Wednesday, July 22, 2009

How much do BART Employees make?

BART Police Officer: $135,464 including overtime **Go ahead, walk thru the gates w/o fare, I won't cite you

Train Operator: $120,122 including overtime **Huh? What station are we at?

Customer Service: $110,958 including overtime **What customer service?

Elevator Worker: $110,275 including overtime **Takes 2 weeks to fix an elevator and it breaks again in a week

Cash Handling Foreworker: $108,629 including overtime

Facility Maintenance Supervisor: 107,617 including overtime **Did they skip Civic Center in their maintenance efforts?


And the BART GM who has led BART into a budget deficit: $334,857

Full database of BART Employee Salaries from the CC Times.

Source: CC Times

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sure hope you reported the Train Operator(s) you (claim to) have seen in your twitter update. That is a serious violation, see other recent train crashes. Take a cellphone picture/video.

That is, if what you say is true.

Oh and a BART operator and agents make about $65,000, unless they work lots of overtime, which some do, in one case Doubling their salary. Which you shouldn't hold against the others.

bartmusings said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bartmusings said...

I hope you are not implying that I'm making up content. I gain nothing from that. I write what I observe or hear. Just because a TO violated a serious policy doesn't mean that the one reporting it is lying. 2 readers have emailed me that on different occasions. They didn't have pictures or videos to prove it but 2 times from 2 diff people is worth mentioning here at least.

I did say the salary included overtime. The pay structure is set up so they make a significant percentage of their total salary via overtime hours/pay. If one divides the total salary by the number of hours worked, you still come up with a pretty fat salary.

Anonymous said...

the salary info is public info. look at the database if you don't believe how much money BART employees are making.

Anonymous said...

These guys are way over paid for just showing up and putting in the most minimal effort into their work to get through the day. I am sick of their lack of effort.

Anonymous said...

These people are going to stop working because they don't get paid enough while millions have lost and are losing their jobs??? Do what Regan did to the air traffic controllers; fire all of them and get an entire new crew. Send the unions to the pit.

dndgirl said...

Yes! I totally agree with the last anonymous post. Fire their behinds and replace them with people who will be thankful for a nice job and do their best!

Anonymous said...

What most you forget, is that its the union who wont allow them to go back to work. All of the TO's i know, want to work. If you've never worked for a union, you would'nt know that. I work for one of the largest in the nation, and when there is a threat of strike, believe me, we dont like it either. We have families too and we want our kids to eat too. Remember, we dont get paid unless we work. By the way, my union and company dworfs BART's union.

seemsshady said...

TOs get between $28 to $33 per hour. In order to make $120K in one year, a TO would have to work 10 hour days for 365 days. Where did the $120K figure come from?

Anonymous said...

Time and a half legal holidays double time $120, a yr very possible att employees get paid about the same and have seen more than the 120 with incentives as well as ot pay.

Anonymous said...

Feb 2013: on train looking at an ad to recruit entry-level bart police $127k-160k/yr base pay... and fares are going up?

Anonymous said...

I am sure that everyone who thinks BART employees make too much money would jump on the chance to have one of those"over paid jobs!" What you need to look at are the salaries of the managers that do nothing but sit at a desk! Pay a person 339,000 and they don't step foot on property!!?? Plus some outrageous number of vacation hours when they don't even work there anymore!? Why beat up on the people that ACTUALLY keep the system running? Train operators deal with so much more than you can se on a ride on the train! Spit on, urine thrown on, assaulted physically and verbally! And the station Agents have it even worse! There are on average 10-15 assaults on Agents monthly that the public doesn't hear about! The system service employees are dealing with cleaning up everything from vomit to human and animal feces EVERYDAY! Notto mention blood! These things can contain all kindsof diseases! Please!!! BART frontline employees are just trying to live like you are! Most can't afford to buy homes!! Go e us a break!!!!

Anonymous said...

Even making $65,000 is a lot. Maybe they should think about the people with the minimum wages and no benefits that have to make it to work on Monday so they don't get fired. And some of them probably have to deal with way worse things than to pick up vomit.

Anonymous said...

A lot of people get assaulted everyday at their jobs and make minimum wages. They are just happy to have a job.
If you don't like it, get another job, oh that's right, you won't find one that pays that well and have great benefits without doing much.
Greedy much?

Anonymous said...

FCK u greedy bart worker most of you are rude and completely uneducated I hope you STRIKE and I will gladly pay a scab less TO TAKE YOUR JOB ENJOY UNEMPLOYMENT!! If you want hire pay go get a higher paying job O i forgot most of you only have HS diplomas

Unknown said...

Ill work for 2/3rds that. Same benefits. I know I a lot of other people who would too.

Unknown said...

Oh I'm half way through college. My study is business management.

Toast said...

The OP figures are based on a newspaper in a financially bankrupted county (coco county). US Labor board in 2008 reported train operator workers make 30k to 60k. Their current benefits are at 1/4 of entry level jobs in the corporate market. Repair issues are due to upper management, not them, so those complaints don't really seem applicable to the worker's union strike. Upgrade your choices for fact checking to more reliable sources with raw data ;)

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable. I hope the strike fails. Fire everyone and have a job fair for those who are actually willing to work.

Ron said...

Except that the guy cherry picked the very highest paid BART employees and made it sound like that was the typical salary when it's not. If you want to see the full range of salaries, go to http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-area
Select Bay Area Rapid Transit as the Entity.

Don't make assumptions based on limited data.

Anonymous said...

When someone asks how much did you make last year, do you include medical and pension benefits in your answer? Do you also include all payments you made into the system? Yeah, they're overpaid but train operators are not taking home what is claimed. Check the raw data. If Union employees want a raise from me, don't treat me like dirt if I ask a question, clean the restrooms and don't tell me what can't be done. Kill all options to roll vacation/sick time over year after year.

Anonymous said...

Too much money for these low skill jobs. Hope Regan is still here to fire all of them and hire an entire new crew.

Anonymous said...

Culture starts at the top. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23416601/barts-top-paid-worker-2012-never-worked-day

Anonymous said...

I just looked at the pay of BART employees in the following site. Lots of them make over $100K including OT. Doing what they are doing and getting that kind of pay and still asking for more?????

http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-area/2012?appSession=56116047174619&RecordID=&PageID=2&PrevPageID=2&cpipage=4&CPIsortType=desc&CPIorderby=TCOE&cbCurrentPageSize=250

Anonymous said...

@RON: except for PT employees a vast majority make over 100k which is K-razy (as James Brown would say)>

Anonymous said...

I went to the salary database, sorted by total benefits, jumped to page 100/138. Total benefits are still more than 90K. no judgement. Just relay information....

Anonymous said...

Then the folks who "keep the system running" are well suited to work in the prison system and BART should hold a job faire. Win-win

Anonymous said...

To the person who said most BART employees can't buy homes...give me a break.

Most PEOPLE in the SF Bay Area can't buy homes...let alone make $65k for a base salary with the eligibility of overtime.

bartmusings said...

BART employees make a **** load of money (look closely at the public database for full-time positions, not part-time) but I probably get more customer service and satisfaction from McDonald's employees and they make $10 an hour. To me, the ones I encounter (I'm sure there are exceptions who go above and beyond) act entitled, do the minimum job description to keep their jobs, receive substantial OT pay and PTO, and yet they are asking for more.

Anonymous said...

The highest paid train operator made $193,000 last year. He had at $63K base and $78K in OT, with a bunch of other benefits to round out the $193K. Not too shabby for a job that can be replaced with 15 weeks of training. Sounds like this guy really knows how to game the overtime system - call in sick on his scheduled days to work, *volunteer* to work on his 'off' day, collect 1.5X to 2X his normal pay rate. I'm glad my tax money is making this guy's life comfortable.

Mark D. Hill said...

This does not include "TOTAL COMPENSATION"...which would include FREE or close to FREE Cadillac medical, LIFETIME PENSIONS and LIFETIME medical. The multiple of Total compensation when these attributes are added is 2.5x. So if a salary is $100k...their annual total compensation is $250k a year. The unions purposely hide the other compensation attributes from taxpayers...shameful.

Anonymous said...

You get overtime when someone uses their sick days and you cover their shift, boom overtime.

Anonymous said...

Every time the topic of BART workers strike comes up, the riders complain, we expose the outrageous salaries, we write comments, we post on social media sites,... yet nothing happens. Overpaid, clueless, lazy BART workers get their raises, their retirement, their benefits; BART management goes back to work,... riders are stuck with the bill. Yet riders have no representation at these negotiations.

Anonymous said...

Often salaries that are posted include benefits that do not go into paychecks and all the * say include overtime with would mean the MAXIMUM they would make a year OVER their contracted work time. It's important to include the objective facts, not just information posted to incite anger against people that are doing their job and want to be paid a living wage for it.

Anonymous said...

yeah so a bart operator does make about $141,020 /year. But let's do the the Math...

$63,152 base / 50 weeks / 40hr = 31.58/hr hmmm not looking so hot
$77,858 over time / 50 weeks / $47.37/hr (over time rate) = 32.87

This employ made 141,020 working an average of 72.87/hrs per week taking 2 weeks off a year.... You can make that waiting tables.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but making that kind of money for a mindless job is fantastic! Try calculating those benefits into this salary equation to get a more realistic portrayal... Many people would kill for a job where they could go to work with zero skills and make six figures!!

Unions are the reason so many companies outsource...your leadership doesn't suffer during these strikes...the customers do, you do...they'll be paid their salaries regardless....until they burn through your pensions! He'll, why do you think this country is screwed up? Unions and Wal-Mart! Do some research if you don't believe me....

Anonymous said...

I'd love to see what restaurant you can be a waiter / waitress and make that kind of money...Are you a BART worker? Because you sure sound high as hell!!!

Anonymous said...

I dare these unskilled BART employees to quit their jobs and see how much they're worth. I know a lady programmer from 15 years ago who earned 55k at that time and her husband, a BART operator, made as much as her! I know this because I did their taxes.

Why are they even allowed OT work when there are so many unemployed who can do their job, especially station agents and inspectors.

Like the great President FDR said and he knew about this back then, public employees should never be allowed to unionize and disrupt the lives of its fellow citizens who pay their salary with their tax dollars. In the end, we will be the losers with BART increasing fares to fatten their salaries even more. The employees don't care, they want more money and they don't care if you hate them for it. It doesn't affect them.

The board shouldn't give in. Let them quit or better yet, fire them all. Unskilled labor is easily dispensable. You can even hire high school dropouts to do their jobs with the right amount of training. Thousands of people are in line to take their jobs. Reagan fired 13,000 air traffic controllers before and destroyed their union. That was an even more sensitive issue because it endangered the lives of many people. In the end, it was all fine and life went on. I admire his balls for doing it and Obama should do the same to these BART employees. It should be an easy firing because unlike the air traffic controllers who endangered the lives of passengers and are more difficult to replace because they are highly skilled, BART riders are just inconvenienced by the strike of unskilled workers that can easily be replaced. (A BART operator is not highly skilled, he just pushes buttons to close/open the doors and direct the crowd by looking out the window. Everything else are done by computer so he doesn't even drive it. Now if he is also a mechanic then that's another story)

Anonymous said...

don't live in the bya area but from what I have read and heard the Bart employees are overpaid and lazy and they have a attitude of entitlement

ricpr1966 said...

The agency isn't making enough in fairs to justify a raise. Almost half of the budget has to be made up with tax dollars, that's a sign that as a business, this rail system is a failure. That's all you need to know before giving raises. Raises cannot just be based on employee need. They also have to be based on the ability of the employer to earn enough to pay for the raises.

leslie landberg said...

I hear a lot of arguements that are basically supporting a race to the bottom. First of all, Regan was not a hero for breaking the back of the traffic controller's union, it was reckless and cruel. If you know anything at all about what the job entails, you would know that you are taking your life in your hands when you fly. These emmployees are horribly overworked.

As for BART employees being lazy and surley and uneducated....I haven't seen evidence of a widespread problem - as I have seen with MUNI and AC Transit drivers.

In fact, the last several times I needed assistance (with issues ranging from slow running trains, lost and found, urine in elevators or an inexplicably non-functioning ticket) I got the help I needed in a professional manner. the job has many potential stresses so I take a moment to smile and be polite, not demanding. Seems to work just fine!

Rather than grumble about desire to preserve their salaries, how about working hard to expand the union system to all workers? During the period of most unionization, in the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's, America enjoyed unprecedented standards of living and a soaring GDP.

It was this prosperity that has been eroded by the systematic greed of the ruling class. They also filled our universities and news stories with their neoliberal drivel, effectively stifling dissent and fooling the less sophisticated into cooperating with their own theft and ruin. This is reflected in the majority of the comments here. It is called "the manufacture of consent". Wake up, Sheeple!

DagNabbit said...

Complaining about UNION workers who are forced to strike is so ignorant. Then, to complain that they're greedy and should work for less pay voluntarily is beyond ignorant.