news MTA is going to okay $100M transit worker pay hikes, but will appeal increases year 3

[Trainmaster5]

BTW, what organization projects deficits 3-5 years in the future and tells you in advance that your fare WILL be going up ? That same organization tells you later on that it has a budget shortfall and needs to institute service cuts and layoffs. When it's told that other transit agencies have decided to use the 10% of stimulus money allowed says that we refuse to do that. We want to buy new trains, subway cars, and buses with that money instead of lessening the blow of the service cuts and/or layoffs. Will someone please explain to me the logic behind that way of thinking ? We're going to cut service and layoff workers and raise the fare too. While we buy new buses and trains. Which will gather dust in the depots and yards 'cause we will run LESS service than we did 1/1/10. You're being scammed ,people, with your eyes wide open! Yet some posters think the unions should give back something to help the cover it's own blunders. Why? Quite frankly if it wasn't for us union people out here pointing out the (MTA)'s chicanery most of the public would believe whatever press release they put out.

[TransitMan23]

BTW, what organization projects deficits 3-5 years in the future and tells you in advance that your fare WILL be going up ? That same organization tells you later on that it has a budget shortfall and needs to institute service cuts and layoffs. When it's told that other transit agencies have decided to use the 10% of stimulus money allowed says that we refuse to do that. We want to buy new trains, subway cars, and buses with that money instead of lessening the blow of the service cuts and/or layoffs. Will someone please explain to me the logic behind that way of thinking ? We're going to cut service and layoff workers and raise the fare too. While we buy new buses and trains. Which will gather dust in the depots and yards 'cause we will run LESS service than we did 1/1/10. You're being scammed ,people, with your eyes wide open! Yet some posters think the unions should give back something to help the cover it's own blunders. Why? Quite frankly if it wasn't for us union people out here pointing out the (MTA)'s chicanery most of the public would believe whatever press release they put out.

amen

[LexAveExp5]

wow, Samuelsen has a politician on his side. this could be GOOD

http://www.ny1.com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/top_stories/113145/local-leaders--mta-can-take-action-to-prevent-service-cuts

 

Elected officials, labor leaders and transit advocates said today that there are ways to prevent the massive service cuts the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has planned, a day after the agency unveiled that its financial situation is even worse than before.

 

The group gathered with straphangers this morning in Lower Manhattan to call for people to vent their frustration and demand action. They met at the Broad Street station where the M train stops, but possibly not for much longer.

 

The M line is one of two lines on the chopping block, along with several bus routes and free student MetroCards.

 

But community leaders say the agency can lessen the severity of cuts by redirecting stimulus funds to operating costs.

 

"Boarding up and shutting down the M line doesn't make sense," said Transit Workers Union President John Samuelsen. "Making our children pay bus and subway fares to go to school doesn't make sense. Subjecting four-million New Yorkers to significantly longer waits at bus and subway stops doesn't make sense."

 

"When the stimulus federal money was distributed, the federal government realized that New York and other jurisdictions would unfortunately most likely have operating shortfalls. That's why the law explicitly allows this, in a transparent way, to happen," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

 

 

Despite the calls to move the money to the operating budget, MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jay Walder has said money in the capital budget would remain there.

 

The agency announced yesterday it is facing a $400 million budget gap this year, as the payroll tax that was supposed to help pay transit bills came up short.

 

That tax was implemented as part of the state Legislature's MTA bailout last year.

 

Riders say they have had enough.

 

"It's the same old story over and over again," said one straphanger. "They bring out the same threats and then they do some of them, they don't do some of them. You can't take them seriously, but at the same time, we're worried about the cuts."

 

"We thought we were going to get better service and we're not," said another rider. "I don't know what to say anymore. It's just disgusting."

 

The agency has said it does not plan to raise fares this year, but is planning to raise fares by 7.5 percent next year.

 

Meanwhile, the state's economic projections are growing even bleaker.

 

Governor David Paterson says the projected deficit for the next fiscal year has jumped from $7.4 billion to more than $8 billion since he unveiled his budget last month.

 

He blames the widening gap on the recession, which has caused tax revenues to dip and demand for Medicaid to rise.

 

Paterson will unveil a proposal to make up the new gap next week.

 

In a separate report, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the governor's budget relies on unrealistic revenue projections and savings assumptions.

[engineerboy6561]

I was wondering about the possibility of an initiative/referendum concerning the MTA's financial irresponsibility and deep desire to fatten the suits while slashing service, wages, and benefits whenever and wherever they can. If an initiative were to be started requiring the MTA to put their budgets, especially any proposed service cuts, fare hikes, elimination of student services, underfunding of contracts, etc. on the ballot before regular New Yorkers, how many of you would be willing to sign on and ( what chances do you think it would have at passing?

The reason I ask this is because if it were to be successful, the ability to slash both labor and service expenditures would be placed in the hands of the very people who stand to get screwed by such reductions, effectively tying the hands of the MTA in the matter and forcing them to cut suits when times get hard rather than union people or services. I also suggest this because it may prove to be less impossible than it looks; the Progressive movement that sought to combat the worst excesses of business during the first Gilded Age (1865-1900) and most likely helped to put off the Great Depression by 10-20 years, came through ground-up, grass-roots movements in cities and states. Even if the referendum fails, if it gets big enough first it may be able to serve as a rallying point for others disgusted with the status quo and spark a movement capable of countering the "tea-party patriots" :mad: and putting the country back on track.

[SubwayGuy]

I was wondering about the possibility of an initiative/referendum concerning the MTA's financial irresponsibility and deep desire to fatten the suits while slashing service, wages, and benefits whenever and wherever they can. If an initiative were to be started requiring the MTA to put their budgets, especially any proposed service cuts, fare hikes, elimination of student services, underfunding of contracts, etc. on the ballot before regular New Yorkers, how many of you would be willing to sign on and ( what chances do you think it would have at passing?

The reason I ask this is because if it were to be successful, the ability to slash both labor and service expenditures would be placed in the hands of the very people who stand to get screwed by such reductions, effectively tying the hands of the MTA in the matter and forcing them to cut suits when times get hard rather than union people or services. I also suggest this because it may prove to be less impossible than it looks; the Progressive movement that sought to combat the worst excesses of business during the first Gilded Age (1865-1900) and most likely helped to put off the Great Depression by 10-20 years, came through ground-up, grass-roots movements in cities and states. Even if the referendum fails, if it gets big enough first it may be able to serve as a rallying point for others disgusted with the status quo and spark a movement capable of countering the "tea-party patriots" :mad: and putting the country back on track.

 

Excellent post. I'd like to see something similar implemented at every governmental agency, as well as any business that the government has a stake in or subsidizes.

 

Cut the suits and run them out of town on a rail.

 

Suits don't provide service. Suits don't make goods. Suits don't run trains. Suits do little. Only a few are needed in every organization.

 

Less lawyers, less bean counters, more operating personnel, maintenance and construction = better service at the same cost.