news Let the savings begin: Now it is the MTA unions' turn to cut waste and save jobs

[Will-Bx-718]

The chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is laying it on the line to the agency's unionized labor: Now is the time to increase productivity for the good of both the public and the workforce at large.

 

Confronting an $800 million budget deficit, Jay Walder has slashed headquarters management personnel by up to 20%, renegotiated vendor contracts, imposed service cuts and begun to eliminate 3,000 jobs. Some 1,500 will be laid off.

 

Now he is seeking cost savings by rewriting contract rules that, for example, bar the MTA from consolidating maintenance tasks, such as locomotive or air conditioning repair, in single shops.

 

Meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board, Walder was characteristically blunt: "We should have a well-paid and well-compensated workforce. I'm not actually taking anything away from that, but I think the quid pro quo of that is we should have a productive workforce, and I think we have a series of work rules and practices that have developed over many years that are all about how people effectively get paid for not working, and I think that's really where the shame of the system is, and if we want to really attack what has to be changed today, we have to be attacking this."

 

Right he is.

 

At a time when riders are paying more for less and the MTA is throwing station agents and others out of jobs, featherbedding and restrictions that promote idleness are unconscionable.

 

Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen said Walder has yet to provide a list of proposed work rule changes. Which should be all the invitation Walder needs to open, it is hoped, a fruitful dialogue. The two men have a great deal to discuss, because there are many inefficiencies in the depots and workrooms of the MTA's subway, bus and commuter line operations.

 

For instance: The Daily News reported that some express bus drivers spend four hours a day playing pool between rush-hour runs to Staten Island or Manhattan. Why? Because a contract bars the MTA from having more than a specified number of buses in Manhattan, making it impossible for the agency to assign a driver to make a morning run from Staten Island and then handle a Manhattan route for the rest of the day.

 

For instance: Transit Authority maintenance garages may service only TA buses, not any other buses in the sprawling MTA system.

 

For instance: During February's blizzard, when the MTA needed emergency snow removal, supervisors sent a plow from one equipment yard to dig out a facility run by another MTA unit. A union official called from vacation in Florida to remind the MTA that the contract barred such a move.

 

For instance: Some Long Island Rail Road track staff are paid for 32 hours in a row, although they are not working all that time.

 

For instance: One-fourth of MTA workers take more than their allotted 13 sick days a year.

 

"We have to take away the ways that people basically foil the system to ensure that they spend only a small portion of their time actually in productive working hours," Walder said. "It might mean some of our bus drivers aren't as good at playing pool as they are now, but we might have to bear that cost."

 

Right again.

 

Walder and TA President Thomas Prendergast made clear that potential cost savings could be significant enough to soften the blow inflicted on station agents in layoffs.

 

"I genuinely believe if we can get a different dialogue going with labor, some of this is avoidable," Walder said. "Even some of the station agents. If we have a different dialogue, it might be possible to bring back people and do things through an attrition process, but you won't get there unless there's a different dialogue going on."

 

Right once more. Let the negotiations begin.

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/05/12/2010-05-12_let_the_savings_begin.html#ixzz0nky1hxyQ

 

:tdown:I swear that Spaz Pete Donohue makes me sick to my stomach:mad:. Really can he stop attacking MTA workers??. I mean this guy is so pro management it's beyond ridiculous. I swear sometimes they have the MTA write these articles themselves. Or even at this moment walder is writing these articles. I mean him and Jay Walder must be sleeping together because he praises this man like the second coming of christ .:tdown:

[cdi919]

its gonna get bad quick.

[Nova RTS 9147]

It may not be the best policy for Paterson and Walder/Donahue to target their employees and try to paint them as the bad guy. And I find it interesting that the is still $800 million in the hole, even though it was earlier reported that the service cuts helped fill the budget gap by some $200-300 million (please correct me if I'm wrong).

[NX Express]

I think the criticism is a bit excessive, but I have to agree...4 hours playing pool and getting paid for it is not normal.:tdown:

[Will-Bx-718]

its gonna get bad quick.

 

Brother it's already gotten bad and unfortunately it's only going to get worse. It's almost becoming a daily witch hunt of TA workers by the Daily News and NY Post. I can even figure which tabloid is worst than the other.

[Will-Bx-718]

I think the criticism is a bit excessive, but I have to agree...4 hours playing pool and getting paid for it is not normal.:tdown:

 

Well that swing shift helps benefit the TA, and they have agreed to it for more than 50 years. I mean if they don't want people sitting around playing pool for up to 4 hours then let them work a straight 8 hour shift and go home. I mean what does walder want the B/O's to do they are getting paid half rate to stay on the clock 4-5 hours longer than the standard work day. Which effectively keep them away from home for at least 14-16 hours a day, 5 days a week. Let me see you pull a 12 hour shift every single day and see if you feel the same way about it then.

[cdi919]

what gets me is walder says he has no problem paying for a productive workforce, what does he mean by productive? you cant fit more than 3 trips in a 8 hour job on the .

[cdi919]

Well that swing shift helps benefit the TA, and they have agreed to it for more than 50 years. I mean if they don't want people sitting around playing pool for up to 4 hours then let them work a straight 8 hour shift and go home. I mean what does walder want the B/O's to do the are getting paid half rate to stay on the clock 4-5 hours longer than the standard work day. Which effectively keep them away from home for at least 14-16 hours a day, 5 days a week. Let me see you pull a 12 hour shift every single day and see if you feel the same way about it then.

 

man i pull 12-15 hour shifts all the time. and it hurts. your body just starts to break down. it also get dangerous because you are always fatigued.

[Kriston Lewis]

Transit Authority maintenance garages may service only TA buses, not any other buses in the sprawling MTA system.

 

During February's blizzard, when the MTA needed emergency snow removal, supervisors sent a plow from one equipment yard to dig out a facility run by another MTA unit. A union official called from vacation in Florida to remind the MTA that the contract barred such a move.

 

I know I might be going against the tide here, but this is ridiculous. Wouldn't a larger unified workforce be better than a bunch of factions looking out for themselves?

[Harry]

I know I might be going against the tide here, but this is ridiculous. Wouldn't a larger unified workforce be better than a bunch of factions looking out for themselves?

 

That's exactly what I was thinking to myself when I read the editorial this morning on the train to work. I thought maybe there has to be a good reason for this. Or maybe not. It sure did confuse the shit out of me. :confused:

[Nova RTS 9147]

I know I might be going against the tide here, but this is ridiculous. Wouldn't a larger unified workforce be better than a bunch of factions looking out for themselves?

 

You're right, but shouldn't that have been considered when the took over the private lines in the first place?

[BusOperator3319]

 

You're right, but shouldn't that have been considered when the took over the private lines in the first place?

Blame that on the Union's they didn't/don't want a consolidated/Super senority list due to the concerns of the cry baby senior men and women in the membership because of fears of someone from Bus vice versa picking into a TA Depot with more sinority they really need to stop with the games

[RTOMan]

Blame that on the Union's they didn't/don't want a consolidated/Super senority list due to the concerns of the cry baby senior men and women in the membership because of fears of someone from Bus vice versa picking into a TA Depot with more sinority they really need to stop with the games

 

Then the LOOKING down the line said nothing knowing that it will benifit them now.

 

Another thing we can thank Rodger and Ed Watt for they should have put thier foots down told them to suck it up and let it happen.

[Bill from Maspeth]

Blame that on the Union's they didn't/don't want a consolidated/Super senority list due to the concerns of the cry baby senior men and women in the membership because of fears of someone from Bus vice versa picking into a TA Depot with more sinority they really need to stop with the games

How much seniority to you have as a b/o?

[Urbanfortitude]

This Union doesn't sound very unified. :confused:

[MattTrain]

This Union doesn't sound very unified. :confused:

 

Yep, they didn't save 250+ station agents from being layed off, bus operators' may be next. oh-oh.

[rtype3995]

what gets me is walder says he has no problem paying for a productive workforce, what does he mean by productive? you cant fit more than 3 trips in a 8 hour job on the .

 

i guess he wants to turn it into a slave ship............

[LexAveExp5]

to be fair though, Walder doesn't really mention RTO. he's mainly upset about buses. guess he knows RTO is already a slaveship?

[Jah]

to be fair though, Walder doesn't really mention RTO. he's mainly upset about buses. guess he knows RTO is already a slaveship?

 

I disagree. I think that he is strategically attacking only a few departments at a time knowing that the membership won't unify that way. If he went after RTO and Buses at the same time he runs the risk of the 2 departments that actually make money unifying and doing a rule book slow down. It has been said thousands of times if you work strickly by the rule book in RTO your train will be no less than 10 minutes late on every trip. The trains run on time because of the operators professional pride and because they want to have some "recovery" time after the trip.

 

RTO will eventually get attacked by this clown too.