Hi Folks:
A good blog on the subject of the strike - by a striking transit worker.
http://tcmetro.blogspot.com/
Some numbers to call: Gov. Tim Pawlenty 651-296-3391 1-800-657-3717 FAX: 651-296-2089 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Metropolitan Council, attn, Peter Bell 651-602-1453 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Steve while health benefits are a sticking point in negotiations - and frequently are in union negotiations, they aren't the real underlying cause of this strike.
Thanks for posting this, Eva. I took a look at the website mentioned above. It is quite good, even-handed and fair. It's definitely worth a read.
The April 2 item was particularly interesting to me. There's been lots of talk about how well-compensated the MTC drivers are, frequently comparing top wage with that of suburban drivers -- a relatively worthless and invalid comparison. As I mentioned before, let's see the median and average wages and compensation packages.
Still, I suspect a lot of people come away with the thought that the bus drivers get better health care benefits than most of us, and that with the "spiraling costs of health care" (oh my!), they really should be contributing more. The April 2 post shows how the Met Council proposal really bites into their standard of living.
Most interestingly is I now do not believe their health care package to be so great. A driver with dependents paid $265 a month towards health care in 2003. I work for a small company. I pay zero dollars a month towards health care for my family -- my employer picks up the whole tab. Lucky me, right? Well, I've also held quite a few other jobs in the past 2 decades -- and not once have I ever paid anything remotely close to $265.
Further, I've worked in the managed health care industry (i.e. insurance, HMOs, employer paid health plans) at 3 different companies in the past 10 years. In other words, I've seen this ugly beast from the inside. If anyone thinks for a moment this health care problem doesn't apply to them, I've got bad news for you. We're all going to be on the short end of the stick soon if we don't fix it. The bus drivers just happen to be among the first to feel the pain.
Lastly, this posting from Day 21 revealed some facts I had no idea about:
>>>>>>>
"Talked with a lawyer from Winthrop & Weinstein who couldn't believe what the Met Council is asking us to pay for health care even after I explained how bus driving is a known unhealthy occupation. He asked if we had really done a good job of shopping the insurance companies after I told him the premiums which Health Partners is charging. I explained how the Met Council had just cut a five year deal with Health Partners but had barred our union from participating in the health insurance search process. I also informed him how Mary Brainerd, President and Chief Executive Officer of Health Partners was married to Dick Brainerd, Met Council Director of Human Resources. "There it is," he commented. The state's buyer, the husband, was negotiating with the insurance seller, his wife, all the while barring participation by an independent third party! If it looks like corruption, smells like corruption, feels like corruption - it's probably corruption.
Also heard that a bipartisan group of 10 state representatives led by Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, proposed to solve 50% of the difference between the Met Council and us drivers and mechanics by moving $13 million from the state highway fund to the Met Council, but that a powerful state Senator who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, said he had no intention of stepping in to resolve the strike. Thank you Steve Murphy. By the way Steve, where was your vote when Senator Michele Bachmann offered a bill to show leadership, a sharing of the pain, by having all senators, representatives and top state constitutional officers lower their compensation by 4%? Yes, the bill which never even made it out of committee.
I have to admit that personally I feel unwanted, unsupported. We work hard to provide the 6th best bus system in the country, yet we are the only ones in our chain of command up to the governor who are being required to reduce their standard of living, may be conspired against in the negotiation for health insurance and have powerful people in the state who were part of the financial mismanagement of public funds dead set on correcting their mistakes by using us at the bottom."
<<<<<<<<
How on earth can it be reasonable to have Dick Brainerd negotiating with his wife's company for health care coverage for Met Council? That's so far from ethical and reasonable, it's not even funny. Why hasn't this made headlines?
I have no respect for so-called leaders who can't cut their own large salaries by a measly 4% before cutting deep into the lives of everybody else. In fact, I would say they are NOT LEADERS, by definition. This principle stands for all top "management" both private and public. Some meet the challenge, demonstrate real leadership, real conviction and real ethics and cut their own compensation before others. Others do not. Senator Michele Bachmann, I applaud you.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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