The Metropolitan Transit Authority rejected on Apr. 26 a revote by the Transport Workers Union Local 100 ratifying the controversial contract that members narrowly rejected in January. The MTA insisted the contract is off the table and is pursuing binding arbitration, as decided by the state’s Public Employment Relations Board in March.

On May 1, the TWU filed a suit asking the court to order the MTA to accept the recently ratified contract and to confirm that the union met the ratification provisions making the contract still viable.

The march across the Brooklyn Bridge on April 24, 2006

Meanwhile the union, which represents city bus and subway workers, faces stiff penalties imposed by the New York State Taylor Law, which bans strikes by public employees. The union was fined $2.5 million for the three-day illegal strike in December 2005, and temporarily loses its right to automatically deduct dues from member paychecks. The 33,700 members also owe penalties of their own.

On Apr. 24, TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint was joined by supporters, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and several labor leaders, in a rally and a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan’s Bernard B. Kerik complex, (aka The Tombs) where he entered to serve a 10-day jail sentence, which was reduced to three-and-a-half days for good behavior. Toussaint was released from jail Apr. 28.

Roger Toussaint, UFT President Randi Weingarten and the Rev. Al Sharpton are among the marchers.

At the rally, Toussaint called on the MTA to ratify the re-voted contract offer, and emphasized a flaw in the Taylor Law, which provides no incentive for employers to bargain in good faith. “Working people have tried to obey the law and we have gotten nothing but insults for it,” said Toussaint, as quoted in a local newspaper.

About a month earlier, on Mar. 30, Local 237 Secretary-Treasurer Gregory Floyd was among the labor leaders who testified at a City Council hearing on the Taylor Law, where he noted that the union often waits years for a new contract “because the city feels no pressure to come to the bargaining table and negotiate.” He added that the Taylor Law unfairly penalizes unions while allowing employers to violate terms requiring both parties to negotiate in good faith.