8074 New York City Transit Authority workers made over $100,000 last year

Can it really be true? 8,074 employees of the NYC Transit Authority made more than $100,000 last year. Without a doubt, something is wrong in a major way if the Transit Authority has such a high payroll while it is cutting back on service, raising fares and otherwise pleading poverty.

Since the Mayor and the Governor together control the MTA Board, they should decide once and for all that salaries are going down. It may take a long struggle, but there is no way that transit workers should make so much more than the average private worker who rides the train. Indeed, a cut in pay of $20,000 for 8,074 workers (not to mention all the others who are overpaid) would save about 165 million dollars per year by itself. That could save a lot of trains and bus routes. If there benefits were similarly sliced, there could be substantial additional savings.

For decades, the MTA board has cracked before the pressure from the unions and given higher than deserved pay raises. The MTA now needs someone like NJ governor Chris Christie to be made the head of the MTA with a mandate to cut costs STARTING WITH OVERPRICED LABOR!