[Rescue Muni] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Re:_Rescue_Muni_Can=B9t_Support_Mayor=B9s_Recommendations?=

Tom Wetzel (tlwetzel@ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 21 Feb 1999 13:51:27 -0800

>Rescue Muni co-founder Ken Niemi also noted the failure to address
>Munišs notorious lack of management flexibility. "Therešs nothing
>at all in there to reduce absenteeism or let dispatchers send
>trains out of Embarcadero in order," he said. "Sounds like the
>status quo to me."
>
And presumably the solution offered by RescueMuni leaders is
SEC. 8A.104, subsection (h), which bans any collective bargaining
agreement having certain clauses.

No doubt the clauses in question refer to legitimate goals -- such as
outbound line assignments from MMT to balance the load, or minimizing
missed or late runs due to missouts.

But is writing these clauses into the city charter the right approach? I
think not.
The basic problem is that this is an attack on the principle of free
collective
bargaining. Using the police power of the state to dictatorially impose a
solution on the Muni workforce, rather than working out a solution through
negotiation.

The hypocrisy of political conservatives is an interesting phenomenon:
They'll
talk about the "freedom" of the "market", and the dangers of any form of
government regulation, but they have no qualms about imposing
state power to restrict freedom of action by workers.

Tom Wetzel