The MTA is proposing nixing double-time pay for Long Island Rail Road workers and cracking down on sick leave as it renegotiates their contract amid probes into overtime abuse, according to a report Sunday.
The transit agency also wants to cap the number of consecutive hours that can be worked by LIRR employees at 16 and give itself the option of hiring private contractors to handle “any work” it wants, Newsday reported.
The MTA’s demands are contained in a 42-page notice it filed as part of the formal start of negotiations with the LIRR’s 10 unions, which have been working without contracts since April, the paper said.
Both the agency’s inspector general and the feds are reportedly probing OT abuse at the railroad after the Empire Center revealed workers logging seemingly impossible hours last year.
Transport Workers Union president John Samuelsen accused the agency of “creating a hostile environment that could cause strikes across the entire MTA system.”
© 2019 New York Post
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