According to a published report, there is a tentative agreement between the Port Authority and its union for a new agreement (the current four year deal expired June 30th). If it is like the previous two deals, it would take the Authority through 2020. The specter of a transit strike is not present, unlike previous contracts. Recall the following:
In 2005, the big issue was a board/management proposal to contract out a percentage of service; that never happened.
In 2008, negotiations involved national groups and resulted in a tiered system of health benefits, a major cost driver.
In 2012, an agreement on supplemental state funding in exchange for contract savings saw the elimination of lifetime retiree health care for new hires.
In between came decisions to place new hires not in the largest union into new pension plans (2011), a reorganization of the PAT board (2013) and the passage of a state transportation funding bill (2013) with significant impact for the Authority.
Thus the proposed new agreement would be the first to be voted on by the new board (a mixture of state and county appointments, unlike the previous county only appointments) and by employees who are comprised of personnel at differing levels of retirement benefits.
