The MTA rained on Transport Worker Union Roger Toussaint's plan to have the union revote on its contract by saying the matter should go to arbitration. The union claims that MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow was interested in revisiting the original contract, drawn up last December after the strike, but now it seems that the MTA wants to "punish" the strikers. And Kalikow is upset that the Public Employment Relations Board didn't immediately throw the negotiations to arbitration after the union rejected the contract. Maybe the PERB feels that rejection by 7 votes out of tens of thousands should be arbitrated! At any rate, Toussaint's naysayers are having a ball with this - things should get interesting when there's a new vote for TWU executive management.
As Gothamist knows little about government agencies except that they seem to move slowly, can anyone guess what the over-under is on getting a deal made? The NY Times has a nice editorial about why a revote should be considered that sums up one of the things that Gothamist feels about the transit workers (even though the strike was an annoyance, transit workers are important).
