BART employees average nearly $100,000 a year in salary. Booth attendants make over $65,000. Factor in health care, defined benefit pension plans and fringe benefits and average compensation tops $120,000. Now BART employees are threatening to strike because officials want to freeze raises for 3 years, with a guaranteed increase in the fourth year. What?! How arrogant, when so many people can’t find work!
Let them strike and replace them all; it wouldn’t be too hard. We pay high ticket prices, property tax, ½% of our sales tax, and income tax, (through state programs) into BART’s kitty. We shouldn’t be asked to pony up more. Instead, BART needs to look at other transit agencies like Tri-Delta Transit and West Cat. They contract out to provide decent, living – but sustainable – wages and benefits to a unionized staff. Why can’t BART do the same?
Gabriel Froymovich, is the Executive Director, Lafayette Taxpayers Association, and publisher of Lafayetteca
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
It is time to put a stop to this absurdity. BART is loosing money, and tax payers are shouldering the deficit. Discontinue talks, and any contract negotiations with the unions. Offer those employees who wish to work, theirs jobs at a reasonable salary. Those who chose to go on strike should join the other 10.5 % of unemployed Californians. There will be many thousands of applications for those positions. The vast majority of the public will support this.
It was recently brought to my attention that
715 of 3200 BART workers make over $100,000.
Car cleaners make $56K plus benefits including lifetime health care after just 5 yrs and a full pension
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_12682351?source=most_viewed
Apparently there is no end to the myriad ways the taxpayers are getting hosed by public employee unions. Yet Obama, Congress, and our regional councils and State Legislators believe taxpayers ought to pay more and more.
This is totalitarian thinking as most legislators have no idea of what limits the state so it becomes a gaping maw whose only competency is to grind down, chew up and spit out, rights, wealth, life, and freedom.
Because BART has promised lifetime health benefits after working for five years, BART has an unfunded liability of $374 MILLION for retiree health alone. That is over 1 1/2 times the BART payroll. And with employees able to retire at 50, they could actually end up spending more time in retirement than they worked for BART.
No business would let their employees retire at age 50 and expect to remain in business for very long. Only government entities can do that. Let’s hope that as taxpayers and users of the BART system that the BART Board of Directors holds firm.
They better watch out… strike and let people find an alternative ride and they may not come back. Betting BART will lose business, and some of those crying employees will be trying to cash IOU unemployment checks.