'I think it's going to go down to the wire'
Shortly before noon, lead MTA negotiator Gary Dellaverson emerged from the talks, went next door to get a coffee at Starbucks, and then went back to work.
Meanwhile, a Long Island MTA Board member with a background in union negotiations said the wage increases demanded by workers are out of sync with other labor organizations are getting.
Marc Herbst, the Suffolk County representative on the MTA Board and the executive director of the Long Island Contractors Association, said he negotiates collective bargaining agreements "for a living" and that annual wage increases of about 3.5% would be "consistent" with what other trades workers are getting.
"No one with salaries in the six figures are getting 5%," said Herbst, referencing LIRR unions' demands for raises in the fourth year of a new contract.
The unions have said the 5% raise in the fourth year is needed to offset raises averaging about 3.16% in the first three years of the contract, as both sides have agreed to.
"I think it's going to go down to the wire," Herbst said Wednesday. "But, I think if level heads prevail, there should not be a strike."
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.
