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Old 11-14-2008, 03:56 PM
 
169 posts, read 418,284 times
Reputation: 66

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I understand that we New Yorkers enjoy probably the best transit system in the country. However, as with most government-funded operations, the mta is extremely wasteful, because hey, why not be wasteful when you're guaranteed government money.

read this: MTA workers on the job? - 11/13/08 - New York News and Tri-State News - 7online.com

This news story points out exactly what I'm talking about. They want to raise the fares and cut service while wasting huge amounts of money on excessively priced labor that produces very little work. Having a good wage should not be a right, it should be something you earn from hard work. Clearly, the MTA is paying large salaries and benefits to workers that in fact do very little. Of course, I'm sure there are many hard working personnel in the MTA. But there are many that are not, and should be fired and/or have their wages and hours reduced significantly. If they don't think that's fair, I'm sure there are pleny of eligible workers that will be willing to perform the same tasks for far less.

Labor is easily the biggest cost of the MTA. If the MTA only focused on improving the efficiency of its workforce, it would cut down its expenses dramatically and may even turn a profit instead of being subsidized.
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Old 11-14-2008, 04:18 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn
40,049 posts, read 34,517,363 times
Reputation: 10610
I suppose you had to imagine that I might have a comment on this. It goes without saying that I resent the inference that we (that is, MTA workers) "don't do any work." If you don't work here, you don't know the truth...and reading an article in a newspaper isn't going to give it to you.

I'll tell you where waste is a factor: there's an absolutely unbelievable amount of duplication in MTA's office workers. In some cases, two and even three offices are responsible for a given function...and of course each office maintains its own pool of secretaries and the like. This sort of thing can, and ought to, be addressed immediately.

There are also Superintendents for each subway line. This is a layer of bureaucracy created by MTA in the early 1970s. For the previous century, mass transit operated perfectly well without them. They could be eliminated without affecting service. They won't be, because too many people have friends in the right places. But they could be.

But for the part of MTA's workforce that actually moves the trains and buses, making cuts would be complete, unadulterated insanity.
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Old 11-14-2008, 04:53 PM
 
169 posts, read 418,284 times
Reputation: 66
Agreed, I'm sure there is a lot of waste on all levels, especially in the office environment. However, I would be surprised if it was only at the administrative level, and in these times, the MTA has got to trim down. Obviously there has to be sufficient workforce to move the trains and buses. But the article does raise the question if we need so many full time track workers, when their work is only part time.

It is hard for me to believe that unions don't take advantage of the fact that the MTA is subsidized, and therefore assumes the agency has bottomless pockets. But I don't see why employees make a modest sacrifice along with everybody who uses the system. If they don't, the MTA will have to cut some service at a time when the trains and buses are more full than ever. It seems to me that the wages given in the article seem to be extremely generous given the skill of the task, unless of course the article give false information (25-30 an hour). I know I could round up houndreds of people in a heartbeat that are willing to do the same work for less money and fewer benefits, who would do the job just as well. I'm sure the work is quite laborious and certainally not the best working conditions, but I feel that if those workers want more money, they should go to school, increase their skills and make themselves more valuable as workers like everybody else instead of demanding more money at the cost of every new york taxpayer and commuter.
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Old 11-15-2008, 07:04 AM
 
Location: Neither here nor there
1,809 posts, read 7,048,639 times
Reputation: 556
Sounds to me like a disgruntled mta worker is seeking revenge on his co workers. There are two sides of every story. You can't believe everything that you see on the news. Did anybody read the comment board below the 7 online news story? Why do the higher ups/management types always seem to get a free pass? They are like teflon,nothing sticks.
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Old 11-15-2008, 05:46 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn
40,049 posts, read 34,517,363 times
Reputation: 10610
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackson92186 View Post
But I don't see why employees make a modest sacrifice along with everybody who uses the system.
OK, since you brought it up, I'm curious to know how you define "modest sacrifice." I'm sure you wouldn't be talking about a contract with a six or seven percent increase...at the same time the police and teachers just got 17%. Somehow, the state had the money for them. And if your definition of a modest sacrifice was other than monetary, I'd like to hear about that, too.
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