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Old 09-30-2015, 01:19 PM
 
Location: Queen Creek, AZ
7,301 posts, read 12,214,781 times
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Looks like another bus strike is looming in the City of Phoenix, this time with the North and South Phoenix divisions operated by Transdev:
Providing Public Transportation Alternatives for the Greater Phoenix Metro Area | Valley Metro | Press Releases

This primarily affects most of the north-south routes in eastern and central Phoenix, most the east-west routes in northern Phoenix, northern Scottsdale, and the Northwest Valley, as well as all of the RAPID routes. The West Phoenix Division operated by First Transit (who primarily operates the north-south routes in west Phoenix and other parts of the West Valley, as well as some east-west routes serving Central Phoenix and south Scottsdale) is not affected; they avoided a strike early this year just prior to the Super Bowl.

The Transdev-Phoenix operation is the largest of all the operations in the entire Valley. Considering these drivers are also the highest paid in the Valley, I wonder how greedy can they be.

Note that bus service won't completely be shut down, since the City of Phoenix has a minimum service requirement of 60% in its contracts with Transdev and First Transit. No other agency in the Phoenix area has such a requirement with its bus services (the limited service in Tempe in the 2013 joint Phoenix/Tempe strike was actually a special request by the mayor of Tempe; Tempe never had a specific minimum service requirement either before or after the unification of its bus services with the RPTA).

Last edited by Pink Jazz; 09-30-2015 at 01:33 PM..
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Old 09-30-2015, 05:12 PM
 
2,355 posts, read 2,651,619 times
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What's frustrating is that it won't get the attention and the push for a resolution the way it might in other metropolitan areas where people are more dependent on public transportation and the ridership is, shall we say, higher up on the socio-economic scale.
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Old 10-04-2015, 02:15 AM
 
Location: East Central Phoenix
8,024 posts, read 12,172,770 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pink Jazz View Post
The Transdev-Phoenix operation is the largest of all the operations in the entire Valley. Considering these drivers are also the highest paid in the Valley, I wonder how greedy can they be.
This is the problem right here: employees who already have decent salaries & good benefits, and aren't satisfied with what they have. As a result, they'll go on strike, disrupt service, and inconvenience many people for their own self absorbed demands until they get their way. Labor unions have basically become corrupt, and serve no real purpose nowadays other than being apologists & defenders of mediocre workers who really don't deserve extra pay or benefits.

There have been too many bus strikes (or threats of strikes) in Phoenix lately. Phoenix is located in a state which is solidly right to work and resistant to unions. Therefore, it's high time to eliminate the union presence from these transit operations, or any public service for that matter. Walking off the job and going on strike is one thing, but it's another thing to inconvenience the people who depend on bus service for their everyday commute, and leave them stranded. That's BEYOND greedy! It's more on the lines of criminal in my opinion.
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Old 10-04-2015, 10:57 AM
 
416 posts, read 258,549 times
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So I'm reading along about these greedy employees and their huge salaries and great benefits; anyone know what they really are? And let's just throw in, their contract expired in June; hardly like they've been chomping at the bit to charge out into the street.

And then there's that never ending mantra about unions and how bad they are (and how wonderful right to work states are). Seems to me as unions have been pounded, the middle class has become obliterated as well. Think maybe there's a correlation? The real tell is how those at the top have grown their wealth as those that toil along struggle to make ends meet.

Not sure about any of you, but driving a bus through city streets and rush hour traffic would be anything but enjoyable for me. So, who knows what their salaries are and just how greedy they are trying to be?
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Old 10-04-2015, 12:02 PM
 
Location: AriZona
5,229 posts, read 4,572,267 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by William Gordon View Post
So I'm reading along about these greedy employees and their huge salaries and great benefits; anyone know what they really are? And let's just throw in, their contract expired in June; hardly like they've been chomping at the bit to charge out into the street.

And then there's that never ending mantra about unions and how bad they are (and how wonderful right to work states are). Seems to me as unions have been pounded, the middle class has become obliterated as well. Think maybe there's a correlation? The real tell is how those at the top have grown their wealth as those that toil along struggle to make ends meet.

Not sure about any of you, but driving a bus through city streets and rush hour traffic would be anything but enjoyable for me. So, who knows what their salaries are and just how greedy they are trying to be?
Most assuredly, there are employees which have issues that need to be addressed. That makes sense. There will always be ways to handle such issues without unions having to be involved. This is not early America when greedy employers were brutal taskmasters which treated employees horribly, and which did all they could to keep them under the pile.

There is also a dark history of greed and a criminal element in unions, and that does not need to be repeated. Arizona, as a right to work state, doesn't need "unions" which usually create these types of concerns, and especially in the 21st Century.
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Old 10-04-2015, 04:54 PM
 
Location: East Central Phoenix
8,024 posts, read 12,172,770 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by William Gordon View Post
So I'm reading along about these greedy employees and their huge salaries and great benefits; anyone know what they really are? And let's just throw in, their contract expired in June; hardly like they've been chomping at the bit to charge out into the street.

And then there's that never ending mantra about unions and how bad they are (and how wonderful right to work states are). Seems to me as unions have been pounded, the middle class has become obliterated as well. Think maybe there's a correlation? The real tell is how those at the top have grown their wealth as those that toil along struggle to make ends meet.

Not sure about any of you, but driving a bus through city streets and rush hour traffic would be anything but enjoyable for me. So, who knows what their salaries are and just how greedy they are trying to be?
Public Transit Bus Drivers in Phoenix, Arizona Wages

See the above link for bus driver salaries. The pay isn't all that great, but even entry level bus operators earn well above minimum wage. It seems as though the benefits (401K, health insurance, etc.) are just as good, if not better, than any large corporation. Bus drivers are generally not highly educated, nor are they highly skilled in other trades, so the pay level shouldn't be as high as somebody with a higher skill set, or somebody who spent years in school learning a trade. A bus operator requires no special skills, except how to drive, and perhaps a certain amount of customer service. I even question the latter to a certain extent because of so many drivers who are unfriendly or down right rude. Admittedly, driving a city bus isn't exactly easy work, but there are other jobs which are much more stressful and less enjoyable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Colt Cassidy View Post
Most assuredly, there are employees which have issues that need to be addressed. That makes sense. There will always be ways to handle such issues without unions having to be involved. This is not early America when greedy employers were brutal taskmasters which treated employees horribly, and which did all they could to keep them under the pile.

There is also a dark history of greed and a criminal element in unions, and that does not need to be repeated. Arizona, as a right to work state, doesn't need "unions" which usually create these types of concerns, and especially in the 21st Century.
Very well said, Colt. I couldn't agree more. What really bothers me about unions the most is when these public service employees go on strike and leave thousands of people without the services that their tax dollars are paying for. Basically, our taxes are paying them NOT to work when they strike. While the percentage is small, there are still a fair amount of people who rely on the bus system to commute to work, school, and for general errands. I very rarely hear any empathy for the riders who are left stranded without alternate transportation options. Unions are only interested in their self absorbed demands ... they couldn't care less about the people they seriously inconvenience!
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Old 10-04-2015, 07:23 PM
 
2,801 posts, read 3,148,812 times
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Is this a union rally thread? Do I understand this correct - unionized workers get better salaries and benefits than non-unionized workers? Then why are there still non-unionized workers around? Who want to work for less money and benefits only so there is no union? Doesn't make any sense.
Also, remember you cannot be NON-unionized. If you are not in a trade union you are in the CEO union by default. This union shuffles all the money ruthlessly to the CEO and makes average Joe's wages stagnate at best. Since 1980 this "union" was very successful as trade union membership went down. Also talk about being ideologically blind to the real greed going on in the last 45 years! Keep hating average Joe while the elite bankrupts our middle class, great work guys!
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Old 10-04-2015, 10:17 PM
 
416 posts, read 258,549 times
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Spot on P_L, but this AZ where right to work is to be celebrated (never quite sure why, but that's another discussion for another time).

This thread is about these overpaid, greedy bus drivers." Thanks for posting that link. VN, very informative. I've taken the liberty of pulling these stats from the article: "Public Transit Bus Drivers in Phoenix, Arizona make $29,870 per year ($14.36 per hour). Salaries for entry-level workers are $18,860, while experienced salaries are $38,240."

Hardly the kind of salaries that would inspire me to use the word greedy. While some of you would bemoan these "unskilled" workers making these exorbitant wages, the reality is they have a challenging job. I would love to see how many of you would like to crawl behind the wheel and fight traffic and angry people (both in their cars and riding the buses).

Nope, not a bus driver, but I hate to see/read people beat up working men and women struggling to get by. I get it, many of you hate unions, but why hate workers?
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Old 10-04-2015, 10:36 PM
 
Location: Peoria, AZ
975 posts, read 1,395,538 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by William Gordon View Post
Spot on P_L, but this AZ where right to work is to be celebrated (never quite sure why, but that's another discussion for another time).

This thread is about these overpaid, greedy bus drivers." Thanks for posting that link. VN, very informative. I've taken the liberty of pulling these stats from the article: "Public Transit Bus Drivers in Phoenix, Arizona make $29,870 per year ($14.36 per hour). Salaries for entry-level workers are $18,860, while experienced salaries are $38,240."

Hardly the kind of salaries that would inspire me to use the word greedy. While some of you would bemoan these "unskilled" workers making these exorbitant wages, the reality is they have a challenging job. I would love to see how many of you would like to crawl behind the wheel and fight traffic and angry people (both in their cars and riding the buses).

Nope, not a bus driver, but I hate to see/read people beat up working men and women struggling to get by. I get it, many of you hate unions, but why hate workers?
Because many people are brainwashed to believe that these kinds of low-skilled workers are too lazy to find better paying jobs even though they may / may not exist.
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Old 10-04-2015, 10:59 PM
 
Location: Queen Creek, AZ
7,301 posts, read 12,214,781 times
Reputation: 4792
Note that the Phoenix West Division drivers (operated by First Transit), as well as the Valley Metro RPTA drivers out of Mesa and Tempe (also operated by First Transit) have always been paid less than the Phoenix North and South Division drivers. In fact, when the City of Tempe bus operations were separate from the Valley Metro RPTA operations out of Mesa, the RPTA drivers in Mesa were paid even less than Tempe.
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