The Port Authority of Allegheny County and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) are reportedly continuing to negotiate a new contract. The outcome should give the public a good idea how serious, or unserious, the mass-transit agency is about reforming itself and what esteem, if any, the union holds for that public.
About 2,300 ATU-represented operators, maintenance workers and office staff have been working without a contract since June 30.
Never mind that this is a public agency funded primarily by tax dollars, both sides have “agreed” to keep their discussions private for now, the Post-Gazette reports.
Well, isn’t that special.
And past being prologue, the public that’s paying for all this won’t know what’s in the contract until when? Until it’s all signed, sealed and delivered.
Talk about public policy that disrespects the “public.”
Of course, the Port Authority long has had an out of whack cost structure, specifically with its bus transit operations, as measured against comparably sized transit authorities and even those larger.
And now the coronavirus pandemic has tanked ridership and fare collections.
What kind of contract does the union think it can wrangle in such a climate? What kind of contract should it be given as the gale winds of the pandemic continue to blow across Greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the nation?
To its credit, Port Authority negotiators reportedly aren’t fond of the ATU’s request for a three-year deal. The authority has proposed a two-year contract with a “reopener” for year three.
That’s prudent, considering what’s happened thus far in this pandemic and the unknowns about what it might yet still bring. The last deal was for four years, terms under which unionized employees continue to work.
But with ridership down in the 80-percent range since March (over year-ago numbers and only a meager ridership rebound since pandemic restrictions were eased) and federal bailout dollars hardly expected to be an ever-open spigot, the ATU cannot reasonably expect anything other than to stand pat, if even that.
One thing is for sure: There certainly cannot be another 11.25 percent pay raise (for top-scale workers) that was featured over the life of the expired pact.
The Port Authority, on behalf of the public it is charged with serving, has a chance to do just that. But it won’t stand a chance if the ATU holds the public hostage with its “right” to strike – a “right” that, as public servants, it should not have to begin with.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
