Name it “The Nice Prepare Theft: Again for Extra” as a brand new Empire Middle report exhibits MTA time beyond regulation hit $1.3 billion final 12 months.
Bus, subway and commuter rail riders brace for larger fares whereas drivers face congestion tolls, all to boost money for the MTA to squander on wasteful OT.
Final 12 months’s jaw-dropping $1.3 billion OT payout is the very best since 2018 ($1.35B) — and up from $1.1 billion in 2021.
The info posted on SeeThroughNY make clear 288 Lengthy Island Rail Highway workers who made greater than $100,000 in time beyond regulation final 12 months — greater than another MTA company.
But the deep-dive evaluate discovered that the six-figure time beyond regulation membership included workers from each MTA company, plus:
- Greater than 1,100 MTA workers doubled their annual salaries via time beyond regulation pay.
- 566 workers every collected greater than $100,000 in OT.
- Metro-North Railroad OT hit a brand new report of $131 million.
“The one-year rise in time beyond regulation prices ($171 million) equates to just about half of the brand new income anticipated subsequent 12 months from the MTA’s just-approved toll and fare hikes ($369 million),” famous the Empire Middle.
Positive, the company may’ve nonetheless been dealing with some staffing issues forcing it to depend on OT on some events.
However that may’t come near accounting for these sorts of numbers.
For the previous few years, The Submit and the Empire Middle have shined a lightweight on these OT prices, but the public-transit large hasn’t gotten work rule modifications or a contemporary system in place to cease the abuse.
As a substitute, it seems that the MTA has stopped releasing detailed time beyond regulation experiences.
Company chief Janno Lieber and the MTA board should stand as much as the unions and their staff to place a cease to the theft.
Ending the discharge of detailed OT experiences as a substitute shouldn’t be look.
Gov. Kathy Hochul might like to play organized labor’s favourite daughter, however she wants to offer the MTA’s union contracts and OT invoice the scrutiny they deserve.
A financially sound MTA is significant to New York Metropolis’s (and the state’s) future; megaprojects nonetheless to return mustn’t develop into gravy trains that solely feed the union OT beast.
Fare- and toll-paying commuters deserve an even bigger bang for his or her buck.
