Comments on: A letter from the wife of a Muni operator

By: eugenia

eugenia — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:37:53 +0000

We appreciate the passionate comments from everyone regarding Jenella’s letter. The goal of Muni Diaries is to provide a forum for open discussion and we aim to keep this forum (including the comments section) on-topic. We feel that some of the comments have become more personal, so we are closing the comments section for this post at this time. Questions? Please email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com. – Eugenia, Editor, Muni Diaries

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By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:39:23 +0000

My comment was in response to the original post, which was talking about SF rent.

I wish you the best in the burbs. Sounds lovely.

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By: George

George — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:28:46 +0000

you have something against the ‘Burbs, my friend? Being able to sneeze without your neighbor hearing it? Being able to park within walking distance of your house? Being away from SanFran politics? Wow, I never have to worry about that lunatic daly, though we do have our own breed of lunatic out here. The City is a wonderful place, full of cultural opportunities, once you step over the bodies strewn all over the sidewalk, and avoid the ever present Walgreen’s panhandler ( it IS a law in the City, right? All Walgreen’s and BART station entrances MUST have a panhandler present.) The City is all yours, sir

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By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:20:36 +0000

“In the burbs” says it all.

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By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:45:10 +0000

Fifteen thousand city workers just got forced take a reduction of over 6% in hours worked. That’s 15,000 workers, and that’s a cut of a wee bit more than three days a year… although less than the once monthly furloughs that many state workers have endured. So, yes, it’s entirely reasonable to expect that the drivers should offer up *something* other than the tired line of “eliminate Nat Ford’s position” (really, $300,000 out of a few hundred million dollars? that’s the fix?)

And, yes, night premium is not unique to drivers. But take a look at the 9132s. They have a flextime agreement, not every night shift will be paid a premium. The pop cops are a part of the system, and that’s yet another example where the rest of the system is working towards a common goal, but the drivers simply are not.

Or how about not allowing part timers to fill in for absent full-time workers? For a group that’s publicly bemoaning the pains of working overtime, they’re sure rallying around rules that damn near guarantee it.

Or how about that pro-rider support? When the TWU (or whatver union represents the drivers in the East Bay) calls for your head, are you going to support them? Because the TWU folks sure are calling for an elimination of all supervisors and management.

The drivers make themselves the enemy. When they co-opt a demonstration designed to rally the riders and start spewing anti-rider rhetoric, they’re making themselves the enemy. When the head of the TWU negotiates in bad faith (publicly supporting the agreement, not taking it to the union, and then badmouthing the people he was supposedly negotiating with), that’s making the TWU the enemy.

What we’ve got here with the MTA budget is a classic tragedy of the commons. Act like it.

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By: George Mathews

George Mathews — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:00:55 +0000

The union is the obstacle to an improved system. Antagonism toward the community? Are you kidding? Muni drivers have a large target on their backs. Everyone gets pissed at the service and somehow it’s the fault of the drivers and their union. The Chron trots out the Ugly Muni Driver story periodically and here comes more abuse. The politicians trot out the “lax work rules” scenario and the drivers get blamed for poor service due to equipment failures and traffic conditions and the moon being full. The drivers have willingly taken furloughs to help out, but then the stories about “massive, uncontrolled overtime” get written and suddenly the cycle begins again. I can’t tell you how many times I drove for 8 to 10 hours straight without having more than 6 minutes to even take a leak. let alone eat something. Then I’d get barked at by someone who had to wait a few minutes longer for the bus. Awww. Poor you. Then some clown would get on who wouldn’t pay or wanted to argue about how MUCH to pay, or want a “courtesy ride”. Or I’d be trying to give someone directions and some clown wouldn’t let me answer because his question was more important. Point is, drivers are not the enemy. drivers want to get throught the day and get out and provide good service. We knew it’s never be great, because great isn’t in the SF vocabulary. Bad equipment, poor scheduling, inadequate running time and inadequate breaks,awful traffic conditions. Kidney problems from not being able to take care of business. Stress from the everyday environment. So, hell yes we wanted good compensation. And we were not going to apologize for that. You want to pay $15.00 an hour for the job? You’ll get what you pay for, let me tell you. I will admit, though, that the new breed of driver is lacking a certain professionalism that those of us who were there a long time ago exhibited. But that is a generational problem, which exhibits itself everywhere these days. Like I said above, the driver is not the enemy. San Franciscans should perhaps take the ultimate plunge and privatize the system. Then they’ll see what kind of service is out there and be nostalgic for the good old days.

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By: George Mathews

George Mathews — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:44:18 +0000

Income has not decreased dramatically? You mean the drivers haven’t agreed to cut their wages and benefits? You know, those are the results of hard won labor negotiations, the very reason unions exist, or once did. San Francisco used to be a labor town. But when the suits found out that, gasp, blue collar workers actually made more money than the white collar college grads the tide turned. All of a sudden it became a case where workwers should give back, because…of jealousy. Muni drivers have supported reform many times over the years. We even endorsed Prop E. We agreed to furloughs, which DID reduce our incomes dramatically. We asked many times for reform of the system in order to better serve the public. (BTW, I am no longer one of them, having decided few years ago to remove myself from the political nonsense that is San Francisco. But my sympathies still lie with my former co-workers.) Driving for Muni is one tough job, for which compensation should be excellent. But the media and politicians constantly made drivers the enemy, rather than the politicians who couldn’t resist putting their stamp on the system. Oh, another thing…premium pay for night work is for the newer worker, mostly, who gives up some semblance of a normal family life to work nights and weekends. This was something negotiated by unions in all kinds of jobs, my friend. It is not exclusive to Muni drivers. So, if you are against this kind of compensation, you should think about giving up some of your own perks ’cause, even though you may not be in a union, you wouldn’t have them at all if unions didn’t exist. The enemy isn’t the driver, my friend. Or the union. Muni and the politicians promise way more than is possible for the system to deliver and now it’s cathcing up to everyone and biting everyone in the butt.

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By: Marc Map

Marc Map — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:09:09 +0000

George, your response puts the problem in a nutshell. It’s all there: the antagonism towards the community Muni is supposed to be serving, the sense of victimhood, the inability to see the big picture. Newsome and the Muni management are the main ones to blame, yes, and in public meetings I’ve seen them get most of the heat–but the union is now perceived as part of the problem, just another obstacle to be overcome on the way to a reliable transit system–one that mainly serves immigrants and minorities, by the way.

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By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:09:53 +0000

Sorry George, but that’s simply not true. By virtue of being part of the system (as a rider, driver, supervisor, pop cop, whatever), you’re part of the problem and ought to be part of the solution.

Point by point:

- The driver’s union was calling for the following items at the march: charging for each transfer, eliminating any sort of planning position (so you’ll take the blame for the mess of routes we have now? For the poor placement of turnbacks and overhead wire?), and eliminating telecom spending (you guys don’t want radios?). These are items that directly effect the service provided. The first is a distinctly anti-rider proposition, the rest are an attack on the quality of service.

- The MTA is loathe to provide more efficient express service because it costs them too much. Lack of express service and tiered passes for such service hurt the riders. Why is the TWU not working with the MTA to determine how they can ensure that more express service is provided (ensuring better service to riders and more dues paying TWU members)?

- Riders (despite being overwhelmed by the TWU) did go protest in front of 1 S Van Ness. If you’ve watched or attended any of the town hall meetings or MTA board meetings, you’d see a lot of anger directed at Mr. Ford & Mr. Newsom.

- Drivers agreed to three furlough days a year, yes. But income has not increased dramatically this year.

And, for the hell of it, here’s another one that’s stuck in my craw. Premium pay for night work. Sure, the pop cops get the overtime for work after 6pm too. But the pop cops also have a flextime setup so that a pop cop working after 6 may very well be getting straight pay. Perhaps one of the reasons that the TWU sees the brunt of the negative publicity is not merely because their members are visible, but because the TWU is less willing to work with the rest of us.

Without the riders you’d have no need for public transit, and thus no need for public transit jobs. Without the mechanics you’d have no vehicles to drive. Without the drivers there’d be no vehicles in service. We *are* all in this together, and shame on you for trying to create a false dichotomy of us versus them.

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By: George Mathews

George Mathews — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:28:07 +0000

A decent 2 BR apt. in the Sunset for $1700/mo.? Are you insane? One can rent a whole house in the burbs for that and have room to breath

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