Public Contract?
I read in one of the recent blogs, something along the lines that the BART employee contracts are public. Can these be viewed somewhere?
For example, where did these numbers come from? I would like to see the full version:
- 12 days of sick leave.
- 3-6 weeks of vacation.
- Birthday holiday
- 13 holidays
- 1.5 or 2 times of regular pay for working normal hrs for working on unscheduled days
I also heard the starting salary of a BART driver is 62k, I would like to see this information and other jobs at BART as well.
Thank you in advance.
Link to previous thread
Link to previous thread
Once the new contract is
Once the new contract is settled, you'll be able to see the true salaries since they'll be posted on bart.gov for job vacancies.
12 days of sick leave -- true. Managers get paid 50% of their unused sick leave when they quit or retire. Rank and file lose theirs and do not get paid for it. This is a generous amount of time, I agree, but overall 1/3 of employees take 2 or fewer sick days per year, 1/3 take about half, and 1/3 use them all.
3-6 weeks vacation -- 3 weeks after a year, 4 weeks after 8 years (5 years if you're in management), 5 weeks after 15 years and 6 weeks after 20 years.
13 holidays/birthday holiday -- Holidays for all are: New Year's, MLK day, President's Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas
Some unions get Day After Thanksgiving and their birthday, and 2 floaters, some just get floaters. This is a couple more than the private sector, however, most of my friends in the private sector have Christmas Eve and New Year's eve off (some even have the entire Christmas week off).
Comp time is accrued for the first 40 hours extra worked and is the first time taken. In other words, if you work extra time you get comp time, then if you take time off that comes out of your comp time.
If you're an exempt employee, you get straight time pay for working extra, such as Saturday, after your comp time bank is full.
If you're non-exempt (i.e. hourly), you get time and a half after 8 hours (this is Federal and California law for hourly employees, by the way, and is not unique to BART). You get double time if you're hourly and work 7 days in a row. For example, if you work Monday to Friday, you would get paid time-and-a-half for working Saturday and double time for working Sunday.
Not sure of the starting salary for Train Operators but am guessing it's closer to 50k.
What you don't know is you
What you don't know is you start out part-time. Could be anywhere from 1-5 years part-time
Additionally Part-timers
Additionally Part-timers can't work ANY overtime and maximum hours scheduled is 25. Part timers do not receive vacation, sick pay, birthday or holiday pay. They also don't receive dental or vision benefits.
Again, why would BART do
Again, why would BART do this?
If they offer only ridiculous part-time jobs that only people who are extremely hard-up for work would take, how can they expect to hire competent employees?
Why would BART do
Why would BART do this?
Hiring train operators as part time employees seems like a guaranteed way to attract losers, rather than responsible people who need full-time employment.
Is the BART system specifically designed to attract the worst kind of employees?
They hire great employees. I
They hire great employees. I have a college degree. I even took a pay cut coming to BART. I took it because where I was working was going to phase my job out(which they did) I figured it was more stable than what I was doing. You know going in that you are going to be part time. I am willing to wait to get to full time. They want to see how dedicated you are to the job. I am very dedicated. To say they are attracting the worse kind of employees is just wrong. Believe me I need full time employment. What you are hearing in the news is way off.
Good for you! But the issue
Good for you!
But the issue is that most people need full-time employment and cannot afford to wait around 1-to-5 years in order to MAYBE get full-time employment. Because of that, most competent employees with OTHER OPTIONS will look elsewhere, since they need full-time pay/benefits/etc.
By forcing employees to work only part time for up to 5 years they drive away the majority of employees who have other options, who are the ones that have the best resumes.
The way you are describing the system seems like it is designed to pick from the very bottom of the barrel.
Believe me I would have no
Believe me I would have no problem full time. It was not my rule. That is your opinion of the bottom of the barrel. I need full time. So to make up for it I have another part time job until it happens. I am doing what I have to do. The other options you are talking about is they did not want the job because it was part time. that was their decision that they could not wait that long. Instead look at it as part time here and part time at another place and still make the money. I am not afraid of work. If you are not afraid to work 2 jobs(do what you have to do). The decision was not that hard to make.
It cracks me up people talk about the unions screwing up BART. No one complains about the water dept. I have friends that work for the water dept that get paid more than me and have a lot better pensions. I do not see anyone protest the unions when their water bill goes up by 25%.
I will agree with you about hiring full time right away(by the way the union has always wanted employees to be full time right away) I will be the first one to admit that I thought all you did was push a button. Man I was way wrong. The training is intense and it is not easy by any means. So please give me the benefit of the doubt as I would do for you.
People say they would do my job for less pay, well think about if they got hired they would be. Doing my job at less pay because it is part-time. So I so go for it and apply.
All I can ask if you keep an open mind and do not believe everything you hear on the news.
Fair enough, and thank you
Fair enough, and thank you for being so level-headed and for providing a good explanation of your situation and your thoughts on the system. There are a lot of incorrect assumptions from both sides, and it's refreshing to see someone willing to make an effort to try to help other people understand where they are coming from.
All unions are in a lot of trouble right now, because average wages for non-union workers have gone down significantly over the last decade or two, while costs of living have increased and the number of unions has shrunk. Most employees, particularly during a recession when so many are jobless, feel an understandable outrage when they hear that public transportation operators make more than $60K to start. That's more than a public school teacher makes, and as bad as it may be, I doubt that working for BART is as difficult as trying to teach kids in Richmond.
--------------
I'm not saying I wouldn't work p/t for BART, I just think that BART could open up their hiring to better overall employees if they were willing to offer f/t jobs right away. I know they don't want to do this because they want to "test" employees before moving them to full time, but they could solve that problem by setting up a probationary period of up to 12 months, during which any new employee could be fired for any reason.
---------------
Since there's so much misunderstanding, could you try to explain what it is you do as a TO?
Many people here (including myself) honestly think that the job looks very simple and is mostly just button pushing and station announcements.
What kind of training did you have to do, and what is an average day as a TO like?
What kinds of things do you have to do in your job?
If you could do a blog post of what the average day in the life of a TO is like it could help clear up a lot of misconceptions about the system.
really no average day, things
really no average day, things always happening. On previous threads it has been stated what T/O's do. I can go into major detail but that would be way too much typing for me.
As for the training. After passing background check, finger printing, drug testing, and an agility test. You are in the class. Mind you that you have to quit your other job first. Class is 14 weeks. 8 hours of instruction a day with about 2 or 3 hours of homework each day. You are taking written test and skill checks throughout the whole course. Some of the test you get 1 chance and some you get 2. If you fail on of those test, your GONE! You are required to know the system (i.e. switches, gates, interlockings, stations, terminal zones, transfers tracks, yard tracks, relay tracks, storage tracks, radio lingo, trouble shooting train and being able to fix it) That is just part of the stuff. After passing all of your test you are then required to go in front of a panel and answer their questions. Then they decide if you graduate. After all that then you are on probation. It is nerve racking because you are dealing with so many passengers.
The media is saying we make $114,000 a year. Man if that was true I would not be complaining. Ask yourself this How many of higher management is making bank to bring that average up. If those numbers were true man I would be missing about $70,000 if I was full time.
It is not the union mismanaging the money. Ask the people of Livermore. They have been paying for like 40 years now. Is it there yet? That would be like me telling you that you can buy a ticket ride, and then waiting for me to tell you when you can ride. Now that is plain wrong. We will just to see how is plays out.
Station Agent training
Station Agent training program is the same way. Same length of time, requirements etc. After formal training is completed you must endure 3 months probation. If ANYTHING happens during this time ( late for work. Mother dies, flat tire, car wreck) you can be fired. BART DOESN’T CARE. My 2nd day of training we had to open Embarcadero @ 405am. This was BARTs way of exposing the class on safety concerns and issues that may arise as a station is opened ( homeless people, etc) Throughout the extensive training process, half the class was scheduled to open a station and the remaining half had to close a station. I was assigned to close Fruitvale and Coliseum stations @ 1:05 am which was a real eye-opener. Closing a station, as a female, alone in some of these areas is unsafe. We must always be on alert and cautious because we are dealing with all kinds of people. We are also trained how to respond to first aid issues, how to evacuate a station, how to handle earthquakes, fires, suicides etc. ( The station agent is the one that has to go to “visually” confirm that a person has been hit by a train) The list goes on. Its more that just sitting in a booth.
Another caveat is if we are late to work because the BART train is late. IT IS NOT EXCUSED. BART believes a late BART trains is not an excuse for tardiness. They figure we work here so we should know that the trains may be late.
As a part time employee, I do not receive vacation, sick, birthday or holiday pay. I am required to work EVERY weekend and I do not receive dental or vision benefits - Medical only.
No offense, but none of that
No offense, but none of that is really so bad.
Most of my friends in non-union and lower-paying jobs that require significantly more skills and education had 6-to-9 month probation periods, and the last time I checked tardiness was not allowed at most stations.
First aid skills can be learned in a weekend course at a community college, and evacuation procedures are easy to learn and almost never used.
In an average day a station agent's job really *IS* "just sitting in a booth."
Well..I welcome you to spend
Well..I welcome you to spend 1 hour of your day with me at Coliseum, 16th and Mission or Fruitvale station. ANY DAY/ ANY TIME. I will work around your schedule. Let me know when your ready. Most folks quit training or dont pass training because they cant handle what they see or how they are treated. Let me know when you are ready.
The workers at the Carl's Jr.
The workers at the Carl's Jr. at 6th & Market get treated way worse than you do, and they don't make $30/hour and get full medical as part time workers.
Complain all you want, but your pay is very, very high for what you do.
And what's your schedule? 16th & Mission would be better for me. What days/times are you working there? Maybe I can pop by sometime while you're there.
Infact there is a rumor
Infact there is a rumor floating around that workers at McDonalds are thinking of striking. They say their pay and benefits are too low for the work they are doing. They also challenged the public to come forward to flip burgers the way they do it. They want their pay to be on par with the NASA pay scale.
Where would we all eat if McDonalds is closed. I don't even want to think about it. Its gonna be a catastrophe.
thank you for the
thank you for the information