTA Bus and TA/OA. The two sides could not agree on the amount of a pension increase which would constitute parity, so the union and MTA agreed to binding arbitration limited to this extremely important issue.


President Samuelsen said: "By all standards, we have a achieved a significant victory for MTA Bus.  As with the TA/OA agreement, we beat the pattern set in the City bargaining with every public sector union by a significant amount. We won increases in every year, with full retroactivity. Every other NYC public sector union accepted zeros, we did not. We also secured a series of important new health, safety and family friendly benefits that the union had been seeking for years, and in some cases, decades. These include winning lifetime spousal medical coverage and first time ever two weeks paid paternity and maternity leave. 

"I am thrilled that our MTA Bus members have underscored our efforts with such a landslide ratification.  I am most happy that MTA Bus members will be seeing dramatic increases in wages, very shortly, as well as receiving a significant amount of retroactive pay, and a long awaited 'concession free' pension boost."

Samuelsen added: "I recognize that MTA Bus members have been let down by the union in previous negotiations.  This contract demonstrates that a new era has arrived in MTA Bus. The days of giving away concessions for a pension increase have ended. We now march forward in unity and strength, pursuing across the board parity with MaBSTOA and NYC Transit."