MBTA
TWU on May 12 announced that it has secured a contract that raises wages for its MBTA commuter rail workers in Boston by 23%, provides paid sick time for the first time ever, and includes a $2,000 signing bonus.
Coach Cleaners, whose starting pay rate immediately moves from $19.65 an hour to approximately $32 an hour, will increase by 66% over the life of the five-year contract. The long-standing, five-year progression to reach the top Cleaners’ rate will be now scrapped, according to the union.
The collective bargaining agreement is retroactive to July 2023. The annual raises are 5%, 4%, 4.5%, 4.5% and 5%. Workers will receive retro pay: $3,000 on average for Cleaners and $7,500 for Car Inspectors.
Transport Workers Union Local 2054 represents Coach Cleaners and Car Inspectors employed by French-owned Keolis, which operates MBTA commuter rail service between Boston, the city’s suburbs, and part of Rhode Island. The company is owned by the Paris-based National Company of The French Railways, which earned $45.5 billion in revenues last year.
The Local-International campaign included sending “a barrage of digital messages” to Massachusetts State Legislature members revealing how the company, according to TWU, “grossly underpaid workers here—and then sent profits back to France to subsidize transit operations over there.” TWU also lobbied elected officials in the State House, leafletted commuter railroad riders, and flooded Keolis’ Paris headquarters with negative digital ads, “berating executives for Keolis’ miserable treatment of U.S. workers.” Local 2054 also took a strike authorization vote.
“It was an incredible campaign that resulted in a historic contract,” said Local 2054 President Ed Flaherty. “This contract will have a ripple effect across the industry.”
SMART
SMART has posted its draft Fiscal Year 2024 budget on its website. Public comments will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Friday, May 31.
The SMART Board of Directors will be asked to adopt the final budget at their meeting on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. The Board will be notified of all comments received and whether they have been incorporated into the final document.
The Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Draft Budget is available to download below.
