BART board president suggests workers must sacrifice -- PISSES ME OFF; TELL RETARD BLALOCK TO SACRIFICE HIS MEDICAL /401-K
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BART board president suggests workers must sacrifice
By Denis Cuff
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Posted: 04/23/2009 05:16:25 PM PDT
Higher train fares and larger contributions from BART workers toward health and pension benefits are needed to bail BART out of a financial hole, BART managers and its board president said today.
Board president Thomas Blalock rejected one BART workers union's proposal to roll over the employee contract for one year.
"Given the grim economic times we face, unless our workers agree to share in more of their own health care and pension benefits, and agree to productivity improvements, BART will be forced to lay off employees, cut service and further increase fares and fees," Blalock said in a written statement..
"We cannot expect the public to carry to full load through addition fare increases and service cuts," he said.
Meanwhile, several BART board members said that management's proposal for a 10 percent fare increase is too high. However, directors did not agree on how to structure a smaller fare increase with some increases in parking fees at stations lots.
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BART Management is the one who mismanages BART's fund and is SOLELY responsible for the mess BART is in today, not the WORKERS who ACTUALLY WORK. BART Management should be ASHAMED at the piss poor job they do. The workers do very good dealing with such lame management as BART's. Thomas Blalock has some nerve asking BART's workers and passengers for even more. When has BART Management EVER contributed to sacrificing part of their premium work packages to keep the BART system going? Why does BART need to conduct expensive outside studies over and over again? Why does BART use so many high-priced consultants?. Why is BART management so overly paid for NOT doing jack shit to earn their keep? BART Management just costs and costs and THEY ARE THE ONES WHO are bankrupting BART, not the workers and FREDDY BART MANAGER AND FANNIE BART BITCH SHOULD PAY FOR THEIR CRAPPY WORK BY GETTING LAID OFF. Why do we need a LINTON JOHNSON for $300,000 plus a YEAR???? LAY HIS ASS OFF; DON'T RAISE OUR FARES. BART Management should ALL be laid off and the workers who already do the work can run BART, i.e., increase their productivity as was suggested by RETARD BLALOCK. I think the techs and T.O.'s would do great all by themselves. I'm tired of these BART MANAGEMENT losers who keep coming back to the passenger and worker table to bail their pathetic assess out for poor management of BART funds. GET RID OF ALL OF BART MANAGEMENT and the BOARD. LEAVE THE WORKERS ALONE. Talk about BART being in need of a breath of fresh air.
The best suggestion given in today's economic climate was to rollover the BART contract for a year, not to say "no" to the union person who proposed that and threaten more lay offs and reduced services unless THE WORKERS PONY UP! WHAT DO YOU, BART MANAGEMENT, EVER DO, TO DO YOUR PART TO PONY UP for the BART system you wrecked?
BART Management took fucking four months to respond to the Oscar Grant shooting thus fueling attorneys' fees, legal costs, riots, destruction of property, harassment, everything, WHAT KIND OF FUCKING MANAGEMENT IS THAT YOU ASSHOLES? GET REAL AND GET OUT OF OUR LIVES. WE DON'T need BART MANAGEMENT like you. If we didn't have such CRAPPY BART MANAGEMENT, we would have train cars that are dependable, enough train cars to support the system and the amount of passengers, and BART wouludn't be facing a continuing deficit or delayed everyday with crap on the tracks.
BART MANAGEMENT, GO TO HELL AND RETARD THOMAS BLAH-LOCK SHOULD HAND IN HIS RESIGNATION FOR BEING SO STUPID TO EVEN SUGGEST THAT WITHOUT PONYING ANYTHING UP BY BART MANAGEMENT.
IT'S funny, according to that retard Linton Johnson, one minute BART is broke, the next minute BART HAS A SURPLUS and they are cleaning up the system, increasing service, and rehiring eveyrone they laid off, now it's a steep financial hole again. I don't believe anything BART says any more.
BART NEEDS TO BE AUDITED. I SMELL A RAT, ACTUALLY SEVERAL RATS! FRY THESE FAT RATS THAT CALL THEMSELVES BART MANAGERS. WE'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS.
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I would like to see a full
I would like to see a full audit of some of BART's endless consulting contracts.
That said, except for management, the organization is already pretty lean. There's not much more to be cut without affecting service. I would say get rid of any manager who "manages" fewer than 5 employees (yes, there are "managers" who only have *one* employee).
It would be one thing if people got large raises every year in good times, but the past 0-2% raises haven't even kept pace with inflation.
Bottom line--if the unions reject BART's offer, the current contract continues to stay in effect and the District's only choice would be a lock out.
Sounds like someone needs to
Sounds like someone needs to find their blood pressure pills.
But is it really unreasonable
But is it really unreasonable to actually require BART workers to contribute in a meaningful way to their benefit plans? I saw this story yesterday: http://www.kcbs.com/pages/4259508.php?contentType=4&contentId=3879220 and the allegations is that BART employees pay "virtually nothing" into their medical and 401k plans. I work in the private sector and my required contributions, especially for medical, have gone up much faster than inflation -- and with the down economy, starting April 1, I am paying about an extra $100 per month MORE than I was paying before. Now is not the time for BART workers to seek sympathy that they are actually going to have to make a significant contribution to these skyrocketing entitlement plans -- it is happening to everyone.
I believe last contract
I believe last contract tripled the amount they paid to health care. I also think they didn't get more than cola adjustments. Does anyone know for sure the results of last contract they had? I think anyone making more than 100-150k should have their wages at least looked at..
Especially when I hear the spokesman Johnson makes close to 300k with benis, and bonuses (anyone have a total for Mr. Johnson?). Spokesmen do nothing with regards to service yet that's alot of dough. How many BART rides is THAT?
We got 0%, 2%, 2% and 3% in
We got 0%, 2%, 2% and 3% in the last contract, so 7% over four years, which is not even COLA. BART executives routinely sneak in a 5-7% PER YEAR pay increase for themselves a few months after negotiations cool down. In general, the pay is good for unskilled work, but generally below market for anything requiring a college degree, except when you're first hired. (In other words, new people will be paid market, but then they get 0-2% so after 5-10 years they've fallen behind and are watching other new people come in for more money--some quit then reapply for their old jobs to get a raise).
The monthly fee for medical goes up each year, but is still relatively cheap. The deductible is $1K (unless you pick Kaiser, then there's no deductible) and doctor visits are $20, with prescriptions ranging from $5-$45 depending where it is on the formulary list.
There is a basic pension that BART pays for and a better one we can pay for ourselves (i.e. service credit), which costs 5-8% of your salary, depending on how much you make. You get an insurance policy equal to one year of pay if you die while employed by BART. If you pay the premium yourself, you can bump that to two years pay.
Holidays we get are: New Years, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Day After, Christmas, New Years and 3 floaters. This is more than the private sector, but most of my friends in private industry get Christmas and New Year's off and work half days on New Years Eve and the day before Thanksgiving, all of which are full work days for us. You get 3 weeks vacation after a year, 4 after 5 years and 5 after 15 years.
The dental plan pays up to $1K a year. The Vision Plan gives you a free eye exam and supposedly a "discount" on glasses but it's more of a scam to get you to buy more expensive frames.
A couple of things people forget: 1) if BART got rid of its pension, they would be required by federal law to start paying 6% of employee's salaries into Social Security so it wouldn't really save them money (BART employees don't get S.S., we get a pension instead and, during good years, BART doesn't have to pay anything for it). 2) Your pay is it. There are no bonuses of any kind during good times. Most people I know in the private sector get at least a Christmas bonus (though those were smaller last year).
The working conditions at BART are kind of weird and unlike anyplace else. It is a very tense environment and there is little team building. Employees are kept on a tight leash and creativity is definitely not encouraged in any way. BART basically hires an endless stream of highly-paid consultants who come in and tell everyone, managers included, what to do. Usually, the consultants state the obvious. I'm willing t bet that that the hundreds of thousands paid to consultants in the Oscar Grant shooting will result in a report that doesn't tell us anything we don't already know.
Managers are terrified of making the wrong decision or saying the wrong thing, so nothing is done or said instead. There is no reward for doing superior work, but also no penalty for doing sub-par work.
In short: the benefits are excellent, the pay is fair, the working conditions are fair to poor.
it would be useful if BART
it would be useful if BART recognized its public status clearly enough to post the several union contracts in full on their website. There is BTW a website which details SF City and County civil service "titles" and wage rates.