MARTA-KPMG Report

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

MARTA employees have pensions?

SLASH! Give them 401(k) plans like everybody else. I know a lot of them are union members, but come on, it's 2012.

Agreed. Most of that stuff isn't that skilled of labor anyways. With the job market the way it is, you could find replacements easy.

[testa50]

Keep in mind public transit agencies can't union-bust like a lot of others. They are bound by the Urban Public Transit Act, Part 13(c), which was enacted in 1964 to get the unions to buy into a formal method of the government taking over (typically unionized) private transit companies. So the union contracts are a lot more regulated and difficult to change.

That's not to say it's impossible, but something like giving them a 401k would require MARTA to give something back--no doubt. (The KPMG report seems to acknowledge this, and implies that the solution should be to use a combination of higher wages and threats of austerity in order to make the non-wage costs of employment lower.)

[cqholt]

Agreed. Most of that stuff isn't that skilled of labor anyways

So driving a 10 ton bus in Atlanta traffic isn't skilled labor or operating a train. Your a joke. The trains are mostly controlled by ATC, but if an incident did occur all operators know how to operate the trains manually.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

Agreed. Most of that stuff isn't that skilled of labor anyways. With the job market the way it is, you could find replacements easy.

I wouldn't want to drive a MARTA bus, or any bus really. That doesn't strike me as an easy job.

[arjay57]

Bus drivers also have to put up with being attacked.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

I wouldn't want to drive a MARTA bus, or any bus really. That doesn't strike me as an easy job.

I'm not saying I would want that job either, but it isn't a terribly skilled position that warrants a big paycheck with absurd benefits.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by cqholt

So driving a 10 ton bus in Atlanta traffic isn't skilled labor or operating a train. Your a joke. The trains are mostly controlled by ATC, but if an incident did occur all operators know how to operate the trains manually.

No, it isn't that skilled. You could easily train people to do that in short notice. That isn't a skill set that couldn't be developed. Do you really think that the average person couldn't do that job? Sure it requires some training, but it isn't a skill that justifies the absurd union benefits those jokers get.

You are (not your) a joke.

[tikigod311]

Look, this report shows that the inner workings of MARTA are not a model of efficiency. But it seems to me that they (or whoever mandated) deserve credit for commissioning this report! This is not something that people that want to maintain the status quo would ever request.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

I'm not saying I would want that job either, but it isn't a terribly skilled position that warrants a big paycheck with absurd benefits.

I'd have to see how big the paycheck is and how absurd the benefits are in order to comment. The fact that it may come with a pension, though, is something from another time. I wish I had one, but even the companies I've been laid off from in the past discontinued that benefit long ago.