Union forced to take a pay cut, while management set to take a pay raise

Author: Union member

Brothers and Sisters,

Being on the front lines has shown me just what this company is capable of doing unopposed.  From their continuing media campaign, wholesale theft of pensions, hiding money, cutting service while taking raises (3%), union bashing, send-spend-spend, cut-cut-cut, expand at all costs and overall the to-big-to-fail mentality; what’s next?

Well Brothers and Sisters you won’t have to wait much longer, it seems the company has kept its promise at 7:50 of this video (HERE!).  In this video the company said that the costs of your individual medical plans are now being transferred unto the employee.  From what they said in the video, the 2013 plan was considered a “platinum” plan with low deductibles, as of 2014 the union plan will be at “gold” level.  The company stressed that members that “utilize” their individual plans will think twice about going to the doctor if their “wallets get touched.”

Well, let’s get down to what the company is saying in real time:

2013-UNION		BC		KAIS		2014-UNION		BC		KAIS
FT-EMP+1		182.15		76.37		FT-EMP+1		124.60		128.18
PT-EMP+1		217.27		179.07		PT-EMP+1		311.84		282.70
						TOTALS:		-94.57 PT EMP		-103.63 PT

As you can tell that’s a substantial hit to the part-time employees that work just 30 hours a week. While the full-time has been lowered (which is good), this “is not fair,” due to the fact that the union side makes up about 80+% of the “essential employees,” (actually it's 100%) and are under constant exposure to the hazards of working in Transit; plus you can throw in the fact that 90% or more causes of “utilization” are from unclean and unsafe working environments (i.e. dirty buses; see whooping cough, or working around chemicals; see diesel, oil etc., or improper breather masks; see the service workers for more detail.).                      Plus you can throw in a reduction of about 23% in retirement benefits on current retirees.  If you want to stop “utilization” then you have to invest in a little thing called “prevention.”

Well, let’s take a look at the non-union side and see what hits they have taken to their “gold-standard” plan.

2013-NON U		BC		KAIS		2014-NON U		BC		KAIS
FT-EMP+1		74.61		50.88		FT-EMP+1		75.02		58.37
PT-30-37.4HRS		124.34		84.80		PT-30-37.4HRS		125.03		97.28
PT-20-29HRS		310.86		212.01		PT-20-29HRS		312.56		243.20

As you can tell there are minor costs pushed only on the less-than-29 hour employees (although it matters little, due to the fact that the salaries of the non-union side have shot through the roof), while the others, a mere dollar(s) difference.  Coincidence, no this has been their plan since the expiration of the old contract and the hiring of Labor relations and the anti-union crusade.   In case you have forgotten, this is part of the strategy of destroying the union (SOURCE)

In the meantime, the company is imposing higher per-month expense onto the part-time union employee which amounts to a reduction in overall pay; while they explore options for an increase in pay for themselves.

In this article and video the company is trying to set the groundwork for another raise for the non-essential, non-union employee division (VIDEO HERE).  In this video the company expressed the need to “keep and maintain” their employees and price the salaries based on the “market” value.  Two things wrong with the company’s assessment on this, “THERE IS NO MARKET.”  The closest thing you can come to a true “transit market” is that 80+% of your “essential employees (who happen to be unionized and have not had a raise in  years; there are no “special market” for say, a HR position that only specializes in transit, or there are not “special market” for any systems analyst specializing in transit.  There is a market for and certifications for those who are mechanics and those who drive the vehicles, yet they only talk about non-essential staff.  The second point is that the people you hired did not like the company’s style of management thus; they did the required tenure to be “vested” and left.  In this article published in accord with the Board meeting stated, (SOURCE HERE!) “In 2012, about 11.5 percent of TriMet's 430 non-union workers, who earn an average base wage of $76,482, left, Stedman said. In 2011, it was closer to 6.5 percent.”  This proves that it’s not the money or benefits, that people leave.   So, in order to give themselves another raise they have to create a fake market for another 3% hike in salaries for non-essential employees, most likely in 2015.  The worst part of the article is this, “TriMet says 106 administrative staffers make less than the $57,200 earned by the typical 15-year bus operator.”  That’s 15 years of essential service, but someone who comes in on the non-essential side earns that at the start, more than a 15 year employee.  Now, that’s a pathetic attempt at “trickery”.  This proves that they will do anything in order to concentrate more wealth at the top of the company, instead of making a quality well run company.