Jsalcedo718

Any new conductors have the newest yearly raise break down from starting pay to top pay? I see there's a couple ppl in school car now, did you guys get your paper they usually give at 180 or at orientation with the new break down? If so, can you write what the new break down is per year? What are the numbers in btwn $25.05(Starting pay) and $35.79(Top pay) per year?

6 minutes ago, Amir said:

Perfect thank you 🙏🏽 

Yes, just bring all your paper work filled out and the other items like SS, Diploma, etc. that they tell u to bring. The medical u will do there at 180 Livingston. Anytime u would need anything medical related outside of 180 Livingston, is if u have a current medical condition that you need your personal doctor to clear or explain via paper work, which u will then bring back to the MAC at 180 livingston. 

1 minute ago, Amir said:

Might be a weird question lol. Are we suppose to go to a lab and get drug tested? I was just reading the email they sent out and Number 6 says the following. 
 

6.        Successful completion of a drug/alcohol laboratory examination. - I just want to make sure I have all my paper work and everything ready for them. 

No, they do their own drug test there at the MAC center at 180 Livingston.

On 12/1/2023 at 4:44 PM, ix360xi said:

As in doing the drug test there at pre employment? sorry im new to this. 

You go there and u take the drug test they give u. They don't accept outside drug test.

Anybody know around what list #s are they up to? Not sure why by the last few attempts to get info from the DCAS automated number for exam updates it hasn't been giving any info when it tells me to press #1 for list details/status and it would just hang up on me.

49 minutes ago, Jay gutierrez said:

Question, are we allowed to use our phones during the medical while we wait all those hours?

While in the waiting section, u can, just as long as you have it on silent. When they call u up, just don't go to the desk with it in your hand.

16 minutes ago, banjo said:

Do the classes follow a consistent schedule, or, do they let you know your schedule in advance at least? I would hope I could at least keep part time hours at my current job for a worst case scenario such as failing the exam.

No, they dont always have a consistent schedule. You should warn your current job or ask for a leave of absence.

19 minutes ago, KCA119 said:

Are they going to take another urine sample as well? I want to know how much water I should drink lol 

If you're past your 90 days, u will have to do the whole med process again. If not, then no.

19 hours ago, Grammypie said:

Thanks. Does anyone have the number to contact MTA HR?

Not sure if these are still active, maybe someone can correct me, since I haven't used these numbers is years. There's 347-643-8237 and there's 212- 669-1357. U can also email examsunit@nyct.com. Make sure on the subject line u state what you're emailing about. On the body of the email put your full name, exam #, list #, last 4 of social.

2 hours ago, Grammypie said:

Good evening, question has anyone been in a similar position before? You completed the medical assessment and the MTA staff says they will call you for the next step. It's been about a month and you don't here from them. Is it normal or should I go down there personally to see what's happening?

That's definitely normal. Those med exams last 90 days. If the 90s days are up, and they reach your number for pre employment, you will have to take the med exams again, then continue with the pre employment. But, if you ever want to find out your status, it's best to call than to just show up. U don't want to waste a day going there.

1 hour ago, KCA119 said:

Was Medical an all day process? Was it just answering some medical questions and getting your blood pressure checked?

Yes usually like Jericho stated. Not sure if u got a letter or email or just a call. But usually they'll tell u bring snacks cause you'll be there a while. I advise u to get some snacks, lol. Cause u can not leave and u will starve if you have one of those long days. 

3 hours ago, Amir said:

I’m going for the OPA Friday, I’m not sure what I’ll be walking into. Any ideas of what I should expect? Thanks

U gotta bring ya admission letter, valid ID and get a $25 money order from the postal office. For the first session you'll be in a class with several ppl. You gonna have an answer sheet which u bubble in your info just like when you took the conductor test. For the test, Theyll have a CD playing, it'll be like 4 different announcements btwn and dispatcher and conductor, and u have to pay attention to the details of the convo. For Each ONE announcement, you'll have to answer 5 questions from a booklet they will give u, to answer based on what you heard. So in total it'll be 20 questions. They'll pause the CD after each dispatch, and u have 2 mins to answer the 5 questions.

Second session is about 5 to 10 mins..you'll be interviewed by someone and they'll record your answers. The questions are based on the pictures in the booklet in front of u. They'll basically ask u what would you do in each situation. 

7 hours ago, alexx said:

I asked about regarding planned vacation and take off days before but some said I was most likely sh** out luck.. It is pre booked and paid already which sucks so much because I will lose out on it and take some loss.

Don't worry. Once u finish probation you'll get your one week PAID vacation. Then 2 weeks, then 4 weeks as time goes on. You also accumulate AVAs (Paid Single Vacation Days). Once u accumulate a few of those and If/when u get to pick a steady Job and you have steady RDOs (Regular Days off) u can make your own little vacations besides the solid week you're given for the first year. For example..if U have Tues/Weds off regularly...U can request an AVA for Monday, you're already off Tues &Weds and request another AVA on Thurs and if you're lucky, you'll get to request and be approved for Friday. Now u got a week off u can plan a vacation. Many of us do that down here.

21 minutes ago, tsanchez2828 said:

Me and my wife have one but she mostly needs it plus I hate driving into city,I'll get a second car maybe after a few months with mta

U can get familiar with New Jersey transit busses or trains. Theres also small private busses that be around port authority that go into Jersey. Get the closest to the part of NJ you live, then u can probably take an uber from there, if the busses or trains don't leave u close enough instead of getting an uber from NY to NJ.

12 hours ago, Comrade96 said:

also, it seems like they axed the OC conductor exam that was supposed to file in June

I just noticed that too. I wonder why? I did find it strange that they had TWO promotionals for conductor back to back. Maybe they'll extend this list a bit then start calling promotionals.

13 minutes ago, Amir said:

Do you know by any chance which email I should send it to? 

If you need to update information, you have to email examsunit@nyct.com . Include ya name, applicant ID, and the requested change of your personal information. On the subject line type "CONTACT INFO UPDATE". Also type the same info to DCAS at oasys@dcas.nyc.gov Since they're the ones who do the processing.

1 hour ago, tsanchez2828 said:

Then I might have to use Uber more then I would like.....side question,there's shifts that end at 2am? Yikes

Yes, expect to have a disorganized sleeping schedule, sleepless nights/mornings, etc. Until u can pick a job, u will be all over the place, as far as scheduling, hours worked, location of pick up/ drop off...etc. Its tough in the beginning. If you can get through that in the beginning Until you're able to pick a steady job, you're good.

9 minutes ago, alexx said:

Is that website accessible now with BSN&Pin like how we ordered our boots  or do we need to wait until next week or so for the info/login?

You can try it out. You're new so I'm not sure if your info is across all platforms already, but if u want to try, go on the MTA/Unipro site, u can probably Google it and it'll pop up...and enter your pass number as the user name and the last 4 of ya social as the password. See if that works. If not, then you'll have to wait a little until the process your info into unipros site.

3 minutes ago, alexx said:

is there an authorize in person store like meyers uniforms for MTA?

No there isn't an official store. Just certain ppl that make hoodies, and hats, etc. But official uniforms, no.

27 minutes ago, alexx said:

 

 

Thanks for the insight, this helps a lot! Haha, yeah, the backroom lawyers are all friends but not the same unions but their own in their fields.. Only question I have, not that it changes anything as I am set into joining about probation now, if someone were to join later and not right away, they are still owed the previous term since joining? If that is so, that is a 100% no brainer to join from the get go, imo!

 

Yes. U will owe them "Dues" from the moment you joined MTA. Coming into the NYCT is like a package deal with TWU100. Like I mentioned before...if u don't want to be a part of the union, u won't have Dental, Vision and other perks that come with the union. U can definitely get you're own, but most likely at a higher rate than what the union is offering. And many times God forbid u get in trouble, and you have to go down to 2 broadway for a hearing, more than likely they're gonna want to speak to a Union Rep cause the ppl down there don't speak to us directly. All the communications usually go through a Union Rep, and the Union passes the info down to us. We dont even See the arbitrators/those doing the hearing, especially after Covid. I heard though, that most recently they've been doing it remotely.

3 hours ago, alexx said:

I have a question if anyone could answer,

Hello, I would like to ask, is the union mandatory or we have a choice? If we have a choice, I don't think i'll be joining until after probation.

What exactly is the union good for? What did you personally use it for with all those calls? What type of help have you been asking/getting if you don't mind me asking. Seems definitely worthwhile for you with the amount of communication you had with them but I would like to know more to maybe see if it suits me better than I think.  I was told by a multiple people to not join during probation because union only helps with issues around disagreements with management. The main part is fighting for wages but a few years ago I think, regardless if you're a member or not, the fight applies to everyone and not only members, basically a free pass, lol.

If you are not one to get in trouble with management and get along with people and hard working, do your job, good worker, you don't need a union.  During probation, supervisor can still "make up" something and fire you if they want and union can't help you.

Please nobody take this post by any means to not join but do make sure you look into it and see if it suits you. At the end, after probation, I will surely join . One big happy family should stick together. Not to be negative or anything but the last thing i'd want to see is someone be paying for it and then not successfully complete probation and the union can't protect and do anything for then. Just something to keep in mind.

 

What Milano said is all correct. Don't let day crew room lawyers fill your head with nonsense. 9/10 mistakes and accidents are more likely to occur while on probation. Also, like Milano said...without the union, u waive having dental and vision insurance through them. Unless you're going to get your own. U cant attend meetings to express your grievances on the job or new information that the union may want to relay to the workforce. Also...if you say you want to join after probation, you're going to owe them a years worth of back pay. They'll have u as NOT in good standing and in arrears. Everytime they fight for raises, uniforms, boots, etc. They're also fighting for you, even though you're not paying. So they see that as them working for u for free, and eventually they'll make u pay for it, when God forbid u need them for something, they'll deny helping u until u pay what u owe. It's happened to some ppl who tried to opt out. While some of us think the union s*cks, there's also its benefits.

8 hours ago, alexx said:

Yes, follow the email, you will need to fill everything out.. Do not fill in anything you do not know because from my experience, you will take longer than having it not filled in and redo everything there. Make sure everything is close to same as what you had filled during pre employment. If it is very off, i'm sure you will be questioned and have problems arise.

I suggest leaving spaces out that you are unsure of and/or having multiple copies because if you don't do it properly, you will have to fix or redo it.. I spent a lot of time fixing and refilling it out there because of the employment and education histories..

It says to fill in up to graduating from HS which is well over 10 years ago so there was no way for me to remember..  I just rounded out and used only the year but that didn't work... They will need the mo/yr date history so try to connect them as best as you can.  If there is a gap between periods that you took break, write unemployed for that time gap. They will most likely not follow up with any of that old information but they want to see a completed form and somewhat matching info that we put for pre employment.

On the other end, medical is very straightforward. It's basically your regular annual checkups all bunched in one (physical, vision, hearing) and if you're good and can completely fill out your forms without any questionable things such as completely different employment history or something, you should be fine. Don't sweat it because the only sweat you should only have is possibly from all the waiting, lol.
 

Good luck!

 

 

Yea, what I've done in the past is Take pics of each page I filled out just incase, that way I can just pull it up on my phone if I ever have to re-do anything. One thing about MTA, their paper work is very repetitive. Like you said, they're very meticulous with details, so anything that's off, they'll notice it and make you do it all over again until u get it correct. Alot of ppl get confused and think they're only supposed to write in their jobs, but they also have to fill in anytime they're unemployed, even if it was just for a month. Any gaps need to be filled in with something.

2 hours ago, Comrade96 said:

True but this only works if you have a car

They do have cars, but they don't drive into the city. They take the bus or train into the city. Coming and going in car is super expensive. The ones I know from CT and PA, they do drive. The ones from jersey dont.

7 hours ago, Amir said:

I’m in Bayonne, I still have the old address which is where my mother lives 

Many MTA workers actually move to NJ these days. Some even come from CT. & PA.

.

3 hours ago, Amir said:

I’m wondering, they just sent me a letter to go may 19 for my OPA. I’m a little concerned what are the chances I even get called for the next steps if I’m number 115xx

Go for it anyway. U just never know. If for any reason they can't call u for conductor, they can also offer u a job for (CTA) subway Cleaner. From subway cleaner, u can apply for Conductor promotional, which is a way easier way to get into conductor, than coming in from an open competitive list. I know quite a few Cleaners that are from older conductor lists that were given the option to take the cleaner job because they didn't have anymore conductor vacancies from their lists.