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BART Employee Salary
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Kenneth M. Lin
May 12, 2013, 10:22:15 PM5/12/13
to
It's so hard to imagine that the person that's just sitting there reading
paperback is making more than 99% of the people that take BART to work. And
they have life-time pension waiting for them when they get too old to sit
around hardly doing anything.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/daniel-borenstein/ci_23217899/daniel-borenstein-prepare-long-hot-summer-bart-negotiations?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
Daniel Borenstein: Prepare for a long, hot summer of BART negotiations
By Daniel Borenstein, staff columnist � 2013 Bay Area News
Groupcontracostatimes.com
Posted: 05/10/2013 02:58:12 PM PDT
May 11, 2013 6:15 AM GMTUpdated: 05/10/2013 11:15:57 PM PDT
In 2012, Tiffany Li was BART's top-paid station agent. Those are the folks
who sit in a booth watching the fare gates and answering patrons' questions.
Base pay: $63,857. Overtime: $52,501. Other pay: $15,148. Benefits: $36,277.
Total: $167,784.
James De Lisle was the best-compensated train operator. Base pay: $63,162.
Overtime: $77,858. Other pay: $14,288. Benefits: $38,099. Total: $193,407.
Carl Oliver topped the list for foreworkers, the employees responsible for
controlling traffic in the train storage and maintenance yards. Base pay:
$83,252. Overtime: $121,452. Other pay: $23,330. Benefits: $43,423. Total:
$271,458.
Here we go again.
BART officials and employees have entered negotiations. District directors
will lament the train system's financial plight. Workers will complain that
they have gone without raises.
History shows that bargaining will come down to the wire. Workers will
threaten to strike, forcing riders into cars and turning Bay Area freeways
into parking lots. Local legislators might inappropriately try to inject
themselves into the process.
A last-minute deal will be put up for a union vote without public vetting.
Both sides will emphasize their concessions, but sunshine will eventually
show that little or nothing was done to rein in overtime costs and overly
generous benefits.
Or, maybe this year will be different.
As the bargaining begins, let's set the stage.
Fiscal health:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BART faces huge capital needs to upgrade the aging system. Officials are
counting on regional, state and federal tax money, but also know BART will
have to kick in. They also face large unfunded liabilities for employee
pension and retiree health programs.
Accounting for anticipated future fare increases and assuming no changes to
current salaries, the district faces a shortfall over the next decade of $3
billion in today's dollars. Look for BART to turn to voters for a tax
increase to offset some of that.
Overtime: Overtime added an average 19 percent to base pay of station agents
in 2012; 33 percent for train operators; and 52 percent for foreworkers. One
should not blame employees like Li, De Lisle and Oliver. Overtime is a
symptom of a two-prong problem.
First, BART lacks enough workers to cover absences. The problem was
particularly acute with train operators and foreworkers. Last year, BART
hired more train operators; they are just now completing training. That
should reduce some overtime. Finding more foreworkers presents a bigger
challenge because many applicants do not pass the training program.
Second, overtime rules lead to abuses. Employees can call in sick during
their workweek and then volunteer for shifts on their days off. For those
shifts they receive overtime pay (time-and-a-half for the first day;
double-time for the second) even though they did not work a full 37.5-hour
week.
Pensions: BART workers do not contribute toward their pensions. Most
employees (aside from police) who retire at age 63 or older receive starting
retirement payments equal to 2.418 percent of top base pay for every year on
the job. For someone with 30 years' experience, that works out to 73 percent
of base pay. The amount increases for inflation up to 2 percent a year.
Health care: Most employees choose coverage under Kaiser or a similarly
priced health plan. For that they pay $92 per month, no matter how many
dependents they have.
Retiree health care: Workers who are at least 50 when they retire and have
at least five years of service (at BART or another agency in the California
Public Employees' Retirement System) are eligible for the same health care
coverage at the same cost.
Wage comparison: Unlike negotiations four years ago, BART has not prepared
adjusted data comparing wages with transit workers across the state and
country.
The adjustments would account for BART employees' 37.5-hour workweek and the
district's full subsidization of pensions.
The real issue is what BART can afford. But union negotiators will make the
wage comparison, so BART officials should be prepared.
They need the data; riders and taxpayers deserve to see it.
This ride has just begun. Look for negotiations to ratchet up late summer,
just as families return from vacations, kids start school and freeway
traffic reaches a peak.
Daniel Borenstein is a staff columnist and editorial writer. Reach him at
925-943-8248 or dbore...@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at
twitter.com/borensteindan.
Copyright 2012 Contra Costa Times. All rights reserved.
paperback is making more than 99% of the people that take BART to work. And
they have life-time pension waiting for them when they get too old to sit
around hardly doing anything.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/daniel-borenstein/ci_23217899/daniel-borenstein-prepare-long-hot-summer-bart-negotiations?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
Daniel Borenstein: Prepare for a long, hot summer of BART negotiations
By Daniel Borenstein, staff columnist � 2013 Bay Area News
Groupcontracostatimes.com
Posted: 05/10/2013 02:58:12 PM PDT
May 11, 2013 6:15 AM GMTUpdated: 05/10/2013 11:15:57 PM PDT
In 2012, Tiffany Li was BART's top-paid station agent. Those are the folks
who sit in a booth watching the fare gates and answering patrons' questions.
Base pay: $63,857. Overtime: $52,501. Other pay: $15,148. Benefits: $36,277.
Total: $167,784.
James De Lisle was the best-compensated train operator. Base pay: $63,162.
Overtime: $77,858. Other pay: $14,288. Benefits: $38,099. Total: $193,407.
Carl Oliver topped the list for foreworkers, the employees responsible for
controlling traffic in the train storage and maintenance yards. Base pay:
$83,252. Overtime: $121,452. Other pay: $23,330. Benefits: $43,423. Total:
$271,458.
Here we go again.
BART officials and employees have entered negotiations. District directors
will lament the train system's financial plight. Workers will complain that
they have gone without raises.
History shows that bargaining will come down to the wire. Workers will
threaten to strike, forcing riders into cars and turning Bay Area freeways
into parking lots. Local legislators might inappropriately try to inject
themselves into the process.
A last-minute deal will be put up for a union vote without public vetting.
Both sides will emphasize their concessions, but sunshine will eventually
show that little or nothing was done to rein in overtime costs and overly
generous benefits.
Or, maybe this year will be different.
As the bargaining begins, let's set the stage.
Fiscal health:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BART faces huge capital needs to upgrade the aging system. Officials are
counting on regional, state and federal tax money, but also know BART will
have to kick in. They also face large unfunded liabilities for employee
pension and retiree health programs.
Accounting for anticipated future fare increases and assuming no changes to
current salaries, the district faces a shortfall over the next decade of $3
billion in today's dollars. Look for BART to turn to voters for a tax
increase to offset some of that.
Overtime: Overtime added an average 19 percent to base pay of station agents
in 2012; 33 percent for train operators; and 52 percent for foreworkers. One
should not blame employees like Li, De Lisle and Oliver. Overtime is a
symptom of a two-prong problem.
First, BART lacks enough workers to cover absences. The problem was
particularly acute with train operators and foreworkers. Last year, BART
hired more train operators; they are just now completing training. That
should reduce some overtime. Finding more foreworkers presents a bigger
challenge because many applicants do not pass the training program.
Second, overtime rules lead to abuses. Employees can call in sick during
their workweek and then volunteer for shifts on their days off. For those
shifts they receive overtime pay (time-and-a-half for the first day;
double-time for the second) even though they did not work a full 37.5-hour
week.
Pensions: BART workers do not contribute toward their pensions. Most
employees (aside from police) who retire at age 63 or older receive starting
retirement payments equal to 2.418 percent of top base pay for every year on
the job. For someone with 30 years' experience, that works out to 73 percent
of base pay. The amount increases for inflation up to 2 percent a year.
Health care: Most employees choose coverage under Kaiser or a similarly
priced health plan. For that they pay $92 per month, no matter how many
dependents they have.
Retiree health care: Workers who are at least 50 when they retire and have
at least five years of service (at BART or another agency in the California
Public Employees' Retirement System) are eligible for the same health care
coverage at the same cost.
Wage comparison: Unlike negotiations four years ago, BART has not prepared
adjusted data comparing wages with transit workers across the state and
country.
The adjustments would account for BART employees' 37.5-hour workweek and the
district's full subsidization of pensions.
The real issue is what BART can afford. But union negotiators will make the
wage comparison, so BART officials should be prepared.
They need the data; riders and taxpayers deserve to see it.
This ride has just begun. Look for negotiations to ratchet up late summer,
just as families return from vacations, kids start school and freeway
traffic reaches a peak.
Daniel Borenstein is a staff columnist and editorial writer. Reach him at
925-943-8248 or dbore...@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at
twitter.com/borensteindan.
Copyright 2012 Contra Costa Times. All rights reserved.
Peter Lawrence
May 14, 2013, 12:31:19 AM5/14/13
to
- Peter
sms
May 14, 2013, 2:11:26 PM5/14/13
to
On 5/13/2013 9:31 PM, Peter Lawrence wrote:
> Solution: Hire more people and eliminate the need for overtime.
The problem with that idea is that you increase your pension and benefit
> Solution: Hire more people and eliminate the need for overtime.
costs, while overtime doesn't increase those costs. It's the same issue
with a lot of organizations like police and nurses. It end up being less
costly to pay overtime.
Peter Lawrence
May 14, 2013, 10:48:18 PM5/14/13
to
Just the opposite. Most public employees unions contracts in California use
the total monetary compensation that an employee earns in a year (including
overtime pay) as the basis for their pension payout.
More overtime = bigger pensions.
One well known example, the CHP is notorious for having officers who are
about to retire to work tons of overtime to pump up then retirement pensions.
- Peter
David Kaye
May 15, 2013, 12:54:04 AM5/15/13
to
"Kenneth M. Lin" <kennet...@sbcglobal.net> wrote
> It's so hard to imagine that the person that's just sitting there reading
> paperback is making more than 99% of the people that take BART to work.
> And they have life-time pension waiting for them when they get too old to
> sit around hardly doing anything.
That's because they're unionized. When I was a kid there were lots of
unions and even the people who worked in retail sales and in restaurant
kitchens made LIVING wages. I know because when my dad was in the hospital
and couldn't work, my mom went to work as a sales clerk and supported our
family. But in those days nearly every retail store of size was unionized,
even those with one store such as Swan's in downtown Oakland.
Today, big business keeps telling us that those workers shouldn't expect
much because they're "entry level" jobs. Hell with that! They tell us that
because they want to cheat the workers and keep the money for themselves.
So, it's not that BART employees are making lots of money; it's that private
sector workers haven't kept up their union organizing and demanded living
wages for themselves.
> It's so hard to imagine that the person that's just sitting there reading
> paperback is making more than 99% of the people that take BART to work.
> And they have life-time pension waiting for them when they get too old to
> sit around hardly doing anything.
unions and even the people who worked in retail sales and in restaurant
kitchens made LIVING wages. I know because when my dad was in the hospital
and couldn't work, my mom went to work as a sales clerk and supported our
family. But in those days nearly every retail store of size was unionized,
even those with one store such as Swan's in downtown Oakland.
Today, big business keeps telling us that those workers shouldn't expect
much because they're "entry level" jobs. Hell with that! They tell us that
because they want to cheat the workers and keep the money for themselves.
So, it's not that BART employees are making lots of money; it's that private
sector workers haven't kept up their union organizing and demanded living
wages for themselves.
Patrick Scheible
May 15, 2013, 1:50:41 PM5/15/13
to
Washington Police lieutenant and his retirement pay was based on the
most recent three years. The construction of Seahawks Stadium meant all
the Seahawks home games were played at the University of Washington
Stadium, so lots of overtime. And the WTO meeting in Seattle was held
during the same 3-year period. He figured he'd never see that much
overtime in three-year period again, so took his retirement earlier than
he could have.
-- Patrick
Kenneth M. Lin
May 16, 2013, 9:19:12 PM5/16/13
to
"David Kaye" wrote in message news:kmv468$e97$1...@dont-email.me...
It's the same argument Obama uses by making employers pay for healthcare
when in reality it should be the government that ought to be providing such
services considering how much we are taxed. And unemployed wouldn't have
healthcare no matter how hard you force employers.
Brad Allen
Aug 28, 2013, 11:01:28 PM8/28/13
to
In article <kmsefj$tnp$1...@dont-email.me>,
" Solution: Hire more people and eliminate the need for overtime.
Solution B: Hire more robots (a.k.a. automation) and eliminate the
need for person compensation. The saved money would go back in the
pockets of the taxpayers and customers of the trains, and benefit the
economy more efficiently. The exact mechanism for the money going
back to the people would be lower long-term inflation costs causing
less inflated taxation and fare increases, unfortunately; yes we would
all rather see immediate benefits. One immediate benefit should be
more frequent service, however!
I think it's insane that in 2013 people still drive trains. That's
just really stupid!
Peter Lawrence <humm...@aol.com> wrote:
" On 5/12/13 7:22 PM, Kenneth M. Lin wrote:
" > It's so hard to imagine that the person that's just sitting there
" > reading paperback is making more than 99% of the people that take
" > BART to work. And they have life-time pension waiting for them
" > when they get too old to sit around hardly doing anything.
" >
[...]
" On 5/12/13 7:22 PM, Kenneth M. Lin wrote:
" > It's so hard to imagine that the person that's just sitting there
" > reading paperback is making more than 99% of the people that take
" > BART to work. And they have life-time pension waiting for them
" > when they get too old to sit around hardly doing anything.
" >
" Solution: Hire more people and eliminate the need for overtime.
need for person compensation. The saved money would go back in the
pockets of the taxpayers and customers of the trains, and benefit the
economy more efficiently. The exact mechanism for the money going
back to the people would be lower long-term inflation costs causing
less inflated taxation and fare increases, unfortunately; yes we would
all rather see immediate benefits. One immediate benefit should be
more frequent service, however!
I think it's insane that in 2013 people still drive trains. That's
just really stupid!
David Kaye
Aug 29, 2013, 1:22:10 AM8/29/13
to
"Brad Allen" <q...@sonic.net> wrote
> Solution B: Hire more robots (a.k.a. automation) and eliminate the
> need for person compensation. The saved money would go back in the
> pockets of the taxpayers and customers of the trains, and benefit the
> economy more efficiently.
And with fewer people working they'd have more time for leisure, except that
they wouldn't be making any money, and thus the economy would become even
worse.
Do you realize how many people are out of work because their jobs have been
obsoleted by automation? Used to be that radio stations had 6 or 7 DJs, 3
or 4 sales people, a chief engineer, a news person, and a manager. Today?
Most radio stations have 1 or 2 DJs who work parttime cutting voice tracks,
3 or 4 sales people spread over a cluster of 5 statoins, a chief engineer
who is also spread over 5 stations, and a manager of the cluster. Radio
broadcasting has lost about 70% of its jobs because of automation.
I always felt that if worse came to worse I could always fall back on doing
temp work as a clerk typist because I type 75wpm, and have excellent English
and composition skills. Good luck with that. There's no such thing as
office support staff anymore. Automation has eliminated staffing.
Golden Gate Bridge: Notice that there are no longer any toll takers because
automation has done away with all their jobs.
So, what do these people do for a living? Work smarter? Uh, when our tech
jobs are being outsourced to India and China?
> Solution B: Hire more robots (a.k.a. automation) and eliminate the
> need for person compensation. The saved money would go back in the
> pockets of the taxpayers and customers of the trains, and benefit the
> economy more efficiently.
they wouldn't be making any money, and thus the economy would become even
worse.
Do you realize how many people are out of work because their jobs have been
obsoleted by automation? Used to be that radio stations had 6 or 7 DJs, 3
or 4 sales people, a chief engineer, a news person, and a manager. Today?
Most radio stations have 1 or 2 DJs who work parttime cutting voice tracks,
3 or 4 sales people spread over a cluster of 5 statoins, a chief engineer
who is also spread over 5 stations, and a manager of the cluster. Radio
broadcasting has lost about 70% of its jobs because of automation.
I always felt that if worse came to worse I could always fall back on doing
temp work as a clerk typist because I type 75wpm, and have excellent English
and composition skills. Good luck with that. There's no such thing as
office support staff anymore. Automation has eliminated staffing.
Golden Gate Bridge: Notice that there are no longer any toll takers because
automation has done away with all their jobs.
So, what do these people do for a living? Work smarter? Uh, when our tech
jobs are being outsourced to India and China?
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