If Trimet management wasn't treating the MOW crews like garbage and would change things back to where things were a couple of years ago you would see it return to where these problems at times were fixed in literally minutes.
As it is now screw Trimet I will never take a call.
As early as last year some of us in signals worked nearly a thousand hours of Overtime in a year.
Due to the changes management made I do not have one minute of OT in my year to date part of my pay stub.
Its managements prerogative to operate the business the way they see fit. But Overtime is not mandatory in maintenance and until they get rid of the changes they made most of us have agreed with each other to take no Ot. Don't blame the maintainers who for many years left their homes and families on a minutes notice to keep the trains moving with a minimal amount of delay, put the blame squarely on management where it belongs.
IT REALLY SUCKS being one of the "lucky" ones stuck with guarding a broken gate arm for 6 or more hours in 90+ degree heat waiting for it to be repaired...
ReplyDeleteIT REALLY SUCKS having to manually throw switches back and forth continually cause they keep breaking down...
BUT WHAT SUCKS MORE THAN ALL THAT is some of these stupid, hairbrained ideas that "management" have in their heads to "reorganize and improve efficiency". Management has done A STELLAR JOB at alienating more and more of its employees each day.
IT MAY SUCK FOR ME TO DO THESE THINGS I DESCRIBED ABOVE..BUT I WILL KEEP DOING THEM AS LONG AS OUR LEADERS FAIL TO LEAD.
They don't care about you or the customer anymore than they do us in MOW. When they were warned this was likely going to happen, We were told "It was a risk they were willing to take".Before the change ... almost 100% buy-in from all of us. After the change, they get what they planned for.Thanks for understanding who the problem really is.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sad STUPID state if affairs. It doesn't have to be this way.
DeleteAl is right on another thing- it's not just us that is sick of McFarcelane..the city is and the public us starting to come around.
We know MOW isn't the problem but they will continue to get walked on if they don't stop the insanity of management now.
Trimet management, empire builders. Love's to build. Hate's to operate and maintain. Doesn't care whether they screw the public or their employees. Follow the money. The board and upper management benefits. The rest suffer.
ReplyDeleteThe mgmt goal is to break the union.
ReplyDeleteMOW is one of the very few places that has actually shown some solidarity.
I congratulate MOW employees fore actually believing in something beyond their own selfish purposes
Every TriMet employee should say no to overtime. No RDO work, no finishing the run when your relief does not show, and call the 12 hour rule no matter where you are. Operators and maintenance needs to refuse ALL OT.
ReplyDeleteWhen it snows I will not be at work. Management does care if I get hurt or wreck my car on the way to work. I will stay home, watch the carnage and chaos on the television while enjoying my "SnoCation" And I laugh at the TriMet talking heads like Miss Bitch Fetch.
The winter season better have no snow or ice or it is going to be very ugly with the skeleton crews now working. Everyone is paying the price of poor management decisions in MOW.
ReplyDeleteRail supervisors now babysit crossings and other failures instead of doing their primary job. Traffic gets screwed up as well as emergency vehicles possibly being delayed. I read a post on this Blog written well before the CHANGE. It was a prophecy that is being fulfilled as we speak. They were warned this was going to happen!!!
Customers suffer from train delays because of track and signal defects that have no one to repair them.
Whatever is going on @ MOW--it needs to be fixed.
ReplyDeleteTrain on-time performance, safety, and the ability of MOW to be at the ready during all revenue service hours, is critical and must not be compromised. Not skeleton crews, full crews.
Reading the most recent performamnce data for Max, it's evident MOW and system response time has been compromised.
Speak to your manager and maybe then they can convey the message. MOW is done talking to our management.It fell on deaf ears from the top on down.
ReplyDeleteCrossing gates on the ground since Friday afternoon. Unheard of in all of TM history. They were counting on the greed factor to get them through. They thought they could always get someone to respond by waving RDO money in our faces. It is not about money anymore. How do you like it now? "Saving" money is working out so well isn't it.Wasting dollars to save a penny. It's How We Roll!
ReplyDeleteHopefully there is one competent management type in TM left that understands and can see what has happened in MOW was the fault of their shortsightedness in planning and implementation.
ReplyDeleteIt is not the union members fault for their policy.They are being punished, forced to nights for being understaffed, getting the work done, taking the trouble calls and doing special projects but then being vilified for making the extra money. Splitting an already understaffed department into a day and night shift to save on OT has caused the problems being experienced right now. I am sure tomorrow there will be a staff meeting somewhere to discuss why MOW members didn't want to work their RDO's this weekend.
Getting called an overtime **ore to your face by a manager makes you realize they really don't appreciate the sacrifices that were made for years to keep the trains rolling without delay.
Restore MOW to what it was, at least those that are left that haven't quit yet, ask for forgiveness and hire many more people to run a 24/7 operation.It takes several years of training to even have a chance at being a competent technician. Better start now.
You also better start now by hiring better MOW supervisors and manager that know the work they supervise. At least in an emergency when no one is available, a supervisor could do the basic repairs to get them out of trouble. Several of MOW supervisors have no clue of what they supervise, making the problems only worse because they can offer no help to the company. Generic supervision works good at Kmart, but not in technical and mechanical fields. Other agencies hire their supervisors and managers from the ranks of the qualified workers. It takes experience and knowledge, not just some pencils and paperand a computer.
You as management in TM are now experiencing what we in MOW have been warning you for years.
Any manager that would use the term "overtime **ore" while speaking to any employee should be swiftly terminated.
ReplyDeleteIt appears from TriMet Org Chart their are several directors with titles suggesting they must know how to address this issue:
--Director of Maintenance
-- Director of Equity & Diversity
Director of Labor Relations and and a bunch of Human Resource "Business Partners."
The TriMet Board--how would they respond publicly to this language being used by managers towards workers in the workplace?
We got called overtime wh*r*s. When we complained they punished us by putting us on a new graveyard shift. Was told they were going to cutback on the overtime. So much for Trimets many $100k directors. Nothing but retailiation from the MOW manager and supervisors for trying to keep the system running. They can kiss our ass if they think we want to continue to be subjected to ridicule.
ReplyDeleteTrimet isn't going to do anything to those guys for calling us OT who**s. This is the same group who distributed a bunch of inappropriate materials on the districts email system and instead of firing them like they did to the union employees. Trimet meerly changed the IT policy so they just gave them a hand slap suspension.
ReplyDeleteATU President Hansen:
ReplyDeleteYou have a very serious and debilitating problem in MOW. Employees report concern that regular and incident response to system maintenance is failing. As you know, this greatly affects system safety.
MOW employees report disrespectful and disparging treatment of them by their MOW supervisors and/or managers, to include being called "an overtime whore."
Please address this publicly to the TriMet Board and demand immediate investigation, reslolution and relief for MOW Employees.
Your attention to this matter is urgent and your immediate action is warranted.
The OT **ore matter went to HR. Swept under the carpet. Memo put out by Director to MOW employees to not use that term. Source of the problem was not addressed by the DIRECTOR or HR.
ReplyDeleteThings are NOT good at MOW, but it hasn't always been this way. Just the last few years. Starting with McF at the top and running down hill.
No respect for any of the employees or an understanding of the value they bring to this organization, what ever we do for a living.