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An overwhelming majority of TCAT workers have again rejected contract terms that they say imposes significant hardships on the employees without any willingness on the part of management to share the pain.

The three-year contract, rejected by the union on September 25, provided $225,000 in wage increases over the three-year period: $200 as an immediate signing bonus; $500 as a bonus in January 2012; a 1.0 % wage increase in 2013; and a 1.25 % wage increase in 2014.  Bus operators presently make between $36,000 and $44,000 per year before additional compensation for overtime and shift differentials. Mechanics’ annual base wages range from $42,000 to $51,000.

On October 17, the union offered to propose a “revenue neutral” alternative package, which would include a more generous health insurance plan. One month later, however, on November 15, the union gave TCAT its proposal for a revised health plan costing substantially more, but with no reduction in the wage increases previously included in the negotiated contract. The additional cost of this proposal was $164,000.

"Our members understood the difficult economic circumstances," stated UAW President Jack Kaminsky. "We made no proposals that included any economic gains for our membership, and accepted the concession on health care."

UAW members also said they felt that if they were going to share in the pain of difficult conditions we should also share in the benefit of any subsequent funding increases that TCAT might achieve. Toward this end, UAW Local 2300 proposed a 'me too' clause, stating that if TCAT received additional funding over the term of the contract allowing it to increase wages for members of management, the UAW membership would also enjoy that same wage increase. TCAT flat out rejected the Union's proposal that included a 'me too' clause.

TCAT’s budget for the year ahead projects another deficit, even in the face of proposed increase in rural fares (the first fare increase since 2003), service reductions, a management salary freeze and unfilled positions.  The draft budget TCAT submitted to its local funding entities (Tompkins County, the City of Ithaca and Cornell University) on August 4 called for no wage increases for either management or represented employees in 2012, but the original tentative agreement would nonetheless have provided $70,000 in bonuses to union members between the signing date and the middle of January, 2012.

TCAT reports it is operating at a projected $306,000 deficit this year, the result of three successive years of reductions in financial support from New York State and the inability of its local sponsors to increase their financial contributions in light of their own fiscal constraints.

The “me too” clause demanded by the union was not accepted by TCAT at the bargaining table during the course of the original negotiations and was not included in the original agreement.  The union demand would require that its roughly 100 members would receive the same wage adjustment as that provided to any one administrative employee over the course of the agreement if that adjustment exceeded the contractual wage increase provided to union members, regardless of the reason for the individual’s compensation adjustment.

"I am appalled that while the members are willing to make significant concessions, management is not showing a similar sense of fairness," said Kaminsky.  "They are making it very clear that UAW Members employed at TCAT are welcome to 'share the pain' but not so welcome when it comes to 'sharing the gains'."

TCAT says it remains available to work with the union, assisted by the staff of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, to settle the remaining economic issues of the contract within the fiscal resources available to the organization.

“The bottom line is that there is no us‑versus-them thinking in our philosophy,” said TCAT General Manager Joe Turcotte. In fact, over the past six years, non‑represented employees received lower percentage wage increases than did union employees.

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