WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER!!
>A few suggestions from a dimwit:
1) Upgrade the trains to run automatic (like we have in SFO). No T/O required. Have one person (out sourced) per train to help in times of emergencies or opening/closing doors.
2) Outsource all Station agent jobs to external agencies.
3) Give maintenance contract for the upkeep of the trains to an external company. They SLA with those companies will make sure that work is done and done properly.
4) Give the cleaning contract to external agency.<
WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER YOU DAMN FOOL!! A message to all of you sorry-ass BART haters: Get used to the fact that the BART system is essential to the Bay Area. The system is second to none compared to any other mass transit agency in the U.S., and its employees are the best of the best at what they do. This dedication to excellence and service to the public has carried on now running into our fourth decade. The brothers and sisters of the ATU and SEIU, refuse to bow down to the District's intimidation and unwillingness to reach a fair compromise regarding our new contract. Never before, in BART's 37 year history, has an outside entity been brought in to negotiate with our unions. BART management hired these charlatans for 1.5 million dollars. Their sole purpose: to gouge the hell out of frontline BART employees by using the current economic crisis as a platform. They're basically attempting to force-feed us a shitty contract! Meanwhile, BART GM Dorothy Dugger and her upper-management cronies are making upwards of 300 thousand dollars per year, plus bonuses! And if they succeed in shafting us with a bunk contract, they'll make even more! Don't buy-in to the District's BS Bay Area. Those bastards have millions of dollars in reserve. Do you people realize how many multi- million dollar projects BART has going right now? Historically, BART management has managed to waste millions of dollars on projects and so-called upgrades to the system that have never reached fruition, not to mention a concerted effort to bilk its lower-level employees out of millions of dollars over the years with unfair staffing conditions, payroll discrepancies, etc.
The quality service that you expect, depend on(and take for granted) on a daily-basis will be vastly compromised if BART management have their way come contract time. Anything less than a rollover of our existing contract is unacceptable. The hard-working employees here at BART want to progress, not regress! We earn a decent living, but it's far from a lavish one. We're worth every penny of what we make.. and WE EARN IT!! If you just so happen to dislike the system or our employees for any reason, you can always find an alternate mode of transportation. STAND FAST AND HOLD YOUR GROUND UNION BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WE WILL PREVAIL!! UNION STRENGTH AND SOLIDARITY NOW AND FOREVER!!
edit reply
Some of my above suggestions
Some of my above suggestions are working models in many companies. When a company has the burden of a heavy worker contract, in a few years time, it does not remain competitive. Look what happened to GM. Mass Transit takes years to build and hence there is hardly any competition for BART. Just because Riders do not have an alternative, does not mean that BART can charge any fare nor can the workers at BART threaten to strike and paralyze the area. There should be certain rules for essential services.
A example is the power company PG&E. Everybody needs power. there is no competition for PG&E. If they start increasing the price of power like BART, should the public accept it because the workers at PG&E are fabulous and great and we cannot live without power?
RIDERS, STAND UNITED THIS TIME. LET THEM GO ON STRIKE. DO NOT BE SCARED.
Please write to the governor and let your views known to him.
What happened at GM was not
What happened at GM was not because of lavish union contracts but because of GM's leadership and insistence to market large cars and trucks and refusing to see that the country's car buyers were being effected by high gasoline prices and were making the commitment to buying green products and vehicles. GM executives and big oil lobbyists killed GM. Imagine where GM would be if they didn't listen to the energy companies and didn't kill the electric car? We would be seeing a different kind of story!
There is a common link and that is the executives mismanagement of funds and making poor choices with the money that is there! BART refuses to see the writing on the wall and has continually made bad decisions by investing in equipment that was never implemented and spending money on boondoggles like the $522 MILLION Oakland Airport Connector and than making ill timed monetary transfers from their operating budget and sending it to their capital projects budget. Why do that if there is a shortage of funds?
I have not heard the unions asking for a raise not once. This is all about scapegoating the riders and BART workers, taking advantage of the economic climate by crying poor and than raising fares all in an attempt to balance the budget on the backs of riders and labor. How come there's no talk of firing the people responsible for finances?
Every time when the contract is due to expire there is a budget crisis.
Has anyone heard what management is willing to do to help? Salary cuts for the administration? Salary cuts to the BART Board of Directors? What about trimming the fat from the top? There are a lot of consultants and middle managers there.
Record ridership and there's a shortage of funds? Don't believe the hype about this self inflicted budget crisis. I invite you all to visit www.realbartworkers.org and www.bartbudgetwaste.org.
The majority of us values you
The majority of us values you (the rider) and the majority of us are hard working and contentious. We are working people just like you. Trying to make ends meet in a state that is the most expensive to live in.
It's sad to know that some of you have experienced bad service that has forever soured your opinions on BART workers. My personal goal is to try and change that one passenger at a time.
Unlike the private sector we are not paid to produce a product but are paid for our knowledge that we received in our training.
That may not look like much but in 1979 there was a fire in the trans bay tube, in 1989 the Loma Prieta earthquake, just a couple of examples of our training and how we must be prepared for emergencies. There are many examples of on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Bay_Area_Rapid_Transitwikipedia
Now after 9-11 we have to deal with terrorist attacks like the one in Japan, Spain and England all involved were commuter trains.
We are front line employees and the safety of the riders is a priority.
Ridership has been on the rise and they want higher fares for less service? Does that make sense to anyone?
Another travesty is that they have their publicist (Linton Johnson) spoon feeding lies and half truths to the media and not one columnist or television reporter has bothered to do the research to uncover the truth. There are 2 sides to every story goto www.bartbudgetwaste.org and www.realbartworkers.org