Class action update-part 4-the "bombshell"

Although the mainstream media refuses to cover it and Mcfarlane won't tell the Trimet board about it (at least publicly) this is A HUGE DEAL for Trimet. These depositions are taking the entire day and even two days in some cases for these Trimet executives.

The prosecution asserts that Trimet management has intentionally created a system where claiming overtime pay is actively discouraged and made intentionally complicated.

We all remember what we were told by our line trainers (not a word about time slipping was included in the training itself) "if its 5 minutes or less we don't time slip." 

Then if you do time slip you have this long complicated form to fill out which discourages many operators from bothering with it. Most operators just want to get the hell out of dodge by the time the shift is over and don't want to add even more cumbersome time onto their day. They'd rather just lose the money.

Deposition of Steve Callas, manager of service performance and analysis 

(questions and answers are paraphrased) 

LAST DAY FOR ATU VOTES TO BE MAILED

If your ballot isn't mailed today it won't be counted tomorrow

Let the 'best man win' as they say.

I could be ok with this if there was some reasonable explanation for members to vote yes but the only reason I am hearing, and this comes from people that I respect, is "if we don't take it we will get killed in the arbitration"

I can't think of a worse reason to vote yes than that. It's the 'or else' proposition.

You have to wonder.....

Where ATU757 members would be right now if these two gentlemen were in charge of the union

Randy Stedman presents the union contract to the board

HOW MANY EXECUTIVES DOES IT TAKE TO RUN TRIMET?

76 or 1 executive for every 19 union employees. Figure does not include, managers or supervisors.

Mcfarlanes empire

Proof that Trimet OPEB numbers are suspicious

The numbers are changed at the will of the Trimet executives!

Joe Rose gets tour of the Trimet type 5 train

Lots of yellow vested people crawling around. (a train is a train is a train, is there gonna be any legroom for riders is the only question that needs answering)

ATU/TRIMET CONTRACT VOTE MAY NOT BE A LANDSLIDE

I've been communicating with quite a few operators who have been communicating with quite a few of their peers and the assumption that all the newbies will be voting for this contract may not be a correct assumption after all.

What I thought was going to be a landslide is starting to look more like a neck and neck horse-race.

At this time from the people that I have talked to its an even split, 1/2 will vote in favor and 1/2 will vote against.

We here at blog central recommend a

NO

vote
I can live with it if it passes

(there better be some impartial monitoring of the vote counting)

Trimet employees are getting assaulted and its not getting reported

@trimet I heard one of your supervisors was assulted yesterday isnt that number 5 for your employees in the last 2 weeks?

— Pdx Bus Driver (@PdxBusDriver) October 22, 2014

Trimet gets yet another pork barrel grant

 What a load of crap. Money always around for this sort of stupidity at Trimess the leader of stupid transit nonsense

A $108,000 state grant awarded in August and $19,000 from TriMet will let the regional transit agency hire a consultant to gather best practices from around the world and make recommendations to TriMet about bike parking, how best to carry bikes on trains and buses, how to build transit lines with bike access in mind and other issues.
“We can’t think of everything ourselves, and outside ideas are really beneficial and powerful,” Owen said. “A lot of it might be things that we’re aware of, of course, but they could really bring some new ideas and creative thinking into it.”
TriMet scores grant to study the world's best bike + transit ideas - BikePortland.org

Health insurance premium costs for Trimet employees/retirees

This figure is just the premium cost, the deductibles and co-pay are an additional expense

click on pic for better view

37% down-23% to go

Joe Rose reports from the Trimet board meeting that Mcfarlane and his henchmen have  succeeded (pending union members approval which looks pretty certain) in trimming the OPEB by 37% with this ATU757 concessionary contract. 

As we've reported right here the goal of the  Trimet executives is to cut 50% of the OPEB. They are off to a pretty good start.
(I bet this is gonna translate to nice fat raises or bonuses for Mcfarlane and his henchmen)

#trimet labor proposal would “bend” $950m in unfunded retirement benefits down by reducing payout by 37% @atu757pdx pic.twitter.com/2ejx7L6BWu
— Joseph Rose (@pdxcommute) October 22, 2014

Class action update-part 3

How Trimet cheats its employees out of wages

Shelly Lomax deposition

Q-Is there a section of Trimet operator training program on:

a-under what circumstance you time slip?

b-when do you time slip?

c-how do employees complete the time slip?

(not one employee that I know can remember any such topic during training)

SCORE THREE FOR THE PROSECUTION

Another assault reported

a #trimet supervisor was assaulted earlier

— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) October 22, 2014

CLASS ACTION UPDATE PART 2

How Trimet cheats you out of your  wages!
Shelly Lomax deposition
Q-Why are there no time slips available in the Trimet route pouches that each route has?
Q-How do drivers who have been relieved on the road time slip when they are late?

There are no time slips in the driver pouches...ever!

Score 2 for the prosecution.

Class action update

How Trimet cheats employees out of  wages.  

Shelly Lomax deposition 

Q-Why is there no mention of time slips in the Bus Operator Standard Procedures?

Score one for the prosecution!

Trimet adds more noise pollution to MAX trains

"The doors are closing, train is moving please hold on" at every single stop? Whoa!

You've gotta have good headphones to be a successful Transit rider!

Dan the bus driver man

Why didn't Trimet totally crush the union?

Trimet got what it wanted, that is they will only pay for the 80/20 health insurance till 2016. When 2016 gets here they have made it clear that all bets are off. 

So why didn't Trimet push the union back into another arbitration where they could have exacted even more brutal cuts against its union workforce? 

Don't forget that in the last arbitration Trimet placed into its proposal all sorts of nefarious items some that were clearly illegal and courts ruled as much.

With this Oregon idiotic arbitration law 'winner takes all' you can really stick it to your union workforce when you are victorious. 

We may live in a blue state but we have an anti union governor. 

They could have easily won another arbitration, there's no doubt about that, even our own union admits they didn't have a chance.

So why didn't they totally break the union?

There is only one reason---THE ORANGE LINE OPENING

This new light rail line needs every one of the major players to fall into line, including the union.

(and the fact that Trimet and union need each other in the same way as Democrats need  Republicans)

WE WERE DECEIVED

I'm using myself as the example but the numbers are relevant to any retiree who uses the Blue Cross insurance.
This is another part of the story that the useless mainstream media won't cover.

1-My Gross pension is $930/mo

 Taxes equal 18% or  $167 (rounded off). Taxes are paid on the total pension BEFORE the health insurance is taken out

2-That leaves $763.

For me to continue with the last arbitration award (my spouse and myself) will now cost of out pocket $187/mo. That supplies me with 90/10 coverage. I believe the maximum out of pocket is $3000 per person  (I could be wrong however. I could also sign up for the 80/20 insurance for $100 less but if I or my spouse actually got sick it would actually end up costing significantly more out of pocket in the end)

3-That leaves $576/mo. or $6,921 a year to live on.

If I actually get sick enough to have to spend that $3000 (and its not that hard to spend lots of money when it comes to Amerika's sick health care system) that would leave me with 
4-$3,912 for the year to live on or $326/mo.

We retired thinking that our health care would be paid since that is what was promised.

What has happened to  retirees  (because we retired after 1992) is that our pensions were stolen by Neil Mcfarlane and his demolition crew.

This affects 900+ retired union employees and the bottom line is this, and its quite simple:

WE WERE DECEIVED

BY THE UNION AND THE COMPANY

(Mcfarlane and his handpicked staff of destroyers will all get nice fat pensions, evil people always seem to be rewarded in the world we live in.)

Mcfarlane may have out smarted the union but he's still the fool on the hill

'MAD MAX' MCFARLANE from al m on Vimeo.

TRIMET EMPLOYEES HIRED BEFORE 1992 ARE JUST AS SCREWED AS THE REST OF US

If you are not "retired" as of 1992 you ain't getting 100% of your medical covered.
Some of the old timers thought they were in a protected class but they were wrong

Readership back up to 1000+ views a day thanks to mainstream media

Thanks to mainstream media's total blackout of news regarding the Trimet/Union contract readership on this blog is back up to 1000+ views per day.

We've have our share of detractors just praying 'we'd' (i say 'we'  because even tho my name appears on the posts this blog is a collection of lots of folks material) go away.

But as we saw during the Lane Jensen false prosecution, this blog is vitally important for the flow of information that would not be found anywhere else if this blog did not exist.

This blog covers plenty of news that will not be found in the puppet media and I can assure readers we will continue to exist. We maintain the blog as a labor of love, not for profit, and completely unaligned to any existing institutions

The 'church of light rail' begins

These are pictures from the opening of the Blue line Gresham to Portland. Light rail has since become a federal priority and is being funded to the tunes of BILLIONS all around the country.

There was 'light rail' long before it started in Portlandia but somehow Portlandia became the face of light rail. "transit oriented development" started right here in puddle town

For the first time in who knows when I am actually looking forward to the Trimet board meeting

The next board meeting is THIS WEDNESDAY and I for one can't wait to hear how Trimet management spins this 'victory' over the union. It should be fascinating to say the least.

Oh MCFARLANE you dirty dog!