NEWS |
135-99: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE , November 18, 1999
“We are beginning a new era of labor peace,” said Mr. Boyle. “Port Authority employees, following the mandate of the Board and Governors Whitman and Pataki, are already finding new ways to put customers first and set new standards of courtesy and helpfulness. These agreements, by improving productivity and morale, will reinforce this new emphasis and translate into even better service to our customers.”
Port Authority Chairman Lewis M. Eisenberg said, “These contracts balance the needs of union members to maintain their quality of life with the needs of the Port Authority to hold the line on costs. We commend the leadership of the unions and the Port Authority’s negotiators for their hard work to secure these mutually beneficial agreements.”
The bistate agency recently approved a new five-year agreement with Local 497 of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE), ending nearly three years of negotiations. The union represents 161 PATH train operators. PATH served a record 64.9 million riders last year.
The BLE is the last of 10 PATH unions to agree to a contract. The Port Authority’s 10 other unions are also under contract. When Mr. Boyle became Executive Director of the Port Authority in March 1997, all 20 unions were negotiating with the Port Authority, with some of the unions having expired contracts as far back as 1991. “Resolving longstanding issues with the Port Authority’s labor unions has been a top priority of this administration,” Mr. Boyle said.
Mr. Boyle said a fundamental change in negotiating strategy was responsible for the agreements. If negotiations reached an impasse, staff continued to press the negotiations, rather than allowing talks to become dormant.
The 60-month contract with the BLE, retroactive to September 8, 1996, includes an average annual wage increase of 2.7 percent and improved contributions to the union’s pension fund. These improvements are offset by cost containment achieved through the introduction of a managed-care health plan and other initiatives.
The contract’s terms are in line with other agreements involving PATH unions, and with union contracts at other railroads in the region. PATH, the rail transit operating subsidiary of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, operates 24-hour service between terminals in Newark, Hoboken and lower and midtown Manhattan. It recently received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Public Transit Association -- the nation’s highest honor for a heavy-rail transit system – for the second consecutive year.