Since the drivers are paid well. I am surprised you (and others on thisWM: You bet I focus on the gov and Bell. (1)The ATU could easily have worked under the old contract until the issues were hammered out. That has happened before. (2) If there is any genuine intention on the part of management to negotiate a contract, management does not ask labor to "clean out your lockers" mere days before the strike. (3) when brought to bay by an impartial mediating team, management does not refuse to bargain. (4) The governor of the state does not opine in public that he "expects the strike to last two months."
board) focus your anger solely at the Gov & Met Council.
Compared to otherWM: ATU1005 struggled through contract after contract to achieve this. They suffered tradeoffs that many union members still do not like, i.e. high number of part-time drivers, to name the first one that comes to mind. Comparing city transit work against suburban transit work at this particular juncture is no comparison. Doing an eight hour sunshine run (11-7pm, noon-8 pm) on Lake St. is a whole nuther kettle of fish from running a freeway flyer, i.e. Lake St. has 119 stops, eastbound and a similar number westbound with cross traffic, pedestrians, strollers, quad canes, walkers, babies, groceries, skateboards, bicycles and assorted other moving people/objects every step of the way.
cities and local private companies, the MTC drivers make $6 to $9/hour more
per hour (when comparing top pay).
Also, some of these private companies have not been in business all that long, nor have anywhere near as many employees. 1005 has some 2,000 working members. Small companies have an entirely different playing field than does 1005. If unionized, their dues structures are different, initiation fees are different, pay scales are lower. No comparisons possible. If they're not union, what are their wages and benefits?
You'll have to compare 1005 to similar sized cities in the snow belt to see what you get and compare the cost of living in each area. If 1005 workers get more it's because they've been around the longest and worked the hardest to get the changes their pay and benefits imply. $45,000 might seem like a fair amount of money until you realize you've got three teenagers making a bee-line for college during the next five years.
That is 27% to 41% more!WM: Yes, I do have a political agenda. Better wages for all working stiffs. History shows that when the big unions' pay scales go up, other pay scales begin to inch up too. Kewl!
If you REALLY care about the poor, you must be upset at both sides of this strike. BOTH appear selfish to me. If you choose one side, then you have a political agenda.
It takes two to tango and all Bell will say is 'my first offer is my last offer.' What a consarned wuss. If you haven't even got the guts to go to the table, then what are you? This is not leadership material in my book. His job, and the union's job, is to come to some equally beneficial compromise. The union has been doing that with possible compromises, but Bell is sitting with a fatuous look on his face. That's shirking his job.
Loaned out my pickup again today. I am driving a tenant to a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon (tenants now make appointments).WM: I, too, have been gypsy cabbing friends to appointments and shopping--but I do the driving. Once a bussy,....
WizardMarks, Central
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