PATH Labor Coalition: Port Authority Punishes Path Employees For Getting COVID-19
Port Authority Punishes Path Employees For Getting COVID-19
Workers Say Clawback Policy Is ‘Retribution’ For Testing Demands
JERSEY CITY, NJ — A new “clawback” policy hitting some PATH workers who were stricken by COVID-19 is nothing more than retribution by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, charges the PATH Labor Coalition which represents about 1,000 employees on the bistate railway system.
Last week the Port Authority finally agreed to union demands to provide adequate coronavirus testing for employees, becoming the last transit system in the Northeast to do so. But there was a “price.” At the same time, PATH management also announced that workers suffering from COVID-19 would no longer have unlimited time off to fight the disease. Employees will now have to use their own sick and vacation days if they take more than ten work days to recover. Employees who use up their sick and vacation days won’t be paid at all and some might even see money deducted from future paychecks.
PATH management made the new “clawback” policy retroactive to April 17, catching a number of employees by surprise.
“This new clawback policy is pure retribution and nothing more than a payback from the Port Authority,“ says Joseph Dominiczak, PATH Labor Coalition President. “They finally give us adequate testing with one hand and bury a knife in our backs with the other. We demand that this heartless and dangerous new policy be rescinded immediately.”
When asked by a local reporter about the clawback policy at a Port Authority press conference on May 21, Executive Director Rick Cotton claimed to not be aware of the offensive against union workers and said he would look into the situation, but at this time the Port Authority has not addressed the issue. Audio of the exchange is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Nine PATH engineers who were stricken by the disease and took more than two weeks to recover are now losing their sick and vacation days retroactively, according to Art Blakey, the Vice-Chairman of Local 497. “This is a terrible way to treat these essential frontline workers, real heroes who put their lives on the line to serve the public. Changing the policy after they got sick is a real cheap shot.”
The new PATH policy is also a danger to riders and the public at large, according toThomas Malone of SMART Tower Operators Local #1430. “Some employees may have to choose between returning to work too soon and losing money they need to feed their families,” he adds. “This vengeful, mean-spirited and dangerous decision must be overturned.”
