Train operators and station agents are going on strike this Sunday. The good news for us is that they are probably the most easily replaceable bunch! Ha! (go ahead, send me your hate mails!)
Start recruiting and training new employees now! Show them that their inflexibility and greed will lead to no good. Good luck to them finding another job that will allow them to take longer breaks than work hours and rack up excessive overtime pay!
23 comments:
They should put the new job listings up immediately.
I'd gladly skip out on work and come in for interviews tomorrow, and then come in for training on Saturday and Sunday.
Count me in, I'll do a much better job as a train operator than some of the ones that drive my trains.
How could it take more than 48 hours to train someone how to push a button to get the train doors to close? if they train new workers over the weekend they can have an all new pack of drivers in time for the Monday morning commute.
WANTED: People who actually gives a shit about customer satisfaction and care.
WANTED: People who aren't surly assholes and who are actually willing to work when they're at work.
WANTED: People who aren't surly assholes and who are actually willing to work when they're at work."
Impossible.
Hope the management has the guts to fire these sobs!
This union is so out of touch. My office has freezed salaries, people have been layed off, the economy is still a mess. And they want to be immune from this.
Fire them all, hire new staff. There will be a line of qualified applicants...maybe I'll be one of them.
Unfortunately it will never happen. Who do these large controlling unions send their political donations to?
The Air Traffickers just got a union deal, ATU clearly thinks that the political wind is at their backs and they are probably right.
I for one, am going to ask my station agent at Concord tomorrow whether they intend to cross the picket line, and explain to them exactly how that is going to affect me and my livelihood. I probably get arrested for harassing a station agent I expect.
Riders should picket the stations on Monday in protest
I hope BART management is not going to fold at this point and give them what they want just to avoid the strike. Riders are probably already plotting alternate transportation while the entire Bay Area is already mentally bracing for a huge cluster **** on Monday. So, don't fold please, BART management. Fire them, leave them in the unemployment lines reflecting the consequences of their consecutive nay votes.
How long do you think station agent training takes? a day at most? some fire safety, disaster evacuation training (not sure I'd trust with my life in this situation), some technology training perhaps, and some basic BART station staffing 101. Since most of them don't actually help you with anything, even when asked, I think we can manage without them for a little while as new agents are being "trained".
If anybody organizes a rider picket of the ATU picket lines, please post the information here.
I don't plan on going to work on Monday (too much trouble on the first day of a strike) so I would be more than happy to join in an anti-ATU picket anywhere in the bay area.
Found this on Twitter:
60 BART station agents make between $81K and $115K per year (total of 311 station agents for all of BART)
Yeah replace station agents who are lazy with ones who actually are helpful and want to do the job at hand.
Break the union. It's the perfect time. They'd get 10 good applicants for every job opening, easily.
Fire them all. Hire replacements and break that POS union once and for all.
Do they think we forgot they JUST RAISED FARES? give me a break
If BART is prepared BART management should be able to operate the trains in case of emergency such as this one. Of course, they will need police protection because these union gang members may kill them.
This morning on my way to work I had the pleasure to be able to watch several of the fine and honorable employees of the Amalgamated Transit Union at work. Seeing these brave men & women doing the difficult tasks they are assigned every day inspired me to write to all of you to tell you about what I saw.
When arrived at my home station I was able to see what appeared to be three Station Agents and one Cleaner (no doubt one of the SEIU members who caved to Management) standing together in the main Station Agent booth and having a loud discussion about their rights as Union Members, while they watched passing patrons to make sure that BART riders were paying attention to what they were saying. They may not have been assisting any of the tens of thousands of BART riders who were passing through the station, but they were assisting the minds of BART patrons by informing them about their personal rights as Union members.
One on my train I got to see one of the many Train Operators hard at work. As I sat at the front of the driver train I could see the sweat on her brow as she struggled with the mighty task set before her. The list of things she had to do seemed endless, but she was so skilled that she made only a small handful of mistakes. Before each stop she had to say the name of the upcoming station, then after the doors opened she had to say the name of the destination station for the train, and then (perhaps the most difficult part) she had to push a button in order to get the doors to close at just the right time! The tension she felt as we traveled between stations was palpable, even though the smoked glass window of her private compartment, for she knew that soon she would have to begin the torturous cycle all over again, saying names of places from a list, and pushing that dreaded button.
When I arrived at my destination I saw two more brave Station Agents loudly discussing the strike next to the booth they were supposed to be manning, oblivious to all around them. While daily riders (who make up the majority of the people they "service" every day) streamed through the gates without requiring assistance, tourists who were clearly having a hard time using the fare gates were ignored by this pair of brave souls so that they could talk about themselves instead of stooping to help those who are too intellectually challenged to use the BART system without assistance.
Those of us who have not given our all in service of our countrymen and joined the ranks of the fine workers at the Bay Area Rapid Transit may never fully be able to understand how much these men & women of the Amalgamated Transit Union truly give. We can only hope and pray that, in the midst of their difficult and harrowing jobs, they can find the time to smile down upon us.
Truly, they are gods among men.
I had to play station agent for a day once many years ago during a BART strike when management attempted to run service. The surly, rude, entitled people I encountered that afternoon made me glad I did not have to do that for a living.
I don't support this strike and believe they are dead wrong. And the consequences of their arrogance might end up being painful for them. Frankly, I hope so. But please don't believe for a minute that training for station agents only takes a few minutes. I had to get inside poorly designed fare collection equipment that would break down for no apparent reason. I had to deal with multiple, impatient, and bloody ungrateful passengers who thought I should stop helping one person to help them. In a way, it's a good thing there won't be any service during a strike because the public doesn't appreciate it and will only complain to people who are working long hours doing work they are barely trained to do.
As for train operators, T/Os have to know how to get a train moving that won't before the tech arrives. They have to know how to troubleshoot a problem train and know how to cut out motors, doors, and brakes (friction and dynamic). They have to be able to articulate a problem to central so they can recieve assistance. They have to know how to crank a switch and how to read a milepost. They have to know how to operate a train in the yard, read signals, read switches, and how to build and break up trains. We used to say that train operators get paid for what they have to know, not what they have to do everyday.
I think ATU needs a swift kick in the ass but it's really stupid to believe these are jobs anyone can walk into and perform. What needs to happen is that BART employees should not be allowed to strike. This strike will cripple the Bay Area on the egos and bad attitudes of a few hundred disgruntled employees. Some people who depend on BART might lose their jobs so BART employees can have better work rules and higher pay.
And while we are blaming people, I'd like to thank all the jerkoffs who voted to recall Gray Davis and install the current fool who is refusing to get involved in a labor dispute that is going to have a devastating impact on Bay Area productivity and it's already sinking economy. You wanted a Hollyood star as governor and so now you have him.
The last poster is full of shit.
Station Agents are not authorized to do any mechanical work on the fare gates.
Ridersince2001, your comment was great!! Hilarious.
Thanks.
It is amazing how much the Station Agents and Train Operators are willing to LIE to try to make their case.
I am sure that Management is also bending the truth but the lies of the ATU members are ridiculous.
BART Worker is full of shit. If fare collection equipment malfunctions, Station Agents most certainly do open up equipment. They don't have access to money and nobody said they made mechanical repairs, that's for AFC techs to do.
What do you do at BART, sweep the floors?
It's going to make my life miserable - BUT - I hope mangement does not back down to prevent this strike.
JEEZE! I really want to support unions, but this time the union is out of touch with reality.
I'm all for firing the lot and beginning training of a whole new batch of drivers and station agents. It might take a couple of weeks, but I'm sure that service could be restored before that as shell-shocked fired employees scramble to take what's offered - and union-be-damned.
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