NEW YORK (AP) - Subway and bus workers overwhelmingly approved a contract deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, their union announced Monday.
Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union said 82 percent of the more than 15,000 votes cast were in favor of the agreement, which was reached last month and came more than two years after the last contract lapsed.
“At a time when few workers see their paychecks growing, with a recovery that fails to take hold for so many, transit workers can hold their heads high by having won raises in every year of the five-year deal,” union President John Samuelson said.
Under the deal, workers would get two years of retroactive raises of 1 percent a year, a 2 percent raise going back to this January and 2 percent raises in each of the next two years.
Workers would pay 2 percent of their base salaries for health insurance, up from 1.5 percent. But they would get some new benefits, including paid maternity and paternity leave, and better dental and optical coverage.
The contract now goes to the MTA board on Wednesday for a vote.
The MTA is still facing contract issues with workers at its Long Island Rail Road. A presidential emergency board has been appointed to help resolve the dispute and its recommendations are expected to be released on Tuesday.
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