The Streets Were Paved with Gold - Ken Auletta [183]
The city and the Transit Authority won labor peace without a strike, as was not the case twelve years before. But that’s about all they won. Faced with the Hobson’s choice of paying more for a contract or a crippling strike, the Carey and Koch administrations decided to sweeten the state’s contribution by $80 million and the city’s by $18 million. A settlement was reached, but not before the Koch administration backed down on all its demands for “give-backs.” The dollar cost was relatively modest. The cost of failing to win modifications in work rules was expensive. How much so can be gauged by recalling that the Authority spent $55 million for overtime in fiscal 1977—more than half the cost of the new settlement. The only “victory” the formerly tough-talking Mayor claimed was that the Authority had won the right to experiment and hire up to 200 part-time change booth collectors. But closer inspection reveals what kind of “victory” this was. “Their sole assignment can only be to open booths not now in service,” declares the union letter. “Clearly, this is not a ‘give-back,’ since any hiring of part-time railroad clerks can only mean an additional cost to the TA. What the TA really fought for was the right to hire part timers as bus operators and in other titles to cut down on overtime. That right they did NOT get.” The proclaimed give-back was really a “give-in.” As ever, the workers got more; the city got peace; and the public got higher costs and no improvement in service.
It was the same with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. Negotiating separately from the other municipal unions, the PBA insisted on once again becoming the “number one” paid police force in the nation, issuing a thick powder-blue loose-leaf book containing its demands for $10,000 pay and benefit hikes for each cop. Perhaps no single document speaks more eloquently of the reality gap than this; none better underlines the assumption, shared by other special-interest groups, that the city prints money which, somehow, taxpayers don’t have to pay for. The police demands included:
“All employees shall be guaranteed a work schedule which provides for no greater than 232 tours (days) and no greater than 1,856 hours per year”—compared to the 2,088 hours worked in 1978.
Christmas bonus: “An employee shall be entitled to a Christmas bonus of one (1) month’s pay payable on or before December 25. For employees who served a portion of the year, each amount shall be pro rated.”
Birthday pay: “For an employee who actually works on a day which is his birthday, his hourly compensation shall include, in addition to his regular day’s pay, holiday pay, Saturday pay, Sunday pay, or other entitlements, compensation payable at the rate of his base annual salary divided by the number of days a year the employee is scheduled to work multiplied by eight (8).”
Free college: “Employees, attending college and promotional courses, shall be compensated for the cost of tuition, fees, books, and supplies necessary for the proper completion of the courses. An employee shall be given paid leave for the purpose of attending college and promotional courses.”
Free life insurance: “The City shall provide a life insurance policy for each active and retired employee and his family in the amount of $100,000, with a double indemnity clause in the event of accidental death to the employee or any member of his family.”
Guaranteed employment: “The City will not lay off for