BREAKING NEWS:

The MTA and Transit Workers Union have reached a deal. They entered into binding arbitration to settle the dispute over the labor contract that caused last year’s transit strike.

The arbitrator has announced that the contract is almost identical to the contract proposed shortly after the strike. The contract went to vote before the 38,000 union members, and it was voted down. However, now it appears that they will have to live with that contract anyway, or at least a very similar one.

The NO vote landed the dispute in binding arbitration, led by Chief Arbitrator George Nicolau known for his work on Major League Baseball’s collusion case in the late 1980s.

State law gives the arbitration panel the right to impose the decision on the two groups.

Also today, transit workers are voting to keep or remove union President Roger Toussaint from office. Union members are split over Toussaint’s leadership. He spent 3 days in jail earlier this year for contempt of court when defending the union’s walkout. The Union is in the process of paying $2.5 million in fines over the walkout, which was prohibited by state law.

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow is going to step down some time in second quarter.  However, that will not be until he spends a few billion dollars. 

Gov. Elect Spitzer is off doing the happy dance.

Soon, the MTA will be have cellular providers installing service on the subway platforms. Passengers will be able to make last minute calls before getting on the trains. Not so much. That was the hope as last reported, but now it seems that may not be the case.

The MTA still hasn’t picked a provider even though they opened the bidding way back in August 2005.

This is one of the most retarded things ever. Doesn’t the MTA know how much money they could be making from the cellphone companies for this? But yeah…let’s keep sinking further into a budget deficit.

Good news!  The proposed 7 train extension is going to cost an additional $180 million…yippee.  [have we laid the sarcasm on thick enough?]

Ok seriously, who is the jackass that said, “Let’s make the train line longer,” but forgot to order more trains?  I don’t even work for the MTA and I knew that.  If you are gonna make the line longer, you need more damn trains, people!! Of course, they forgot to incorporate that into the equation.  Then again, whats $180 million when the price is already over $2 billion?

SUBWAYblogger loves when that happens.  We love Gothamist.com because they are the best NYC News Blog.  But we still like it when we beat them to a story! 🙂

Here’s Gothamist’s story.

Here’s Subwayblogger’s.

Just because it is a holiday doesn’t mean that the MTA isn’t up to stuff.  The latest news is that the MTA is going to look into getting some $$$ from Citigroup to rename the subway stops at Shea stadium.  Yeah, so the new stadium is going to have a corporate name, so who cares if the stop is renamed.  If the Yankees ever lost their minds and renamed the new stadium, the signage in the Bronx would change instantly.

What’s stupid is that the Straphangers are getting kicking up a fuss over it because they don’t want to set a precident.  Honestly, who cares.  Does it really matter if a stop ends up being the “Duane Reade 72nd Street Stop.”  The more non-fare money the MTA can make, the better.  It keeps the cash in our pockets instead of the MetroCards.