Metro North labor talks head south

Aug 07, 2023

With help from Tanya Snyder

Driving the day

— Tensions are heating up between Metro North Railroad and the Transport Workers Union of America, whose president is already threatening a strike.

— Most local governments don’t track traffic-related emissions in their areas, a GAO report finds, raising questions about the efficacy of Biden’s local-focused infrastructure law.

— The Biden administration considers China a “potential looming threat” competing with the U.S. in the electric vehicle sector, a senior official says.

IT’S MONDAY: You’re reading Morning Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. Send tips, thoughts, song lyrics and recipes you like to adaugherty@politico.com, opawlyk@politico.com, tsnyder@politico.com and isentner@politico.com. Find us on Twitter @alextdaugherty, @TSnyderDC, @oriana0214 and @iriesentner

"Got my work clothes on for love, sweat and dirt / All this holy dust upon my face an' shirt / Headin' uptown now, just as the shifts are changin' / To Grand Central Station."

YOUR TICKET INSIDE THE GOLDEN STATE POLITICAL ARENA: California Playbook delivers the latest intel, buzzy scoops and exclusive coverage from Sacramento and Los Angeles to Silicon Valley and across the state. Don't miss out on the daily must-read for political aficionados and professionals with an outsized interest in California politics, policy and power. Subscribe today.

Driving the day

‘DIRTY SCHEMES’: Tensions are rising between the Transport Workers Union of America and Metro-North Railroad after the union called its first bargaining session “unproductive” and ran ads last week in tri-state area newspapers calling MTA Chair Janno Lieber “a pathologically unethical million-dollar man in the shadows” and blasting the agency for allowing him to “spin his dirty schemes and swindle your own workforce.”

Nearly 600 unionized Metro North employees — including car inspectors, coach cleaners and mechanics — have been without a contract since 2019, the union said. During an interview on the Rick Smith Show last week, TWU President John Samuelsen criticized the MTA for pushing for language saying the contract would become “amendable immediately upon signing,” which he said would allow the agency to “unilaterally change the terms of the contract if the finances of the employer go south.”

“During the entire pandemic these workers have come to work, they’ve done everything they’re supposed to do, and yet these bosses at the MTA have lied to them, scammed them, tried to get them repeatedly to take an inferior contract,” he said.

“We’ll go on strike and we’ll shut the railroad down before we settle for any of those terms,” he added.

A shutdown of one of the busiest commuter rails in the country could have major economic implications. Metro North connects its hubs in Manhattan to upstate New York and Connecticut via five lines and counted nearly 50 million rides in 2022, according to its annual ridership report.

“There is no imminent risk of a strike and to suggest otherwise is extremely misleading,” MTA spokesperson Michael Cortez said in a statement to MT.

Automobiles

FEDERAL EV THINK TANK: The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation is launching a new EV Working Group to offer advice on the U.S. transition to electric vehicles. The panel, announced Thursday, is intended as a sort of pop-up think tank that will issue a series of reports and bring together the far-flung industries and parties that constitute the EV sector, reports David Ferris. It will be composed of members from the vehicle and electricity industries, as well as representatives from government, gas stations, transportation planners, labor unions and other interest groups.

— The working group is meant to issue four reports: one on the “barriers and opportunities” to EV adoption and a second that addresses those barriers, a third that finds examples of public and private models that work, and a cost-benefit analysis of its recommendations. It could address some of the disjunctions that occur as the auto industry and the electric utility industry come to grips with being partners in the making and fueling of millions of EVs. Formation of the group was written into the 2021 infrastructure law.

LOCAL LAG: State and local transportation officials often don't track greenhouse gas emissions from traffic in their areas, and those that do vary widely in how they set their climate goals and have trouble implementing them, according to a new GAO report out last week. The watchdog’s findings point to how the Biden administration’s broad plans for combating climate change could run into problems at the local level. The infrastructure law dedicates hundreds of billions of dollars to transportation projects, but some environmentalists are worried that the spending won’t reduce enough pollution because most of the money is going to state and local agencies. Mike Lee has more.

— Nationwide, fewer than half of all states have programs in place to track greenhouse gas emissions from their transportation systems, GAO found. Of the states that did track emissions, methods varied widely: Some states estimate emissions based on vehicle miles traveled, others looked at the amount of fuel sold, some used an EPA model to calculate emissions, and California has its own model with 28 data sources.

CHINA’S ‘LOOMING THREAT’ ON EVs: The Biden administration is “concerned” that China’s ascent in the electric vehicle market could pose a future threat to the U.S. auto industry and is considering ways to stave off any challenge, Sara Schonhardt and Minho Kim report. During a panel discussion Thursday, Brian Janovitz, chief counsel for China trade enforcement at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, called China a “potential looming threat” and “a very formidable challenge” as it has targeted the rapidly expanding EV sector. Janovitz wouldn’t comment on specific companies or situations but said the administration is very concerned about being in a position of overdependence on China.

Rail

MORE CARS, FEWER PROBLEMS?: There is not “strong evidence” that increasing train length correlates with “safety concerns,” and shortening trains would lead to more trains, which could actually “increase the probability of certain train incidents,” according to an Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure report released today. Aii is an independent think tank that “strives for efficiency to prevent waste on expensive overhead.” Although the report does not support a “causal relationship” between longer trains and increased safety, better economic conditions and less environmental impact, it notes that “available data does not show that longer trains are unsafe, costly, or that they pose novel environmental risks.”

HITTING YOUR INBOX AUGUST 14—CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Cut through the jargon and get the latest developments in California as lawmakers and industry leaders adapt to the changing climate. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.

Labor

JOBS REPORT: The economy added 187,000 jobs in July, the Biden administration announced Friday — a solid showing that fell short of forecasts but that saw the unemployment rate fall and wage growth continue to accelerate. The non-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for transportation occupations, though, is 5.7 percent — significantly higher than the economy-wide rate of 3.8 percent. The gap between transportation and other occupations has been wider than normal since the start of the pandemic.

The Autobahn

— “Spirit Airlines warns of revenue hit as engine problem grounds more jets.” Reuters.

— “Self-driving shuttles headed to Detroit; select residents will qualify for free rides.” Detroit Free Press.

— "America’s most tech-forward city has doubts about self-driving cars." The Wall Street Journal.

— "Train delays are up from D.C. to Boston. It will not get better soon." The Washington Post.

— "Despite reforms, mining for EV metals in Congo exacts steep cost on workers." The Washington Post.

On The Calendar

Nothing on our radar!

Did we miss an event? Let MT know at transpocalendar@politicopro.com.

Follow us on Twitter