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The last contract between the MTA and its largest union, TWU Local 100, expired on January 15, Gothamist reports. Yet the two have failed to reach a deal in recent negotiations, and things may be getting a little hairy.

MTA Chairman Joe Lhota publicly pleaded with union members by way of a New York Post op-ed piece, saying it’s “time for labor to sacrifice.” Lhota asked for a three-year wage freeze, arguing everyone else has given their share and now it’s time for union workers to do the same.

Lhota pointed to fare and toll hikes for train riders, local business taxes and manager and non-union employee salaries, which have not changed in four years. He also pointed to MTA’s delicate financial situation, which has improved drastically but continues to be hindered by union demands.

The op-ed suggests a “growing rift,” says Capital New York’s Dana Rubinstein. Rubinstein refers to the fact that Lhota has been hesitant to publicly negotiate with union members in the past, maintaining a policy not to publicize such communications in the press. Clearly the two groups have reached an impasse.

“It’s time for labor to be part of the solution,” says Lhota.

TWU responds via its Twitter: “OUTRAGEOUS” and “#Fail.” When a Twitter war is brewing, we know things are serious.

—Alissa Fleck

EAST SIDE LAWMAKERS PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF PREGNANT WORKERS
Last week, Upper East Side Rep. Carolyn Maloney joined three Democratic co-sponsors in introducing new federal legislation that would protect pregnant women against unfair job discrimination.

Maloney joined fellow New York City Rep. Jerrold Nadler and two others in presenting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The bill is supported by 119 advocacy groups from across the nation and has 63 original cosigners. The law would require employers to give reasonable working accommodations for pregnant women and prevent employers from forcing these women onto leave, paid or not, when a reasonable adjustment can be made to their workload.
The bill will also relinquish hiring discrimination toward women who are pregnant and in need of certain accommodations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.

“Women need to work during pregnancy and must not be penalized in the workplace for choosing to have a child,” Maloney said. “The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will give women the tools they need to fight ‘maternal profiling’ on the job.”

The bill follows the introduction of a similar measure at the state level from State Sen. Liz Krueger.
“When pregnant women cannot be provided reasonable accommodations at their workplace, they lose wages and opportunities for advancement, their newborns are disadvantaged and both their employers and the economy as a whole suffer unnecessary losses,” Krueger said.

The sponsors of the national bill cite recent examples of pregnant women losing their jobs after asking for minor accommodations, like carrying a water bottle or help with certain physical tasks, as the impetus for creating the protections.

UES RAPIST CONVICTED
Last summer, the Upper East Side was terrorized by several different perpetrators of sexual assaults, and early last week, a man arrested for two of those crimes pleaded guilty to rape and sexual abuse.

Jason Quinones, 22, who was 21 at the time of the attacks, admitted to raping a woman in her East 90th Street home last August. He climbed through the window of her ground floor apartment at 4:30 a.m. while she slept, grabbed her cell phone to keep her from calling the police and raped her.

Quinones was arrested several days later based on DNA evidence left at the scene, and was later charged with another sexual assault that had taken place in July on East 83rd Street. He told prosecutors that he approached his first victim from behind in her building and forced her into her apartment, where he pushed her onto a couch and sexually abused her.

District Attorney Cyrus Vance admonished Quinones for committing “atrocious sex crimes.”

“In both cases, he saw a chance to sexually assault a woman while she was vulnerable, and both times, he took it,” Vance said.

Quinones is scheduled to be sentenced June 20 and could face up to 25 years for the class B felony rape conviction, as well as up to 7 years for the sexual abuse conviction.

MORE DELAYS FOR EAST SIDE ACCESS
The Long Island Railroad is subject to delays and shuttle use, but if customers want to make use of the proposed Grand Central Terminal, they will have to invest in time travel.

Last week, MTA chairman Joe Lhota explained that the tunnel may not be completed until 2019—six years after the proposed completion date. An official from the MTA stated that construction is underway around the active tracks in Sunnyside, Queens, where Amtrak, LIRR and NJ Transit operate trains.

Lhota said the engineers and workers who are tunneling underground in Queens have encountered serious issues that will set back the construction of the connection.

The project was originally supposed to be finished in 2013, but a change in contractors, loose ground in Queens and aneed to keep trains running to meet the demands of a traveling workforce have repeatedly pushed back the completion date.

SLA HITS EAST SIDE RESTAURANT WHERE  IT HURTS
Local activists are finding creative ways to push back against rogue food delivery cyclists who flout the laws and endanger pedestrians. After the community rallied against the liquor license application for an Upper East Side Chinese restaurant because it allowed its delivery men to ride illegal motorized bikes, the State Liquor Authority denied the establishment’s application.

The New York Post reported on the hearing in Albany last week for Adam’s Chinese Restaurant (which does business as  Vicky’s Cottage) on East 91st Street, noting that this is the first time that the SLA has denied a license based on non-alcohol-related issues. When owner Denny Dong told the SLA that he couldn’t control what his delivery men did after they left the restaurant, they didn’t take kindly to the suggestion that he wasn’t responsible for his own workers.

“What else don’t you have control over, your employees selling to underage people?” an SLA official asked, according to the Post. “If you can’t control your employees, we can’t grant a license.”

Community Board 8 has been trying to get the restaurant to comply with traffic laws and prohibit its deliver workers from reckless driving and riding electric bikes, and members have been mulling ways to convince restaurants that the community is serious about cracking down on dangerous biking—a sentiment that the SLA is clearly backing.

Joe Lhota

WINNERS

Eric Adams — Okay, we admit it, this could really go to anyone left standing in the Brooklyn Borough President’s race, after heir apparent Carlo Scissura announced he was dropping out of the race to pursue a position as president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Other bandied about candidates include Sen. Kevin Parker and even City Councilman Domenic Recchia, Jr., who’s also been mentioned as a possible comptroller candidate. Regardless, the race is wide open at this point. And for Senate Democrats like Adams, who are basically powerless as newborn kittens in the current Legislature, any position is better than the one they hold now.

Tony Avella – Some critics blasted his hydrofracking forum – not a hearing, mind you – as a media stunt, but it achieved his goal of keeping the contentious issue in the spotlight. On top of that, two potential and potentially strong challengers made it clear they wouldn’t run against him: fellow Democratic Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, who was redrawn into his district, and Republican Frank Padavan, whom Avella ousted two years ago.

Greg Ball — Republican Sen. Greg Ball lost a primary challenger yesterday in the form of Steve Katz, the veterinarian Assemblyman who once faced criminal charges over illegally dumping a dog and separate charges over possible mistreatment of a vicious chihuahua. Ball’s only other primary candidate at this point is a man who shares the same surname with a woman at the heart of a massive Manhattan prostitution ring, which leaves Greg Ball, once thought to be the Senate’s biggest liability, looking like the safe choice for Republicans in his district’s primary.

Simcha Felder — In Hebrew, Simcha translates directly into “joy.” And Simcha Felder certainly had a lot of that during his first week as a Senate candidate, landing the endorsements of the Brooklyn Orthodox communities two most prominent current pols, Councilman David Greenfield and Assemblyman Dov Hikind. That could well box other big-name candidates out of the race, like ex-Councilman Noach Dear, and could convince everyone to simply get behind Felder. Maybe that’s why Felder can be so coy with which party he’ll causus with in Albany, and can play it sort of cute by keeping his city job while he runs.

John Sexton — For months, Mayor Bloomberg teased about the possibility of a second applied sciences campus to help spur the city’s developing tech sector. And this week, in a remarkably well managed roll out, he announced that New York University would join Cornell and Technion in the building their own city-supported engineering school. NYU President John Sexton, who was withstood a wave of discontent over the school’s expansion plans, now gets the chance to be on the winning side of the equation. Excelsior!

LOSERS

Courtney Burke – The problems at the state’s embattled Office for People with Developmental Disabilities were around long before Burke took over, but that isn’t shielding her from criticism lately – especially when word got out the Cuomo administration tried to get a critical OPWDD employee kicked off a legislative hearing she was set to speak at. Both eventually did show up, along with a gaggle of reporters, but Burke would only attribute the matter to a “breakdown in communications.”

Dan Cantor — The Working Families Party must of thought it was in the clear after a judge ordered the disbandment of its for profit campaign arm Data & Field Services. But amid the gear up for the 2012 elections and the attempted revival of Occupy Wall Street comes the news that a special prosector was reopening the case, which means more legal fees and more headaches for Executive Director Dan Cantor. He may want to occupy a therapists couch after this one … Or a bar stool.

Joe Lhota – Whether the governor is a car guy or not, the fact that he hasn’t ridden a subway since taking office won’t persuade anyone he cares much about the MTA. And that’s yet another challenge for the MTA chief, who has to keep the trains running and the stations from falling further into disrepair. He did help pave the way for another applied sciences center in New York City, but  the TWU raised hell about the sale, and tarnished the good deed.

To read the full list at City & State and to vote for the ultimate winner and loser of the week click here.