Brothers & Sisters,

Just a quick update about Friday’s court proceedings regarding the MBTA’s appeal of our arbitration award.

Judge Troy presided and heard the T attorneys basically argue that the judge should rule that the T can and should be allowed to continue our migration into the GIC, while the T presented future evidence to the court regarding the MBTA’s issue with the monetary award and retro along with the Health & Welfare Trust.

We of course made an argument that the award should be confirmed as the arbitrator did NOT violate state law or operate outside her scope. The MBTA presented NO evidence or argument to support their claims and the judge without actually coming out and saying so was confused as to their argument and wondered where their facts were relating to the appeal.

The judge did make it clear that he was NOT interested in splitting the different portions of the award. In other words, it appeared he was not buying their position to place us into the GIC while the “rest of it ” gets argued, which is good news for us.

The T has until Nov 4th to submit a brief on their case and we will follow with our own. The judge set Nov. 26th or shortly thereafter as the date he could make a decision to confirm or vacate the award. We’ll know more after Nov. 26. In the meantime, we feel very good about how the proceeding went and will continue to keep you updated.

In solidarity,

Executive Board
Boston Carmen’s Union