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Boston's Transit Union Fights Reform Efforts

The union for MBTA workers wields huge clout to derail reforms through political donations and aggressive lobbying

The Boston Carmen’s Union — the powerful labor group for MBTA bus drivers and subway operators fighting Gov. Charlie Baker’s plan to fix the troubled transit agency — wields huge clout to derail reforms through political donations and influence, aggressive lobbying and unchecked arbitration, a Herald review found. The 6,000-member-strong Carmen’s Union Local 589’s influence and reform-blocking tactics include:

Its political action committee, which poured thousands into the campaign coffers for sitting members of the Transportation Committee and has doled out more than $58,000 in campaign donations to more than 100 politicians and committees since 2014 alone. That’s more than twice the political cash handed out by the powerful Boston Teachers Union during that time.

The union spent nearly $360,000 lobbying Beacon Hill in the past five years and doubled its lobbying budget, bringing on the firm Travaglini, Eisenberg & Kiley for two years as lawmakers debated 2009 transportation reform.

The union has skirted reforms through binding arbitration settlements, which are not subject to approval from any board — an advantage held by no other public unions, outside of the MBTA, in the state.

Daniel Luzer is GOVERNING's news editor.
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