New England News

Monday, August 25, 2008

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Official who faulted T raises backed some himself

BOSTON -- Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen voted to raise salaries for several MBTA unions five days before he publicly scolded the T's general manager for giving the same size raises to management employees.

A spokesman said Monday Cohen did so because the union raises followed the pattern established in an arbitration ruling favoring the transit authority's largest labor group.

The management raises, by contrast, were at the discretion of T General Manager Daniel Grabauskas.

One legislative leader said that explanation was lame and exposed a political rift between the Democratic Patrick administration and Grabauskas, of the few Republicans appointed by former Gov. Mitt Romney who remains in state leadership.

"If they want change and they want to focus on another general manager at the T, then the character assassination of previous administrations shouldn't continue," said Sen. Steve Baddour, a Methuen Democrat who serves as co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation. "They should buy him out and move on. They shouldn't play these games."

The MBTA has debts of $8.2 billion, and Grabauskas has warned of fare increases for commuter rail, subway and bus passengers in 2010 if the Legislature doesn't help him with the burden.

In an Aug. 19 statement, Cohen criticized Grabauskas for offering the management raises. The secretary serves as chairman of the T board and other panels in his capacity as the state's transportation chief.

"It is in the long-term interests of T employees and customers that we manage our resources responsibly," Cohen wrote to the MBTA leader. In asking Grabauskas to rescind the management raises, Cohen said it was important for leaders to "leave no stone unturned in restoring fiscal health to all transportation agencies."

On Aug. 14, though, Cohen and the MBTA board voted -- with virtually no discussion -- in favor of raises for unions representing professional employees, electrical workers and blacksmiths. The professional employees, by far the largest of the three groups to get raises, are represented by the AFL-CIO, which endorsed Gov. Deval Patrick when he ran for office in 2006.

Each of those raises was identical to the one Grabauskas offered the managers: 3 percent for each of the past two years, and 3 percent for the current year. The contracts also included a fourth year at a 4-percent raise not granted by Grabauskas to the managers.

All told, some 273 workers would have received $1.9 million under Grabauskas's proposal. Some 458 workers are receiving $7.2 million under the contracts approved by Cohen.

"Those were collectively bargained and consistent with the pattern set by the agreement with Local 589," said Cohen spokesman Klark Jessen, referring to a July arbitration ruling on a contract between the MBTA and the Boston Carmen's Union, Local 589. It is the largest of the T's unions.

Jessen said, "Non-union increases, on the other hand, were completely within the discretion of the GM."

Yet briefing materials provided to Cohen and other T board members spelled out two "alternatives to approval": reject the proposed contracts and continue negotiating, or reject the proposed contracts and submit to arbitration.

"To reject the agreements and keep negotiating or go to arbitration would likely lead to the same result and also add cost to the process," Jessen said.

The union raises were not the only ones approved by Cohen during the past year. He also gave pay hikes to 195 staff members in his department, the Executive Office of Transportation.

Jessen said those raises -- which ranged up to 7.5 percent -- were based on merit and performance evaluations.

In the aftermath of the secretary's letter, Grabauskas announced he was rescinding the management raises but would give a 3-percent salary increase to 87 non-union employees making under $70,000 annually.

Grabauskas, who currently makes $255,000 and is under contract until May 2010, also rejected a $10,000 cost-of-living increase due under his employment agreement. And his general counsel, William Mitchell, declined a $6,000 cost-of-living increase to his $157,000 annual salary.

"Management shouldn't be penalized because they weren't part of the union," said Baddour. "I didn't seen anyone criticizing the arbitrator's ruling."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)