Falling behind

To the editor:

Regarding “‘Strongest' union, city reach tentative contract agreement” (The Chief, Nov. 3) gets me excited for all the workers getting raises without having to give up retiree health care or any major concessions. 

But here we go again. Everyone got a better deal than Transit workers in NYC: teachers, principals and school administrators, police officers and detectives, firefighters (EMS workers still waiting), corrections, nurses, doctors, hospital workers, office workers, even lawmakers in Albany got 28 percent yearly increases at the beginning of the year. 

Everyone cites the Taylor Law, which makes it illegal for municipal workers to strike but they’re all covered by the same law so what is the excuse now?

It has become survival of the fittest for transit workers when the MTA has the deepest pockets of all these agencies combined. The MTA has more than eight new revenue sources including congestion pricing, toll and fare increases, surging ridership and higher fares across the board. The MTA’s 75,000 employees are falling behind.

Being overworked and underpaid while facing record assaults, verbal abuse and injuries on the job is a recipe for disaster. Everyone is retiring or trying to find a way out of the system that works us to the ground.

We stand strong for our survival.

Celso Garcia