RANTINGS OF A FORMER TRIMET BUS DRIVER: Feb 10, 2012

Friday, February 10, 2012

LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN GETTING SICK LATELY

This job is making many of us sick, too sick to work actually.

TriMet vs KC Metros Homepages

Notice the "Accountability Center", right on the (new) homepage. Audits, surveys and financials. What a nice example to set for TriMet to follow?

Bye bye Apple

Apple, Accustomed to Profits and Praise, Faces Outcry for Labor Practices at Chinese Factories

This morning, I rolled out an initial budget proposal to the Board and public that outlines fare increases and service cuts for the next fiscal year to help close a $17 million shortfall. It is very possible that some of your customers may voice their unhappiness about these proposed changes. Amidst a difficult economy and tepid job market, the changes we propose may be a hardship for many of our customers. In educating the public about our budget shortfall, I have had to acknowledge that our healthcare benefits for union employees and retirees are simply out of step with the rest of Oregon’s public sector and with transit agencies nationwide and that the ever increasing costs are having a significant impact on our budget. I regret this public conversation may seem personal, so I want to assure you that I have the greatest respect for each of you who come to work every day and give your best.

I look forward to the day when federal funding and payroll taxes returns to historical levels. However, for now, we have a budget deadline and Oregon law that requires us to submit a balanced budget to the Board. Without fare increases and service cuts the budget simply will not balance.

In the days ahead we will need to pull together, find common ground and solve this potential crisis. I count on you to always do what’s best and you seldom disappoint.

Best

Neil

This is something that is DEFINATELY could happen here

The real culprit, if there were one, said defense attorney Stuart Hanlon, was inadequate supervision at Muni that allowed his client, Wallace Loggins, to drive a 40-foot bus along unfamiliar streets.
“He was was doing everything right, but he was lost,” Hanlon said. “Central Control sent him on a street he didn’t know. I just think it’s an awful accident.”

Muni operator “was lost” when bus killed pedestrian | City Insider | an SFGate.com blog

PETERKORT TO MAKE A BILLION DOLLARS

Peterkort zoning decision stuns neighbors of Sunset Transit Center | OregonLive.com

BOJACK

Did victim of MAX beating ask for it?

Apparently the girls who administered the infamous Dec. 26 group smackdown on Tri-Met -- and whose mother was arrested for allegedly hiding them from police -- are arguing in The Skanner that the target of their violence provoked it:

Sandra Abiori, the grandmother of two of the teens, says the incident has been mischaracterized as a racist attack and, with the help of the media, blown out of proportion. "I’m not saying that the girls were in the right – they should never have hit anyone," she says. "The problem I have is that, here this girl opened her mouth and started a fight – and now my family has to face prison time?
"Where's the fairness in that?"

To us, this attitude says a lot about why the whole thing happened.

Baling Wire and Duct Tape

How to avoid broken teeth and bloody mouths while announcing stops on the Merlo Dinosaurs

CHRIS SMITH CALLS FOR AUDIT!

A Couple of Things I'd Like TriMet to Think About

Digging Into TriMet's Proposed Service Changes: NE Edition

PORTLAND TRANSPORT

ELLEN FOX

Originally, I contacted Customer Service as directed by some people in the bullpen who were handing out brochures so we could familiarize ourselves with the new service proposals. They were encouraging us to contact Trimet with feedback (from our perspective as Operators) be it positive, negative, suggestions, concerns - whatever. I did and then received this e-mail in response. That's why I ended up posting my comments here.

BEST HEALTH COVERAGE?

But we sure as hell don't have the best pay!

Match the best pay in the country and we might consider compromise on the health care front.

We make only $25.14 an hour, lagging the best transit agencies in the country..

At $28.64 an hour, the top wage rate for Chicago Transit Authority bus drivers ranks third-highest among U.S. transit agencies, according to an analysis conducted for the Tribune.

CTA bus drivers trail only their counterparts at two transit agencies operating on opposite coasts. The top hourly salary for bus drivers at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston leads the industry, at $30.18; while the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, Calif., pays bus operators with the most seniority $28.86 an hour, according to John A. Dash & Associates, a transit research firm in Havertown, Pa.

CTA pay for bus drivers is No. 3 in nation - Chicago Tribune

This should be Standard Equipment on all the Dinosaurs at Merlo

THE REAL STORY OF OUR HEALTH INSURANCE

This is posted at MICHAEL ANDERSON'S While announcing cuts, TriMet quietly warns next year’s will be worse | Portland Afoot

You want a REAL STORY MICHAEL?

Well here it is brother:

My W 2 shows I made $32,566 last year.

I paid:

$2850 federal income tax.

$2063 state income tax

$1395 social security tax

$ 482 medicare tax

That left me $25,776....

NOW HERE IS THE REAL STORY:

I PAID $330 A MONTH FOR MY HEALTH INSURANCE!

That left me $21,816 to live on!

THESE ARE THE FACTS, NOT THAT OTHER GARBAGE!

PORTLAND 'MEDIA' JUST SPITS BACK MACFARLANES GARBAGE

Of course those of us that follow this stuff already know the CORPORATE MEDIA is clearly ANTI UNION and since MACFARLANE is really the SCOTT WALKER of Oregon he gets full support from the cabal of media in this Podunk city of ours which has so skillfully created this mass illusion of being a GREEN PARADISE on earth.

At this point I am thinking JON (or any future president of our union) SHOULD NEVER COMPROMISE WITH THESE PEOPLE.

LET THEM RANT AND RAVE AND ATTEMPT TO DESTROY US.

HAVE FUN IN SALEM MACFARLANE, TAKE YOUR LAP DOG TIFFANY SWEITZER WITH YOU!
Make sure you stay in a first class hotel, it all goes on your expense account don't forget.

The fix this company is in is of their own doing, let em eat shit!

Fairness must drive TriMet budget plan

Welcome back Steve!

His first day back from a 10 day vacation to Kuai and his junker bus breaks down on 158th while running the route 67!

Welcome back to Trimess, which can only be described as a complete mess of a transit district run into the ground by an arrogant and greedy light rail industrial complex run by profiteering executives that enrich themselves while stomping on the public they 'serve'.

F@#$ING IDIOTS RUN THIS PLACE

Can you believe a station agent gave someone a hard time because they wrote in the book "BIRTHDAY OFF" instead of "BD".

Where are all these crazy policies written down?

This place is nothing but mayhem and confusion.

Do we have to be abused constantly by all these petty tyrants that seem to take pleasure in messing with us?

Where is it written that we have to write "BD".

Also these freaking asshole station agents get to take up to two weeks of unused vacation and APPLY TO THE NEXT YEAR.

I AM F@#$ING SICK AND TIRED OF THIS SHIT

I am sick and tired of reading that WE HAVE THE BEST HEALTH COVERAGE IN THE COUNTRY!

NOBODY HAS ACTUALLY PROVED THAT STATEMENT TO BE TRUE!

If we had any responsible press in this PODUNK 'city' (term used loosely) they would have provided the public with a list of TRANSIT DISTRICTS HEALTH INSURANCE FOR EMPLOYEES, (CTA-MTA-METRO-MUNI-MBTA)along with THE VARIOUS GOVERNMENT ENTITIES INSURANCE (PORTLAND CITY WORKERS-MULTOMAH COUNTY WORKERS-STATE OF OREGON WORKERS)

BUT NO, WE HAVE TO SIT HELPLESSLY AND WATCH AS WE GET DRAGGED THROUGH THE MUD, WITHOUT ANYBODY ACTUALLY PROVING TO US THAT WE HAVE THE BEST HEALTH CARE IN THE COUNTRY!