Everyone knows by now... Muni is a total piece of garbage and is way underfunded. They cut services, raise the cash fare, and raise our pass prices to up to $70 a month? This is a "transit first city" Newsom?
But wait... there's more! KPIX reports that all Muni operators just received a $3,000 bonus from the agency. The report shows that in three years, the agency has paid $18 million in bonuses (or if you were to break it down, it would be $6 million per year).
Really? $3,000 bonus for an agency with 25% absent rate for work on Christmas eve? I work for SF State and my salary doesn't include any bonus; just a nice thank you from my supervisors for a job well done.
OK, so the public is angry about our agency going wild; what can we do about it?
Well... nothing much. It's perfect timing for Muni to hand out $3,000 bonus checks because both the Board of Supervisors AND SFMTA board are on RECESS. The next BOS meeting is on January 5th and the SFMTA board schedule is not even posted for 2010 (hell, they didn't have a meeting since December 7th).
Citizens of San Francisco and the Bay Area who rides Muni, it is time to REVOLT. Demand the resignation of Mayor Newsom, SFMTA Chief Nat Ford, and union leader Irwin Lum.
These are not bonus checks! Back about 40 years ago, the City and the operator's union (TWU 250-A) agreed on a no-strike clause that was written into the city charter. In exchange for the workers giving up the right to withhold their labor, the City agreed to pay Muni operators the average pay of the top two paying transit systems in the country. (Usually that's Boston's MBTA, Santa Clara County's VTA, or Montgomery County in Maryland.) But Muni operators pay a much higher share of their health care costs than other City employees, as well as the other transit agencies's workers. So the City reimburses Muni operators for some of that difference. The $3000 is _not_ a bonus. It's a reimbursement for money the operators have had withheld from their paychecks all year!
ReplyDeletePlease double check with the Transport Worker's Union, Local 250-A.
- a Muni operator
Is your name Irwin Lum? Because it sure sounds like it after those waste of sheets of paper littering every single damn bus and train in our city.
ReplyDelete