Dear Boss,
You disrespected me by ignoring my requests for a meeting for over a year. When you finally decided your schedule could accommodate me, I had long lost interest in revisiting our initial meeting.
In the interim, you have allowed your non-union staff to run rampant over us once again. Randy Steadman's legacy seems to once again reign supreme.
Even though the Rail Operator was cleared of any wrongdoing after a fatal incident, you allowed his dismissal after years of faithful service. Evidently, he was no longer considered a "hero". So much for family values.
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A 70-something decades-long transit operator was brutally assaulted on a MAX platform after he took pity on a young man on one of the hottest days of 2023. Because he was on his way home after a shift, your management refused to care for him. To this day, this veteran suffers from the effects of severe concussion and has not been able to return to work.
Not a peep from the "news media", which has become a useless extension of social media, nor any acknowledgement Brother Operator was so injuriously accosted after a purely-humanitarian desire to help what he thought was a heat stroke victim. Oh well, it reportedly told him... he was no longer on the clock so it was none of its concern. Imagine Grandma got run over by a reindeer and her family telling her "Oh well, you were on your way home so no worries here".
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An operator who uses hearing aids was suspended five days when his mother's call found its way past his Do Not Disturb status as he sat in the operator's seat on a layover. He's her lone caregiver unable to grasp her son's respnsibilities as a transit operator. She had called him numerous times one day before his phone's Do Not Disturb settings failed and allowed her call to come through at a most inopportune time. Yet management's inability to support "family values" allowed its "phishing" capabilities (even though cameras/microphones were once-promised tools to keep us "safe") to denigrate a "hero's" accidental heed to his mother's plea for help, although a bus operator must NEVER accept a call "in the seat".
Then, in a feeble attempt to show its stranglehold on its own operators' well being, management decided the hearing aids prescribed by his doctor are not conducive to transit's erroneous edict regarding "earbuds". It then decided to purchase replacement hearing aids it defines "acceptable" to his use as an operator. Regardless of course, of his doctor's insistence those which management (without evident medical knowledge of his auditory necessities) has decreed acceptable.
Rail and bus operators often find ourselves in the news, mostly when disasters happen. People who pay no attention to their own safety have been injured vs. transit vehicles. The agency is quick to say to the media "the incident is under investigation". Yet when the investigation is complete, and the operator is exonerated from any wrongdoing, does management come out and defend the operator? Does it add exclamations of their years of SAFE SERVICE? Never, from what I've seen in nearly 12 years as a union operator.
Oh, and speaking of "union"... why hasn't our "leadership" stepped up to voice support of our fellow operators so pitifully-treated? How can it wonder so few find it mandatory to support a union which is largely silent in face of management abuse?
While I remain steadfast in my support, I'm weakening in my staunch belief in our local leadership's effectiveness. Sometimes I wonder if management and our union have become one and the same. In that belief, I feel guilty and sad, but not alone.
I was once encouraged by the new regime's flowery lamentations of "We Are A Family". I shoulda known better. But hey, it was COVID. I wanted so badly to know management supported my efforts during a raging pandemic. It became, sadly, much less than I hoped for.
Discipline without regard to family values and human necessity, or disregard for others as human beings while representing our profession, is not responsible or respectful. It crosses the line into abuse.
Such a bond is not paid for. It's earned. Our management uses applause-worthy phrases to slide past our expectations of support, but it's not fooling anybody. We're tired of fake declarations in light of needless suspensions and terminations. We're angered by our union standing by while countless examples of abuse pile up. No decent operator can honestly recommend others apply for a position which leaves us guilty even when exonerated. I stopped recommending this job years ago, when Steadman told us "the only good employee is a scared one". It seems we're back to his philosophy regarding employee relations. Actions shout doubt while we remain without... R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Our union president is reportedly not seeking another term. I hope her replacement again garners the ear of our local media, even though its influence constantly dwindles. It's time for union leadership to SHOUT, to ROAR, like an unnaturally-violated dinosaur, insistent upon addressing our most-pressing concerns.
Five years ago, I tried to garner support in a rare public speech, but was unceremoniously cut short due to negligent leadership who valued big names over the voice of one of its own.
I wrote a speech carefully crafted after a lifetime of study, specifically-tuned to union worker dedication.
I was told at the end of the rally "Oh yeah, Deke, you wanted to speak too? Keep it under two minutes." My promised time had been five minutes. I worked hard to make it so. Practiced my oratory under a stopwatch. Meticulously edited and practiced again until I had it exactly so. The result was a disastrous on-site editing and fumbling. What's that say about our union's dedication, its value of a common operator's opinion? I hope our next President values the lug nuts more than the current leadership has. I cannot see myself offering the same in the future. It hurts being disrespected.
Oh well. Guess I'm "old school" now. I just broke the 200 mark in seniority. That makes me "30 minutes" old to those above me. That's okay. They earned their due. This milestone simply means I honor those above me even more. I've toiled 11.5 years; they have done so even longer. Some of them, decades more. I'm growing old "in the seat" and each day my body tells me how much more I admire those who have endured this excruciating job so much longer than I have. Kudos to you Veterans!
I'm tired. After finishing another 55 hours on the job, 60 in uniform this week, I just signed on for an additional three hours this coming summer. I have to earn while I can. Given my past year's illnesses and failed attempts at FMLA cases, I can only pray for continued health and ability to work nearly 60 hours each week without a glitch in safety.
It's a hard life, truly. I'm well-paid, yeah. If management ever pulls its' collective head from where it's so unceremoniously-planted, maybe it will entice me to serve a few more years. Until my last day served, it's implausible for me to NOT chronicle the trials we face "out there". I hope you keep reading until I'm done. Surely, management reads each post, eagerly awaiting some pre-destined faux pas. But hey, you can't logically or constitutionally battle one fellow's opinion. Or, at least, for now.
Love, Deke
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