I must thus utterly disagree with Mr. Ceja's assertion that driving on a
regular basis in dangerous neighborhoods, such as the 14 mission, is part of
the job. The fact that he wants to ignore the needs of drivers shows that
he doesn't really understand some of the problems facing MUNI. I'm a daily
rider, and I realize that riders are often a BIG part of the problem. They
keep trying to squeeze in the doors of an N-Judah at rush hour when the
train operator repeatedly tells them to back off, and then people complain
about late times in the tunnel. They complain when a bus driver doesn't do
anything to stop a criminal when there are obviously more passengers (2-50
passengers versus one bus driver) who can legally carry weapons while the
Driver can't.
It's utterly unreasonable to demand a driver drive where it is unsafe. It
is not his responsibility, legally nor rationally, to make sure criminals
don't screw with a bus or the passengers. It's the cops or security, and
ultimately management's responsibility. And of course it's discrimination
to refuse to drive in an unsafe area. To say to oneself, "I have had
continual problems with drunks, prostitutes, drug addicts, and gangs on X
line; therefore there is a high likelihood that it will happen again if I
drive tonight" and to take ones own personal safety into consideration is
rational. To say that driving in unsafe conditions, putting my own life at
risk, for no extra pay, to serve people where a larger ratio than normal are
a potential threat to myself or others, is completely irrational.
Jeremy
Brain Ceja writes:
>Mr. Wetzel's job comparisons are completely off the mark. I am not
>asking Muni drivers to answer phones and serve coffee. I am asking them
>to drive buses and trains. If it is not their favorite bus or train that
>is too bad.
Several points:
(a) You are not just asking them to "drive buses and trains". You are
are also taking the position that
(i) workers should "just do what you're told" at the arbitrary whim
of managers. I see no reason to accept this for Muni workers
any more than me or any one else.
(ii) You're asking Muni drivers to either be cops (i.e. handle
situations of misbehaving people on buses) or ignore threats
to their personal safety.
But the thing is, if there are "trouble spots" on Muni's lines,
this threatens not only the safety of the drivers but also the
passengers. This is a law enforcement/public safety issue, not
an issue of moving buses and trains. Drivers are not trained or
paid to be cops. Nor are they under any obligation to ignore
threats to their personal safety.
As far as I am aware, the city has NO PROGRAM for dealing with
this. When there are newsworth incidents or lots of complaints,
maybe the mayor has the cops ride a few buses for
a few weeks til the complaints
die down and people forget about the incidents. That is NOT a
program for dealing with public safety on buses and trains.
I personally think there needs to be some sort of dedicated
security force of some sort that can be deployed as needed and
respond quickly to problems. In any event, there needs to be a
bus security program, which there doesn't seem to be at present.
Blaming the drivers for reacting to such situations in a rational
manner (i.e. avoiding assignment to the current "problem lines")
only plays into the hands of the politicians' avoidance
of finding a real solution...i agree with Tom Schlegel on that point.
(b) The idea that workers should somehow surrender all their rights and
freedoms when they (drumroll, fireworks) WORK IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE
is, frankly, nonsense. Food is as vital to people as parking
enforcment but we don't say that workers in restaurants and super
markets have no (or lesser) rights for this reason.
Politicians, unlike employers in the private sector, write
the laws, and so they have been able
historically to carve out a privileged position for their bosses...
but there is no justification for it.
(c) You didn't answer my argument, that is, that reliable service is in
fact consistent with the seniority system, as the L.A. MTA and other
systems show. If reliable service is consistent with the seniority
system , you *simply have no case*.
In saying this, this does not mean I'm completely uncritical of the
unions or Muni workforce performance (taking "workforce" broadly to include
managers). I've already mentioned several points where I think there is
reason to negotiate changes with the unions (a) strongly discouraging
missouts, (b) discussing the possibility of combined job descriptions
to eliminate split-shifts, (c) getting the cable division to actually
work the 50% of scheduled service supposedly agreed to in a previous
memorandum of understanding, (d) introducing an "MMT turnback lines"
combined line assignment to facilitate load-balancing outbound in the Metro.
What I do object to, tho, is the rhetoric of attack and unsubstantiated
or dishonest accusations. Like Peter Byrne's somehow transforming
an admittedly abysmal 8.33% unexcused absence rate of drivers into
a "one third of the workforce daily absenteeism" -- in effect, he's
lying because he knows that's false. It's false that someone
on their scheduled day off or vacation or recovering from an injury
is a case of "absenteeism." That's propaganda.
Tom Wetzel
+===============================================+
! Tom Wetzel !
! Senior Technical Writer !
! BEA Systems, Inc. !
! 2315 North First Street !
! San Jose, CA 95131 !
+===============================================+
--------------- MESSAGE rescuemuni.v001.n376.6 ---------------
From: "Carlson, Eric" <eric_carlson@McKennaCuneo.com>
Subject: METRO RIDERS!!!!!
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 14:51:14 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Please note Muni is conducting a survey re Metro . forms at agent booths or
on trains.
--------------- MESSAGE rescuemuni.v001.n376.7 ---------------
From: Richard Mlynarik <Mly@POBox.COM>
Subject: Muni's (Booz-Allen Hamilton)'s beyond-lame Metro Survey
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 21:09:14 -0800
OK, I know what today's big news is, but besides that...
I assume many of you have seen the window-dressing-only Muni Metro
Survey on the trains today.
It's also online at
http://cc1003757-a.etntwn1.nj.home.com:8080/muni/Delivery_Team_Home/delivery
_team_home.html
(found via http://www.examiner.com/muni/)
My favourite part:
"The San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) recognizes the
challenges of increasing ridership amid aging infrastructure. MUNI
has implemented several recent changes to position the system to
meet the needs of its riders in one of the most demanding transit
environments in the world. The new light rail vehicles carry 30
percent more passengers than the older streetcars, and the new
train control system nearly doubles the capacity of the Market
Street subway. These advances enormously increase MUNI Metro´s
service potential, while introducing changes to MUNI´s operations
and maintenance. The MUNI Metro Delivery Team has access the
knowledge, tools and expertise to resolve these technical issues."
Just about _every_ single phrase is, to put it charitably, wildly
inaccurate. Who do they think they are fooling?
Come on folks. ONE guess as to what the answer to
"What is your fgreatest frustration with Muni Metro?" is.
Doesn't take a window-dressing "customer" survey conducted by,
collated by, and reported by the Booz charlatans to work that out...
"Overall, how satisfied are you with Muni Metro",
-- Richard.
--------------- MESSAGE rescuemuni.v001.n376.8 ---------------
From: "David Vartanoff" <iskandr@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Lines, drivers, run,...
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 06:39:45 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
1 some of us ride many diffenent lines--I for instance was on a 14 this
evening briefly and have been several times last couple of weeks, also the
26, as well as the Metro and F. 2 some may fear the 54 but it takes me to
the home of friends I visit regularly and occasionally cat sit for. I am
truly angry when I wait 45 min or longer for a 54. 3 I nelieve AC Transit
several years back experimented with a different mix of schedule design in
order to spread the unpopular runs around nore--does anyone have more info?
4/ While I too like some structure to my work, if the Metro drivers were
simply offered x hour shifts in metro service without specific route, it
seems to me we could expect better sequencing of outbound cars in PM Rush
.v001.n375 ---------------
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