BART's Broke...?

I believe that is correct.

A vacant position has to be fully funded (in case they do fill it).

So it is counted in the budget.

Actually, that is one of the many places where they hide money.

If they have 140 vacant positions that is 140 times the salary that is setting in the operating budget drawing interest or committed that they can claim can't be spent. If they ever need or want the money they can just chop the positions and suddenly they have money.

We call them rat holes. It is like a funded project that they invent that they know they will never build. They can always set aside money for it and then claim the money is for the project so it can't be spent. But if they need some cash they can chop the project and free up some bucks.

They also cut back on maintenance staff until stuff is falling apart and then declare an emergency due to aging or whatever the excuse of the day is. Then they go to the Feds or State crying that they are broke and abused and get some money thrown at them to contract out the work. Good for them, bad for the economy.

The economy likes a nice steady flow of people working continuously and spending money. When they cut the workforce it cuts people spending money and supporting each other. Starbucks or whoever can't sell cups of coffee to people going to work, restaurants close, plants close, people get laid off, the economy suffers. When the economy suffers, you and I suffer. My Dental plan gets chopped. My kids have crooked teeth and some dental technician gets laid off.

Then we have to do a stimulus deal because all the top brass have mismanaged things so badly that their bonuses aren't coming in. Then there is a real problem!

When we suffer it's a recession. When the bazzilionaires hurt it's an economic crisis!

I believe the outside "janitor" is their groundskeeper position, and the inside janitor is their system service workers.. Similar to a gardener and the housekeeping staff..

Different jobs depending on how you look at it. But I was told the drip line is where the inside workers and the outside workers don't cross. Like the doors in an office building, outside workers do outside work..

I also found out there is a job called EOL, they are the cleaning staff that cleans the trains. So GroundsKeepers, Train Cleaners and Station Cleaners. I can see how they are different jobs if compared to an office building. Our office cleaning staff would not be expected to do outside work.

Don't believe everything you read.

The Union nor the Workers have the money to get an article like that written.
BART Management does.

The article you link was actually written by two men. Why does it take two people to write one article?

The Drip Line you refer to was created by BART Management. The inside people (System Service) clean inside the stations. The Outside people (Grounds Workers) are actually gardners and grounds keepers who sweep up the debris from the trees and shrubs they maintain.

System Service use mops, brooms, sweepers, buffers etc. and ride the trains from station to station.

The Grounds Workers use gas powered weed wackers, trimmers, chain saws, weed sprayers, repair sprinkler systems and timers and use brooms to clean up plant debris, etc. and maintain that equipment. They drive dump trucks and utility trucks that carry their equipment and are much more than cleaners and thus make more money than the inside System Service Workers.

Dear Dordal,

I can not argue with some of your logic. I know nothing about the breaks except there must be some reason things are as they are.

They could train someone to do everything. I don't know what you do but I’m sure someone else could do their job as well as yours. Someone else could do their job as well as mine, there is no doubt, but in many areas it does call for specialization. If the Electrician cleans the bathroom he still gets the Electricians rate of pay doesn't he/she?

That fact that there are two different types of workers was created by BART as a cost saving measure. There could be one worker doing both jobs and that has been the offer from the Union in the past. This Drip line issue is nothing new. A janitor who mops gets paid less than a Grounds workers who uses tools because it saves BART money. The janitor could learn those tasks but then they would not be a janitor would they? If the Electrician cleans the bathroom, is he/she not an electrician anymore? Nor would they even be available to clean the stations because they would be out doing the grounds workers job or the electricians job or the Station Agents job. They can't be everywhere at once.

Now if BART wants to hire twice as many workers to do the work it could be done but the wage is determined by the higher type of work to be done. So if the janitor should do the Grounds keepers work, he/she should get the Grounds Keepers wage.

You would not expect a surgeon to do the surgery and the Anesthesiologists job as well or the nurses job. If that were the case you would have to pay the higher rate of the Doctors wage and have three times more of them. You would have a Doctor doing the Anesthesiologists job at the Doctors rate of pay because he/she has to have those qualifications as well, or would the wage be a floating wage dropping down when the Doctor takes his hands out of the patient to hunt up a scalpel # 3 to hand himself. And if the doctor is doing all three jobs (Nurse, Anesthesiologist and Doctor) who keeps the patient alive while the Doctor is over checking the patients oxygen level instead of pinching off the Aneurysm?

Or I guess we could have a pilot acting as the pilot and the flight attendant but then when your getting your instruction on putting on your floaty, the plane flies itself unless you have two employees both qualified as pilots doing both jobs at the higher rates.

Now if your argument is that the janitor simply makes to much money, you would have a better argument. But if the janitor now has to do the janitor job and the Grounds Keepers job, you'll have a janitor that makes more than they do now. Instead of $28 per hour you would have a janitor that would get $34 per hour or whatever it is that Grounds Keeper get. A janitor doing Grounds Keepers Work is no longer a janitor. They are now a Grounds Keeper as a nurse doing the Doctors job is no longer the Nurse but becomes the Doctor.

Or we could go with the Commie bullshit and they all get the same wage. But then why would I want to go 6 to 8 years of schooling to earn the same as the janitor?

I'm sure every single System Service worker and Grounds Worker is intelligent enough and capable enough to do both jobs.

If you add the outside grounds, weed trimming, plant watering, cleaning up broken glass in the parking lots, etc. to those responsibilities it's not possible for one person to finish that much work in a day.

And what about the fifteen minute breaks at the end of every run outlined in the SF Gate article? A fifteen minute break every few hours certainly seems reasonable.

Not just reasonable--but California law. For EVERYONE. Not just BART employees. I agree 15 minutes after 5 minutes is ridiculous. The T.O.'s are doing a lot of stuff that you don't see. It's not like they just climb into a pre-assembled train and sit there for two hours then get out and have a break. The trains have to be put together, in the proper order, walked through, etc.

I haven't been shy about relating my experiences from working at BART to the point that anybody who knew me when I was there will probably recognize who I am by what I post. And don't that think I looked the other way and kept my mouth shut about anything while I was there either.

I was thinking of posters like imeanyoufeelme when I wrote the last two paragraphs of my post.

"Unless you would prefer that all skill levels are considered interchangeable at say a nice efficient pay rate of $20/hour and no benefits: BART Worker. Sometimes I get the feeling that the knowitalls out there who think they have the answers to all of BART's labor issues think that would work just fine. It's all just so much low skilled grunt work to them.

As with so many other things about BART that seem so simple to those on the outside who are looking in, once you get into the details, it's not so simple."

Why don't you tell us what you do for a living that makes you such an expert on what would be the best labor practices at BART?

Dear Imeanyoufellme,

The problem with Station Agents cleaning stations & Train Operators cleaning trains, and shop Techs and Mechanics cleaning the floors and bathrooms in the shops is that when they are doing theses things they aren't doing the jobs they were hired to do.

Those things are all possible but when the Station Agent is cleaning the Bathroom who’s minding the Station? Your not seeing that it is all like a puzzle and has to fit together just right to work.

A Train operator can't just clean the train when he/she wants. They drive the train and maintain safety. At the end of their runs they may have time but the train goes right back out with a new driver. An EOL (End of Line Cleaner) runs through the train picking up newspapers while the operator is setting up the train for the next trip. The train actually gets cleaned late at night when the operators are setting up for their runs or jostling cars around in the yard putting trains together.

Most of these activities happen fast so that train can get back out. Shall we pull the mechanic off the air conditioning job he is doing so he can get that car back out on the line before it gets hot so he can buff the floors and dump the trash?

If we go to one craft does everything the maintenance will suffer even more. Most of the fires and breakdowns are due to neglect now because there are not parts or enough workers. Every section at BART is running at about 2/3 staff to do the job that needs to be done. I for one choose to be a Technician not a janitor. Not that I am above that work. It is all work when you get down to it. But I chose my profession and that is what I want to do. If I have to trim the hedge, clean the bathroom, do my own job and change the lights I'll simply quit and go work some where else.

My employer owes me no more than the job I agreed to do for the benefits that we agreed to in our contract. In return I agreed to do my job. Bart is not the best job around. That is why we are understaffed. They don't pay enough to fill many jobs and the hours and days off suck. So if I have to do 4 or 5 jobs it's not worth it and I can and will leave.

Not everyone is willing to work in a substation with 34,500 volts staring you in the face. Bart is not willing to let just anyone do that ether. It cost a lot to burn down Hayward Yard so they need qualified people to do many of these jobs. BART is using a $28 Gardner to try to convince you that we are so overpaid that we should have one craft doing everything. If it goes the way you say that $28 System Service Worker will become a $40 per hour Mechanic or Technician. Do we want a $40 per hour air conditioning mechanic doing the floors? Not everyone is willing to work wayside while trains pass within inches of you at 80 miles per hour.