Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and Machinists Union Local 264 recently reached a collective bargaining agreement after months of negotiations, which will save MBTA more than $60 million over the next 10 years in bus maintenance and will introduce work rules aimed at increasing productivity.
Local 264 members will conduct maintenance on 955 buses. They will gain greater workplace flexibility including the possibility to work four, 10-hour days.
Work rule changes include that Local 264 members only will be able to collect overtime after 40 hours of regular weekly work.
“This new agreement adheres to the board’s priority, which was to achieve savings and other improvements through agreement with Local 264,” Joseph Aiello, chairman of the Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB), said. “This agreement, combined with significant cost savings the T has already achieved through internal management changes, means the board does not need to further consider contracting out current bus maintenance operations at this time.”
FMCB had instructed MBTA to follow a strategy that included negotiating with the unions that represent bus maintenance employees, improve productivity through internal management changes, and request proposals from private vendors to provide bus maintenance at up to three of the MBTA’s nine bus maintenance garages.