Jonathan Hunt |
“The derailment of the Max train on Monday,
was the result of TriMet’s practice of deferring both maintenance and
training in favor of system expansion and other expenditures,” says
Union vice president, Jonathan Hunt. Tuesday, KOIN
carried a story about a train derailment that was caused by a bracket
breaking. This incident was no surprise to the mechanics who fear even
more brackets might give way.
“The
train was one of the seventeen-year old type 2 trains that were added
to the system in 1997. Undercarriage overhauls of these type 2 trains
are way past due. That overhaul would have replaced that bracket.
Additionally, to save money on maintenance, TriMet has held back on
ordering inventory so it cannot timely obtain replacement brackets.”
Hunt says the problem was in October. “We can’t blame the mechanics or
the front line managers. It’s upper management that decides what money
will be spent and when.”
Hunt
puts the blame squarely on the fact that too much in operational funds
have been shunted into the Milwaukie expansion, high tech radio and
ticket systems, new administrative buildings, new furniture and an
excess of highly paid executives. “As the Tribune recently noted,
we warned last February that rail system and its equipment was not
being maintained properly. Finally, in November, the general manager
announces he is re-organizing TriMet, in part, to emphasize rail system
maintenance.”
Further
Hunt notes that as TriMet added trains and more lines, it should have
been training more people. Instead, it reduced the number of trainees.
He notes that the result is a shortage of qualified mechanics.
“Management’s
last minute solution is to add off-the-street, undertrained, lower paid
mechanics,” says Hunt about a recent management proposal. “Once again,
it’s the workers who are to suffer for management’s mistakes.” The
Union rejected that proposal according to Hunt, saying, “We are not
going to accept lower pay for what is a highly-skilled, dirty,
physically demanding job. Nor will we accept inadequately trained
people. Too many lives are on the line–the passengers, public and
operators are all equally at risk. When one of these trains derails
hundreds of people can be hurt. We’ve seen that happen in other parts of
the country.”
Hunt
sees an even bigger problem with TriMet management’s handling of this
and other issues. He noted that last Wednesday, on November 13th,
TriMet management issued press releases and made statements at the
agency Board meeting–telling the Board that the agency was turning over a
new leaf. “Management claimed they were going to be more open to
involving the community and more transparent. That’s what they said with
much fanfare,” Hunt said, adding “Unfortunately, it means even more
operational funds will be diverted to promote this ‘transparency
effort.’ It’s an effort they should be making as a matter of course.”
1 comment:
Obviously a bad situation being made worse by TM inactivity.
And what in the world makes execs think that eliminating the state certified apprenticeship programs (if they get their way in new contract) is going to make this situation any better?
Once again they are setting up for a major fail...guess that's one of the few things they are really good at!!
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