Labor negotiations between the Port Authority of Allegheny County and the Amalgamated Transit… Labor negotiations between the Port Authority of Allegheny County and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, the union representing a majority of the Authority’s workers, reached a milestone earlier this week. On Tuesday, the independent fact finder assigned to the case, Jane Rigler, released an official report detailing the most efficient next step in the labor negotiations. Ultimately, the report was an effort to reach a middle ground between the offers of the Port Authority and the demands of its workers’ union. In order for the report to be effective, both parties must agree on its recommendations as a whole, and while that is not the likeliest of scenarios, the recommendations have been classified in the past as a starting-point for further negotiations. The report itself is a technical breakdown of the current problems facing the labor negotiations, both sides’ starting points, the external elements that are weighing on negotiations and the recommendations for a future contract between the feuding parties. The first main point of contention in these negotiations has to do with union employees’ wages. According to the report, the Port Authority did not propose a wage increase in 2009, but rather bonus payments of $750 in 2010 and 2011. The union seeks a 4.5 percent wage increase in the first year and a 3.5 percent wage increase in the second and third years, with a possibility of additional increases with respect to the cost of living in the second and third years. In addition, the union proposed a five-dollar-an-hour deviation. This separation is meant to differentiate first-level supervisor pay rates from those of rank-and file employees. Additionally, the report recommends a 3 percent wage increase in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The next issues in the report were health care and benefits. First, ‘the Authority wants to increase the amount employees contribute to the cost of their medical insurance so that the Authority pays 90 percent of the monthly premium ‘hellip; and the employee pays 10 percent of the premium,’ the report said. This would also include an increase in co-pays and deductibles ‘mdash; based on the number of family members included in the insurance package, the package chosen, etc.’ Also, ‘the Authority wants to eliminate post-retirement health insurance (including medical, dental and vision coverage) for bargaining unit members who retire subsequent to June 30, 2008.’ Port Authority currently offers a lifetime post-retirement package. The fact finder asked the Authority, based on employees’ months of service and level of the position in question, to pay between 1.5 percent to 3 percent of his base wages to health insurance, as well as make extensive changes to the pension policy. To close the report, Rigler expressed her overall evaluation of the region’s public transit system. In it, she said that, ‘it is obvious that public transit is critical to the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Given that, in a area with a population of less than two million people, nearly 70 million rides are taken annually via Port Authority vehicles, it simply cannot be disputed that the economic, educational and social fabric of southwest Pennsylvania would suffer a dramatic, and adverse, change were the authority’s operations to cease, or shrink in any significant way. It is equally apparent, given Pittsburgh’s and Allegheny County’s per capita and household income figures, and their shrinking populations, that the economic livelihood of this area absolutely needs well-paying jobs like those held by Local 85-represented employees.’ Both parties are currently reviewing the findings of the report to determine what further action to take ‘mdash; be it a strike or a new contract.