Sec. 17. If the district acquires a commuter railroad transportation system and proceeds to operate the system directly, by management contract, or by lease under this chapter, the employees of the system shall be protected as follows:

(1) The employees of the system must be retained to the fullest extent consistent with sound management, and those terminated or laid off must be assured priority of reemployment.

(2) The rights, privileges, and benefits of the employees under any pension or retirement plan are not affected, and the board shall assume the duties of the system under the plan.

(3) The board shall act in such a manner as to insure the continuing applicability to affected railroad employees of the provisions of all federal statutes applicable to them prior to April 1, 1984, and a continuation of their collective bargaining agreements until the provisions of those agreements can be renegotiated by representatives of the board and the representatives of those employees duly designated pursuant to terms and provisions of the federal Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.).

(4) The employees of the system shall receive protection no less favorable than the employee conditions provided In the Matter of the New York Dock (360 I.C.C. 60), and no person with an employment relation with the commuter transportation system on April 1, 1984, may be deprived of employment or placed in a worse position by reason of the district's acquisition of a commuter transportation system.

As added by P.L.64-1984, SEC.13.