My response:WM: That's why industries unionize. It's true, for the most part, union workers make better money for the same jobs that non-union workers do. It is the backbone behind Mpls.' "prevailing wage" dictum on city projects and projects using city money. DFL still means Democratic Farmer Labor party. The private sector has not been hurt by this since private sector jobs like bus driving have higher wages than they would have had without union competition. As a former MTC union driver, my reply to them is form a union, work collectively for better pay, health care, and etc. Further, no sane person would work for MCTO below a management position without union protection.
This is why most of the community is quiet about this strike. It is hard for the private sector to support a strike when the Met Council's position paper clearly outlines that the drivers receive above average pay and benefits compared to private sector employees doing the same job (http://www.metrocouncil.org/labor/METCposition.pdf).
WM: Sure you would. Until you got out there and found out what it's like day after day. It is very cool driving a bus. It is not always so cool picking up passengers. It's cool driving until the ice storms, the deep snow, the management do-dah, the union do-dah, the cops who park in the bus stops, the people who swing their driver's side doors open without looking, the kids who jump out in the street chasing a ball or just being kids, the accidents, the incidents, the goofy hours till you have enough seniority to pick a one-piece day route, the whole schmegeggie.Couple that with the fact that most of us in the private sector have been hurt by dismal pay and increasing job losses over the past few years and we cannot figure out what the drivers are talking about. Most of my tenants would love their job.
WM: This is not quite accurate. They are a considerable help during rush hours--if drivers will allow them to do their job instead of disregarding them. Rush hour could be much worse without traffic control people in the loop. (As an aside, I noticed during my years as a bus driver that auto and truck drivers tend to go along with male traffic controllers and ignore female controllers.)Many of you complained when Strom wrote "the bus strike shows decisively that proponents of transit are simply not telling the truth when they say that transit ridership reduces congestion." Strom's response was to THE MEDIA PREDICTIONS that traffic would be crippled without the bus system. Well, it hasn't happened. Rybak claims traffic is flowing ok because he "[put] five times the normal number of traffic control officers on duty in downtown Minneapolis the first week of the strike." Come on... Traffic cops don't have that much impact.
WM: Yes. And I really, really feel for them and for myself. I have been cut off from my home health aide. It is not a pleasant experience. My home health aide has nine other clients. They too, are cut off from her help. I have no idea how many aides there are, but I'd be willing to bet most of them use mass transit to get to work and home and to the second client of the day. They don't get paid if they don't show up. They don't get paid well enough to afford car ownership. They are non-union and more easily exploited.Most of my tenants are low income folk. Many depend on the bus system. Every single day of this strike, I have heard from multiple tenants about how this strike has messed up their lives. They are having trouble getting to jobs, school and social events. Everyday I have loaned out my pickup or drove someone, someplace.
WM: But blaming the drivers, mechanics, info operators, vault pullers, clerks, and washers is not kosher in my book. That's the crabs in a bucket syndrome--one crab gets almost out of the bucket and the other crabs pull it back.I am horribly frustrated. It appears the drivers are demanding pay/benefits exceeding others doing the same job. The poor -- who are the ones primarily hurt by this strike -- work for less than the drivers refuse to work for. Meanwhile the Met Council won't even attempt NON-binding arbitration.
WM: That's unfortunate for the union people. For several years now, the state has been taking money away from mass transit. (In 1985 MTC put 825 buses on the street for every rush hour, now they put out 700 buses for a rush hour). MN has been very neanderthal about transit systems, even after watching cities like Atlanta, GA turning into all pavement. For example Dallas, the plus penultimate car driving city, has both a light rail and a commuter rail system in place and operating. We have neither. This governor is particularly dunderheaded about the future vis-a-vis mass transit and integrated mass transit systems.I have no respect for either side. They are both out of touch with their customers. Our government is out of touch.
WizardMarks, Central ________________________________
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