UTU Press conference regarding service cuts

On Friday, Feb 12. at 11AM..

The United Transportation union will hold a press conference to address the proposed service cuts on the LIRR.

Location will be 200 west Main Street Babylon in the Parking lot.
This Press conference will be attended by Anthony Simon, General Chairman of the UTU, other union leaders and dignitaries, as well as Congressmen Tim Bishop, and Steve Israel.
The UTU feels that the public should not stand for service cuts from the bottom up that directly affect their commute.
Let the RR cut the fat in bloated management, administration, outside consultants, and leave the service alone.
A decade of mismanagement has taken the RR away from the professionals that run it.
If your schedule permits, Please Join us in support of Labor, and against the service cuts.

The letter the General Chairmen of the Long Island's UTU local to Heleena was a bold one. The letter was circulating around a few crew bases here on Metro North. He specifically underlined that he would not stand to see any furloughs of their members until unnecessary levels of management were cut first.

I would love to read that letter!!
Would anyone be willing to post it here??

The BLE sent Helena a letter:

Tool suggests that Mr. Quinn's next correspondence would be weightier if he first employed someone to correct his grammar and punctuation.

Mr. Quinns grammar and punctuation are not the issue here and you know it.
The fact of the matter it is bloated at the top.
Tool knows as well I do that when we hired on, there were only 6 road foreman and Trainmasters on the entire Railroad.. 3 each.
There are now over 100 such positions, and they are tripping over each other doing NOTHING except getting in the way of the professionals who run and work the trains.
There were no "Terminal Superintendents " and no branch line Managers. ( and staffs)
There was no Superintendent east, and west. (and staffs).
There were no duplication of Jobs, such as Chief Transportation officer and General superintendent.
There was no need for dozens of "supervisors" in NY tripping over each other serving no real purpose.
When one arrived in ny, there was a station master, an usher, and a trainmaster OR road foreman during the rush hour.
The usher usually had a pot of coffee going for the train crews
There was only one Vice President and staff.
The railroad now has more Vice Presidents (with Large Staffs) then Obama has Cabinet Members, and so called Czars.
The entire operation ran out of Jamaica.
The fact of the matter is, if the Railroad went back to the way it was, no service cuts would be needed.

Not a fan of those Port Washington cuts. It seems borderline dangerous considering the kind of ridership our branch gets.

About 100 people showed for the rally. Here's the coverage that News12 gave the event. Watch the video if you get the chance:

http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp ... _type=news

Why hold a press conference on a Friday? Does anyone read Saturday papers?

Yes, Bob, Tool agrees that management has grown perhaps 1000% in the past 30 years. It's absurd. Simply absurd.

Hey the last thing I want is to stir up trouble on this board but with all these talks about service cuts, do you guys think they are going to lay off (furlough) transportation employees, engineers and conductors more specifically? I heard they did this back in the early 80s but they put the engineers they furloughed in other depts, what are the chances they will do this again?
Also, god forbid they did lay off engineers and conductors, how long do u think they will be for?
I look forward to hearing your opinions!
thanks

Anyone catch the mile a minute murphy reference lost on many in the crowd?

I wasn't able to attend the rally but I did watch it on channel 12. The fact is, the way the MTA and the LIRR are set up, is absolutely absurd. How many times does the media make mention of how the labor work forces at the MTA suck up public money? how many times has the MTA made mention that our pensions are the reason for a deficit in their budget? Quite frankly, I didn't look at the rally in a very optimistic way, simply because neither the media, nor the riding public have any love or affection for any LIRR worker, especially Conductors or Engineers. Most think that we are over paid for doing a job that so many claim could be done by a chimp. Yet those same people are the same people who not only would never be able to pass any of the exams that have to be taken, but would never consider working during a weekend, Holiday, nights, through Blizzards and rain storms, in Extreme heat or cold! I didn't expect anyone to make much notice of the rally, and wasn't even looked at by many of the Local News Channels outside of channel 12 and 55. The service cuts are not just specific to Long Island, but to the entire NYC area, and deserved much more attention than what it got. But like I already know, the public could give a rats behind about us. Yet, right before their eyes, the MTA continues to bleed money to pay for so many unecessary expenses, to pay for so many salaries for postions that have little if any involvement with moving the public. Almost every project that the MTA undertakes not only falls behind schedule, but almost automatically falls over budget. The LIRR has a manager, managing another manager, managing another manager, and so on.... and yet still manages to screw things up when things should run smoothly. This place runs pretty much on a daily basis due to the little people, the worker Ants, the ones that the public sees daily, not the over paid big wigs behind the desks in the offices at Jamaica. Even then so, guess what causes many of the delays and problems that surface here and there? How many of us who work here have been around to witness stupidity at it's best? Who was out there this past Wed during the Snow storm? Most of the offices in Jamaica and HSF were empty of any office workers, yet I was out there in my uniform digging my car out of 1 foot of wet snow just so that I can drive on streets that haven't plowed, in order to get to work on-time, which I did, along with all my coworkers! I didn't make anything extra that night in pay, yet so many who get paid so much more than I were sitting cozy at home during the storm. I can't leave early because the storm is getting worse. Its part of my duties, and yes, I signed up for it when I took the job. But when the media and the MTA sit there and claim that the ones who do the labor are the ones who are sucking the MTA dry, I get pissed! They want to lay people off to plug the budget gap? start by throwing out the unecessary, the top heavy poprtion of this bloated agency and railroad. The MTA is in the business of moving the public, providing affordable and reliable transportation to the masses. But the MTA feels that it is necessary to reduce service to the masses, (the main purpose of why you exist in the first place), eliminate positions from the labor work force (who are directly responsible for moving the masses and who are the blood line of the service) ,before ever considering in cutting postions that have little or no value or purpose to the public. Excellent business practices!! I can go on and on with everything that I see and with everything that goes on behind the scenes, but unless any of the political figures step up to the plate and make the necessary changes, I feel that all that was said today will fall on deaf ears. BLE and UTU need to get together, and work together, further than today to make it be known that this garbage will not be tolerated any longer, and that the present LIRR and MTA set up will be destined to fail.

To give you an idea on how inane the system works , the most basic transportation decisions cannot be handled by front line managers, unless it is moved "up the chain of command" for dialouge. Usually after twenty minutes, a decision is reached, but by that time, trains are stalled, people are angry vent on the nearest employee. Call it a "Bottoms up/Top Down style of management".

There was a time when right or wrong, a Trainmaster,Road Foreman , or Chief Train Dispatcher would make a decision in the field to get the train moving, and the third floor in Jamaica would not stand in the way because of the experience of these front line managers (average seniority was 15-20 years). Now, if a decision is made in the field, the manager is questioned with techniques such as, "you made a decision, but was it the right decision?", and then proceed to surgically take apart said decision. What a morale booster that is! People in the field know their jobs, let them do it!

The LIRR had announced to the unions that it is considering layoffs in Train and Engine service.

They have indicated that they do not wish to furlough, which would require that they rehire the same people, but rather simply lay them off. Their reason is that of those considered for layoff, 30% have either AWOL or disciple problems and they do not want them back. They would rather choose whom they return to service.

There are also no positions in other crafts for those whose jobs are eliminated. Of course, one who retained his seniority in another craft can revert to that craft if he still pays dues to that union. Otherwise, it's goodbye.

This was the reason for the rally.

Much to the displeasure of management, the MTA has also ordered a 10% reduction in management ranks. One solution on the table is a 10% pay reduction for managers effective April 1. This would cause the pension-eligible to retire rather than be forced to take a reduced pension benefit. Many have already left - with some being pushed. Those of us on the inside realize that a 50% loss in management would hardly be noticed, for much of the reasons stated above.

Chairman Waldner is well aware of this. But the MTA is still a political creature that lives to employ, grow and spend tax dollars.

Wow that really sucks for all the newly qualified engineers to put in all that time only to be kicked to the street. See I thought even if they laid off engineers and trainmen that they have to be called back eventually, however long that might be, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years etc.

The Railroad has some serious problems with some new employees and it does not want to be required to hire them back. There is also much animosity with one of the unions. The company has been lied to repeatedly by a newly reelected general chairman and they want to make a point with that union.

In another craft, the AWOL statistics are so absurd that the MTA is demanding that the ranks be trimmed. A six month investigation was completed where suspected employees' homes were placed under surveillance using cameras in unmarked cars in conjunction with cell phone and EZPass records. As well more than half of the bottom of that roster has been found to be at home when they should be completing their assignments, the Railroad wants to just rid itself of many of them outright.

For the first time, focus groups show public opinion is adamant that labor ranks be trimmed. Of course the outcome is a political one and at this point nobody knows what the future will bring.