Union, Port Authority talks go to Washington

‘ ‘ ‘ A Sunday meeting between the Port Authority and local transit union members fell through… ‘ ‘ ‘ A Sunday meeting between the Port Authority and local transit union members fell through when members from both groups left city limits. ‘ ‘ ‘ Officials from Pittsburgh’s Local 85 chapter of the Amalgamated Transit Union and from the Port Authority went to Washington, D.C., to discuss their ongoing contract dispute with national union representatives, said an article in the Post-Gazette. ‘ ‘ ‘ Union workers have been operating under an expired contract with the Authority since June. The Port Authority has said it wants to impose a new contract on union workers by Dec. 1, but the union says it is illegal. ‘ ‘ ‘ If a negotiation is not reached by that time, transit workers might strike, jeopardizing the nearly quarter of a million daily rides in the county ‘mdash; not to mention the 400,000 rides that the Authority claims take advantage each month of transportation contracts with Pitt and Carnegie Mellon universities. ‘ ‘ ‘ The new contractual terms include an annual pay raise of 3 percent, an increase in the minimum retirement age, greater employee input in pensions and health care, and Port Authority control of some areas currently under union direction.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Union officials cannot legally protest the contract until its intended start date. But the Post-Gazette said that union attorneys could take the Authority to court shortly after the new contract goes into effect. According to the Post-Gazette article, if they do and the court responds in favor of the Authority, the union’s executive board could declare either a strike or a lockout. ‘ ‘ ‘ In August, the Authority approved a contract set by a state-appointed group to resolve negotiations between the two sides. The union rejected it, although some now feel it was a better deal than the contract that is set to begin next month.’ ‘