| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 12/23 |
| 2009/6/30-7/15 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:53094 Activity:nil |
6/29 http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20090629.aspx "The average (BART) union worker makes $114,000 a year in wages and benefits." And they're demanding a 3% raise. Geez. \_ This is called negotiation by press release. What does the average worker who is not in management make? http://tinyurl.com/nl8pre $90k/yr including benefits 4 years ago. "... the average train operator and station agent already make $66,000 a year..." \_ Managers are union workers? \_ Oddly enough, in BART they are. \_ Hmm, the first paragraph at the URL you're quoting reads "BART workers who are asking for raises in contract negotiations with the transit district are among the highest-paid transit workers in the Bay Area and the nation, according to transit officials." And, I can't even find your quote at your URL. Where does your quote come from? \_ http://tinyurl.com/lgy233 \_ Quoting things without citing the source is not quoting. \_ Quoting things without source is not quoting, let alone providing a wrong source. Plus, you delibrately left out the remaing part of the same sentence, which reads " (without overtime), plus free medical, dental and full retirement." \_ It is still way less than your quoted $114k/yr. Why do you deliberately spread BART management PR distortions? \_ Hmm, I quoted sentences in full, while you took words out of context. Anyway, as I quoted, $114K is for BART union workers, while the $66k you "quoted" (plus other benefits that you omitted) is for train operators and station agents. Now, is the union demanding a compensation increase for all union workers or only for union train operators and station agents? \_ Train operators, mechanics and station agents comprise the overwhelming majority of BART employees. Now granted $90k/yr (including benefits) ain't chicken scratch. I don't know the answer to your question, but I sent some email to Tom Radulivich asking him. \_ No, stating a fact (what someones salary is) is not "quoting out of context." Putting down my source for every fact I state on the motd would be tedious, especially when anyone with a basic ability to google would be able to verify it for themselves. You still haven't answered my question, btw. \_ Quoting "$66k/yr" to counter "$114k/yr in wages and benefits", without mentioning that $66k/yr is not wages and benefits while your source clearly mentions it, *is* quoting out of context. \_ Quoting "$114k/yr in average wages and benefits" without mentioning that ~80% of BART employees make less than $100k is spreading deliberate misinformation. \_ BART management and employees both have snazzy PR websites about how horrible the other side is \_ I still don't think Evil BART Booth Lady should be making 100k a year. I'm not sure what she should be making, but it's not close to 100k. |
| 12/23 |
|
| www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20090629.aspx "I am hopeful that through discussion and negotiation with union leaders that we will help BART close the current budget deficit of $250 million over the next four years--as well as addressing the extremely challenging economic times ahead," said BART Board President Thomas Blalock. "But I am deeply concerned by the ongoing failure of union leaders and their attorneys to see the economic realities that BART and its riders are facing." While union leaders say a nine-day contract extension will help them reach consensus with BART on a new labor agreement, a union website posting suggests the unions will seek to bargain beyond July 9 Contract talks have been ongoing since April 1 And union leaders continue to make statements to the media defending their demand for a 3 percent raise despite the weak state of the economy and BART finances. Meanwhile, riders are expressing impatience with the union negotiating stance and union demands for more time to reach an agreement. Blalock pointed to BART experiencing its worst sales tax revenue drop in its 37-year history and a 10 percent decline in ridership during the first half of June - all of which is making BART's projected $250 million, 4-year deficit worse, not better, he said. These are the two main sources of operating revenue for BART, accounting for 90% of BART's operating income. Blalock said it is BART's objective is to negotiate a fair contract with union leaders that will address $100 million in savings for the transit agency through improved union contracts. BART is asking for its union employees to pick up more of the cost of their benefits and pensions or trim the amount of benefits so riders and taxpayers don't have to. In addition, BART proposed to eliminate contract language that limits the agency's right to improve productivity by changing wasteful work rules. "We have to improve efficiency and reduce all costs, including the cost of our labor contracts while at the same time keeping BART affordable for our riders. Our proposed work rule changes will let us put the right people in the right place to do the right job. None of the proposed work rule changes - which could save almost $40 million - affect workers' wages - except by reducing unnecessary overtime," Blalock said. The contract with all five of BART's unions now expires on July 9, 2009, after being mutually extended past the original contract date of June 30. The average union worker makes $114,000 a year in wages and benefits. Even without an increase in salary, the cost of maintaining the current benefits for BART employees over the next four years accounts for nearly half of BART's $250 million shortfall. "We now need to reach an agreement by July 9," Blalock said. "BART riders and taxpayers cannot afford to extend beyond this new deadline because every day of delay means we fail to achieve the savings we need." "It would be unfortunate for union leaders to call for a strike," Blalock said. "Instead of protecting worker jobs they will either make it extremely difficult or even prevent hundreds of thousands of working men and women who ride BART each day and pay for this system from getting to their jobs." Blalock said union employees do a good and important job, but added that "it would be unfair to burden our riders with additional fare hikes but not ask our unions to cut labor costs, which our riders and taxpayers ultimately pay for." station rendering BART Projects BART is working on a number of projects to better serve our growing region. |
| tinyurl.com/nl8pre -> www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/07/03/BAGGMDILA21.DTL Comments Georgia (default) Verdana Times New Roman Arial Font | Size: BART workers who are asking for raises in contract negotiations with the transit district are among the highest-paid transit workers in the Bay Area and the nation, according to transit officials. The wage issue, along with the cost of workers' benefits, is at the heart of contract negotiations between BART and its two largest unions this weekend that are aimed at averting a strike on Wednesday morning that experts say will wreak havoc on the region's commutes. Negotiators for the two sides met Saturday and were expected to continue talks through the long weekend. We're at the table, and that's a good thing," said BART spokesman Linton Johnson, who declined to discuss specifics but described negotiations as "critically sensitive at this point." "We're all working very hard to make progress," said Harold Brown, president of Amalgamated Transit Union 1555, on Saturday night. Unions representing BART's train operators and clerical and maintenance workers say they are not overpaid, given the region's housing and living costs. They say that the number of managers has increased significantly in the past decade while frontline staff members have been cut. Regardless, management says it can't afford to continue paying workers what it says is an average of more than $90,000 a year in wages and benefits, because the cost of benefits is rising rapidly and the system has a $24 million deficit in this year's budget. BART says it already pays average wages of $64,428 a year for members of its two largest unions, the Service Employees International Union 790 and the Amalgamated Transit Union 1555. Workers in those unions, which represent 2,300 of the district's nearly 3,000 employees, also receive an average benefits package of $29,750. By comparison, BART station agents are the highest paid among those at seven transit agencies surveyed in a study commissioned for BART earlier this year. BART's station agents earn maximum wages of $64,236 a year, compared with an average $49,260 maximum for the other agencies, in San Francisco, New York, Washington, DC, Atlanta and Chicago, according to the survey. The highest-paid station agents at the other agencies were at San Francisco's Municipal Railway, at $63,492 maximum a year, followed by the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority at $59,316 and Washington Metro at $51,120. BART had the second-highest-paid train operators at $64,296 maximum a year, compared with those working at 12 other agencies, which paid an average of $49,848 maximum, according to the study. Highest was the Port Authority Trans-Hudson in New York at $64,932 maximum per year. AC Transit bus drivers were paid considerably less, with drivers averaging $40,560 and topping out at $47,923. Under a two-year agreement approved Friday, drivers and mechanics will earn 3 percent more. BART mechanics, meanwhile, are the third-highest paid among those at 13 local government agencies in the Bay Area, including San Francisco Muni and AC Transit, according to figures provided by SEIU 790. BART's latest offer, made Wednesday, would give workers 2 percent raises in each of the final two years of a four-year contract, limit health benefits to Kaiser Permanente's costs and raise employees' monthly contributions from about $25 to $150 over four years. Nationally, the average employee contribution for family medical care is $265 a month, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unions' counteroffer on Thursday asks for annual raises of between 2 and 4 percent over three years, with current and retired employees paying $75 a month for family health benefits and able to choose plans other than Kaiser without paying extra. ATU 1555 workers, who include station agents and train operators, get an average of $62,774 in wages and $29,412 in benefits, for a total of $92,156, BART says. Clerical and maintenance workers in SEIU 790 are paid $66,082 in wages and $30,089 in benefits, for a total of $96,171. BART employees received 22 percent increases in wages over the past four years. By comparison, over the past four years, average wages of private sector employees increased by about 11 percent for the nation, according to the bureau. BART also funds 100 percent of its employees' pensions (through CalPERS) by making both the employer and employee pension payments, which costs BART the equivalent of 7 percent of each worker's salary. Hearst Newspapers Be the first to share your thoughts on this story. BAY AREA / BART pay ranks high for transit workers / At contract time, agency surveys comparable pay Articles BART workers who are asking for raises in contract negotiations with the transit district are among the highest-paid transit workers in the Bay Area and the nation, according to transit officials. |
| tinyurl.com/lgy233 -> lmgtfy.com/?q=the+average+train+operator+and+station+agent+already+make+%20%2466%2C000+a+year... Advertise for $199 This is for all those people that find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than google it for themselves. Inspired during a lunch conversation with @coderifous, @tmassing, @rmm5t, @EricStratton, and @methodvon. |