The TWU and the MTA are both equally to blame here..They are both operating under the mission that they work for essentially a monopoly in the city that transports citizens to work. Their is no concern about operating like a private sector business since there is no competition and they can always go to the well every year and cry poverty and get fare increases that will always be approved by the Public Service Commission. Is it ever going to change?

Privatize these positions!

Sounds great?

How do you break the union without breaking labor law?

That's the question no one can answer...

And I have to remember to pick up a copy of The Chief and find out when the next Conductor's exam will be. I wasted all this time and money going to college for nothing I should have just got a MTA job.

THIS IS A CONSPIRACY (When two or more people act together to break the law). Too many people benefited from this outrageous taking (to the tune of 400-600 million dollars a year) not for it to be a conspiracy.

I feel sick thinking about the unfairness of it all ... elderly and disabled people go without resources while the others feast on capitalism gone wild. We should stop the insanity but we won't. We are a weak people who do not control our lives or country anymore. Time to throwup and cry.

Yeah, blame the TWU...

Don't blink an eye at the assholes who schedule AND approve the OT, the assholes who approve the contracts, and the assholes that can't balance their budget.

If you were making 60-80 k a year in this town would you turn down the OT based on some moral reasons? And see it go to a co-worker?

OT like this is the result of mismanagement.

Gothamist has it's mouth open for any company (or anti-union in general) jizz the MTA wishes to shoot in Gothamist contributor's collective mouths.

The TWU is not 100% innocent here either and let's not blame the MTA's inept management entirely for this boondoggle. In the end the union gets paid, the MTA stooges get paid-it's the ridership who should be outraged that this shit is taking place. They have to pay more for less and deal with it.

Never said they were.

But they're not in charge.

You and I are responsible for balancing our books- why isn't that MTA?

And why does Gothamist consistently swallow any anti-union BS that comes along?

Anyone with a clue knows that OT doesn't happen by accident, and needs to be scheduled and approved.

Who is worse, the person working the OT hours, or the incompetent schedulers who sign off on the OT because they're incapable of doing their job correctly?

This is a thread about OT.

I wonder how many of the previous commenters read the report - my guess, few if any.

While a small number of the problems are due to the substance of the labor contract, most are the result of lax management that benefits everyone - workers get lots of overtime and managers get paid for not managing. For example, instead of puttin track workers on a night shift, and paying them a small shift deferential (which the labor contract would require), workers get assigned the day shift (when they can't do their jobs cause the trains are running) and then actually do their job at night, then earning time and a half, which is far more.

I mean, OT is 17% of the full payroll expenses of the LIRR - that is absurd! How can close to a fifth of your payroll be taken up by overtime?

What they call "workers," I call "swindlers." I'd like a union job, please!

A real mayor would take care of this. This is the type of stuff that we need taken care of

Hey chucklenuts, you do realize all the overtime issues here are with the LIRR and Metro-North, right?

yes snagglepuss, I understand that. But any excess at the MTA directly impacts new yorkers. Got it, huffygrumps?

The MTA is a state agency.

Yes I understated that, Jen. But, if you think Bloomberg would have no influence trying to tackle this issue, you are mistaken. I would settle for at least an "old college try"

Yay, go team!

Is that what you were thinking of?

"A real mayor would take care of this"

The fuck you say.

I bet you think Obama is to blame too.

Well Gothamist did plaster the site with Bloomberg ads promising he was going to get tough with the MTA. A promise he has clearly not kept. I didn't believe him, but he sure as hell hasn't said much to address his lies and the MTA's issues....

On billboards throughout the subway during his campaign, he promised to help commuters.

I mean, I knew he wasn't gonna do shit, but still.

So, what you're saying is that for what these crooks are making in overtime, you could hire a second person, lower the unemployment rate, and still have money left over that could, you know, go to keeping metrocards from getting more expensive by the freaking month?

I want to smash the MTA.

Oh, the workers are crooks?

Do you think they schedule and sign off on their own overtime?

It's fucking mismanagement disguised by MTA PR that morons like the contributors here on Gothamist swallow like jizz from their dream lover.