Although City Hall's relations with the MTA have improved somewhat since Mayor Giuliani's budget director, Marc Shaw, took the job of MTA executive director, the Mayor's repertoire of grievances against the transit agency came immediately to the fore when reporters asked the Mayor about the agreement. Giuliani said he was concerned about how the workfare workers fit into the agreement and lashed the MTA for repeatedly "stiffing" the city.

The Mayor's appointees to the MTA board were among the principal advocates of the transit workfare deal, and MTA officials said Giuliani's negative reaction stemmed primarily from a breakdown in communications among his aides. Yet some newspaper accounts saw the Mayor's reaction more in light of his desire to preserve labor peace with city unions and in an attempt to gain leverage in financial disputes with the MTA.

Whether the agreement is a good thing for those on welfare or for transit workers is certainly subject to debate, and members of TWU Local 100 will have their say on the matter in a ratification vote next month. But ironically, a big winner could be Mayor Giuliani, since the MTA needed to get the labor pact behind it before moving forward with free subway/bus transfers and with an additional fare discount associated with its Metrocard program said to be in the works. These transit service /fare improvements would likely take effect in the middle of next year, a few months before the mayoral election.