| Voume 1 Issue 9 | For The Employee |
JUNE 1995 |
That's right, management is not responsible for the revenue that is used to pay our wages. This money comes from the riding public, some of it through the fares they pay, and some of it through taxes which we also pay. The Transit Authority management is not to be confused with the innovators, the movers and shakers that normally get credited with the success or failure of a business. In the real world, when an organization finds itself up against it, the only chance for continuation of the business lies with, and depends on, the skills of its top people. How long do you think the Transit Authority would survive if its existence depended solely on the initiative and the management skills of our top people? If it were not for the fact that every time they screw up, they simply pass on the costs to the taxpayers and the straphangers, we would have been out of business a long time ago.
It is frustrating to note that the very people who now get to pull the plug, are the same ones that are largely responsible for the sinking of the ship. Bureaucratic bunglers wearing the mantle of management, completely devoid of the qualities of leadership. The very ones responsible for the high costs of the inefficient, overpaid and overstaffing of our management system with the very monies that should be put to use in a never ending process of increasing system safety.
"I understand why some American companies fail to gain the loyalty and dedication of their employees. Employees cannot care for an employer who is prepared to take their livelihood away at the first sign of trouble."
Sadami Wada
vice president, Sony of America
"Group of Transit Authority Employees wish to explore the possibilities of alternative representation. The potential for mutual profitability would depend largely upon the versatility of the law firm. We are all willing to participate with the initial work involved in the exploration process. We publish an in-house newsletter that is well received by our peer group."
The Signal Shop Gazette
718 548 8974
MEMO
To: Union Leadership
From: Ed Kehoe,
Editor and Publisher Signal Shop Gazette
June 19, 1995
I have been watching and listening to your rhetoric for some time now. I have been waiting for you to do something that would justify my faith in your ability to guide this membership through the tough times that are inevitable in the near future. My fellow workers are not waiting, they have no faith in you. Many of them no longer attend meetings, they think its a waste of time. They argue among themselves about overtime, work assignments, favoritism and the legitimacy of the pick, they’re not really angry at each other, they’re just worried about their jobs. Where the hell are you? Here at the Signal Shop, quite possibly the largest group of signal personnel working at the same time in the same place doing more or less the same job, we wonder why you don’t use us as a focal point to launch a campaign of protest against the onslaught of abuse by management. Safety violations are called to the attention of management by our own people, those who have taken it upon themselves to act responsibly, and I might add, not without considerable risk of encumbering the disfavor and retaliation of a powerful adversary. These actions that are taken by us are brought about by the frustration of your unwillingness to be responsive to our requests for assistance. It is only lately that you have seen fit to act on your responsibilities, and those actions are brought about largely as a result of people like myself who have chosen to aggravate the hell out of you. Well as far as I am concerned you’re coming on far too late, and with what I might add, is far too little. Like the man said in the movie "We’re mad as hell, and we’re not gonna take it anymore."
On the opposing page you will see a copy of our agreement (what we usually refer to as our contract). In reading it over I find some rather interesting things. Article 1.6 (a) MANAGEMENT RIGHTS. According to this little edict, the authorities have the UNQUESTIONED RIGHT to do just about any God damned thing they want to do.
So then we have to ask ourselves, do we really need a union to negotiate a contract as bad as this? There have been treaties of unconditional surrender that have offered more generous terms. I strongly suggest that the union collect it’s dues from the Transit Authority, because in all honesty, it looks like they do do more for them than they do for us. For example:
They can fix operating and personnel schedules, impose layoffs, determine work loads (I guess this includes their own work load, this would explain why nobody in this organization can get anything accomplished), arrange transfers, order new work assignments, and issue pretty much any other directive that their hearts desire in order to operate the transit facilities (are you ready for this, here is where they blow it) safely, efficiently, and economically.
Lets take these three one at a time so that we may enjoy three separate laughs:
SAFELY, it took us three years, and the issuance of a violation by the department of safety and health of the labor department to get the sidewalks fixed, before that we were walking in the oncoming traffic of garbage trucks. In spite of many requests to the Union we did not get one damned bit of help to repair them. Ask Larry James how much help we received, you all know Larry, he’s the same guy that standing up against these guys right now, still refusing to accept the responsibility of training new people (managements job, if they only knew how) without being paid for it. How long did we fight them to get an exhaust system in the paint shop, we are still trying to get rid of that monstrous, dangerous imitation of a sandblaster known as goliath, after two years of complaining, we are still waiting for them to fix
The fire escape door, the wire wheel room is still without the air conditioning, paint exhaust, and vacuums. We can’t even begin to talk about the problems on the road, they range from rats, needles, people living on the tracks, areas that are supposed to be in the clear that could damn well get you killed and a multitude of others too numerous to cover in great detail. However, the people that are doing the work out there know where all the safety violations are. They are also wondering why the hell the Union and the management have to wait until someone gets hurt or killed before they fix them. Right now the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident that took place on June the fifth. They are looking in to the possibility of a human error. There’s a lot of human errors around here, but they won’t find them down on the tracks, they would be much better off looking in the air conditioned offices at 55th and Jay streets. Why doesn’t the Union Rep go down there and tell them why we don’t service the stops according to the RS&I, that the reason we don’t do it is because it takes too long and it wouldn't t look good for production. No, they won’t do that, they would rather just tell the maintainer to refuse to do the expected amount of stops, knowing darn well in advance, that if the maintainer tells that to his foreman, he might just as well transfer out of the department, that is if they would let him. So why is everybody being so quiet, what the hell is the matter with you guys, these son of a bitches are laying people off, based on fraudulently obtained data. Like a bunch of jerks, we’re going to let them get away with it.
EFFICIENTLY; We allow the most experienced maintainers to work in the places where their years of experience will completely go to waste. In so doing, the new maintainer, the one with the least experience, is put to work in an area that is usually far beyond his capabilities to handle. When trouble comes, the new maintainer will many times require assistance from either another maintainer, or, perhaps even a foreman. Now we have left another section uncovered, or, we have taken a foreman, paid at a much higher rate of pay, away from his other duties so that he can now perform the work of a maintainer. The experienced maintainer, because of his seniority is justified in picking the job that is most profitable to him. It would be in the best interest of the transit authority to offer the skilled maintainer more money to work in a position where his considerable skills could be put to the best possible use. Additionally, the added incentive to be promoted to an opportunity where one can earn higher compensation for a more advanced degree of efficiency will most certainly motivate the craftsman to improve his knowledge and his skills. But then this requires the skills of a manager to be able to expand on the possibilities.
ECONOMICALLY; This is an area that has been covered extensively in the past issues of this newsletter. We operate the sloppiest and most expensive procurement programs this side of the defense department and the space program. Any salesperson that has us for an account can retire a lot earlier and with a much more lucrative pension than hours. At the present time I am still communicating with the Inspector Generals office regarding my complaints about the ridiculous prices we pay.
SECTION 1.7-RECIPROCAL OBLIGATIONS
This is where our union, on our behalf, fully accepts the transit authorities unquestioned right to screw us around as described in section 1.6(A). They in fact agree to cooperate with the authority in a joint effort to keep the Transit System operating on an economical basis. What the hell does that mean. Are they going to use the money from our dues to indemnify the Authority against their own inefficiency, in fact, to keep our salary increases to a minimum, and to further endorse there right to impose layoffs at will?, talk about a conflict of interest. Gee, I wish the Transit Authority was represented by a negotiator with the same tenacity as ours. I honestly believe, that our union, is the best damned weapon that the Transit Authority has in their arsenal. I am not exactly sure how it works , but I understand that our union reps are paid by the Transit Authority. Frankly, I don’t find that to be at all surprising.
This is a copy taken from our agreement of April 1, 1988. I keep trying to obtain a copy of our latest agreement, but for some reason I am unable to get one. On the other hand, if I was responsible for negotiating a contract such as this, I don’t suppose I would be in any great hurry to have it distributed either.
NEVER SAY DIE:
(a letter from Nick DiBenedetto)
For years the TA workers who lived outside the metropolitan area when applying for HIP medical coverage were told by the health benefit trust "Your outside the area". You may wonder.....what area? I did.
And so in time, all of us aliens, just took it for granted that we were destined to be GHI’ers. So what?
First of all the amount of physicians "participating" in the GHI system in the suburbs is a joke. The most common phrase is "sorry, we no longer accept GHI patients". We have no knowledge of why this is so, since many of our fellow workers reside outside the city.
Secondly, after retiring, the benefits under GHI are greatly reduced, leaving the retiree severely underinsured, medically, at that time in life when he/she is most in need of it. Under the HIP plan, you lose prescriptions and eyeglasses, basically that's it.
There is however a happy ending to my story! After several phone calls, and a few faxes, I managed to obtain an "exception" in my case.
Conclusion: why should it be so hard to find out what your rights are in the area of benefits. You could call the Union, (I’m only kidding), actually, I got some of the help I needed from the guys that turn out this newsletter. They kind of liked the idea that I wasn’t going to quit, they asked if they could help, I’m glad they did.
Nick DiBenedetto
Signal Maintainer
215th Signal Shop
THE CONTRACT: Is it any good? Does it substantially add to those things that might already be covered under the labor laws of the land that are already in existence? Does there appear to be a conflict of interest? In negotiating the contract, whose interests seem to be of paramount concern, ours, or the Unions? Why don’t we all have a copy of the current contract, and how soon after the completion of negotiations and ratification should we have one? I understand there are different contracts for different departments, this was discussed when we wanted to get training time for our inspectors, we were told it was in the TOWERS contract, but not in ours. Has anybody seen ours?
UNION REPS: I understand they have a different medical coverage than we have, they have TRAVELERS, a much better plan. Wouldn’t they be more likely to negotiate better medical coverage for all, if we were all covered by the same plan? I understand they are paid in part, or in full, by the TA. I don’t know that this is true, but I would like to know more about this particular subject. There was reference to the fact that Union Reps were engaging in sideline business for profit when in fact they were supposed to be present at our meetings, I don’t know that this is accurate, but it should be discussed, and then laid to rest, one way or the other. Nothing in this world will make our brothers and sisters come to the neetings, if the reps don’t show up are without valid reasons for the absence.
KUDOS: There just isn’t the time or the space to include everyone who is tired with the STATUS QUO, and who are doing what they can to make a difference. The people who give me pieces of information, stand up at a union meeting and say "bullcrap" to the bullcrap. The guys that offer their cars to drive people to the meetings, and the people that stick their necks out for job safety issues. You all know who you are. THANKS!
UNION MEETING ON TUESDAY, 6/20/95. WE LOSE OUR RIGHT TO COMPLAIN IF WE DON’T TRY TO MAKE A CHANGE. PLEASE COME.
Mr. Goodlatte came up to the Signal Shop quite recently. I believe it was the first time he had seen the sidewalks since the repairs had been completed. He thought they looked terrific. He said to me as he shook my hand "tell me Ed, is it really true that I called you a thorn in my side?" I answered "yes Sir, it is." He then asked "in front of all those people?" I answered "yes Sir, you did". His next statement "then what we need is some more thorns". Far be it from me to disobey a direct order, stand by for some more thorns (not that I really needed any encouragement along those lines).
I was talking to Mr Rappaport, a coordinator associated with the STRAPHANGERS CAMPAIGN. He is also interested in our systems, safety, efficiency and economy. I thought he would be interested in knowing about some of the prices we pay for our goods and services, he was. He has asked to be put on our mailing list for future copies of this publication. I mentioned our dealings with the Inspector Generals office, there is always a need for additional support.
THE GAZETTE WILL FORWARD ANY COMPLAINT REGARDING SYSTEM SAFETY, OR EXCESSIVE EXPENDITURES OR ANY THING ELSE TO THE INSPECTOR GENERALS OFFICE, AND, WE’LL FOLLOW IT UP TOO.
If you have something we can use that will make a difference to the safety of this system we will act on it. If you want it to be confidential, it will be.
Note****The Address listed above has since been changed. I left it in to preserve a sense of originality. The current address is as follows:
