A Union Job

I was in the city today for a meeting and all the talk was about New York’s upcoming transit strike.

The main issue is logistics. If you live in Northern Manhattan, it could take two hours to walk to a job downtown. Most people don’t have cars. And cars coming into Manhattan will be obligated to stop at Madison Square Garden to pick up three other passengers and take them downtown. A transit strike will shut down the city.

After people figure out their own game plan, then the next topic is whether or not the union has a leg to stand on.

Going into yesterday, the authority had offered two raises of 3 percent in a 27-month contract. On pensions, the authority wants to raise the retirement age for newly hired employees to 62 after 30 years of service, while the union wants to lower it to age 50 after 20 years of service. At present, transit workers can retire at age 55 after 25 years of work, with a pension equal to half their annual pay; the average is $55,000, including overtime.

$55,000 is about right for a middle class job in New York City. You can support a spouse and two kids in the city with that in working class neighborhood in Queens. The train drivers don’t need a college degree to operate the trains, but they have a fair amount of responsibility.

The proposal for a retirement at half pay at the age of 50 bothered most people I spoke to today. Few jobs offer any sort of retirement package. Most employees must contribute to their own retirement with pre-tax deductions from their salaries. And to be eligible at age 50, when most people plan on working until their mid 60s, is really grating on people’s nerves.

On the other hand, the MTA will have a billion dollar surplus this year. So, I don’t know. Just thought I would spread the debate around and see what you all have to say.

The union talk spilled over into discussions about what’s a fair salary. Does a kindergarten teacher deserve to make $90,000? Does a professor deserve to make $40,000? Does a stock broker deserve to make $500,000?