BART workers and BART management are in contract negotiations again. If things don't shape up before next Wednesday, workers have threatened to strike.
For those readers not based in the Bay Area, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is the local commuter train that carries me to and from my place of employment each day. BART workers and managment seem to renegotiate their contracts frequently. It has to happen at least once every two years. Negotiations usually produce the threat of a strike. There has been at least one strike, maybe two, in the time I've been living in San Francisco (five years).
I don't want to make anyone feel unappreciated, but I'm a little frustrated by all this. The disagreement this time is over salary increases only. I just read an article reporting that the baseline salary for pretty much any position within the BART system is higher than my salary. Not that my situation is a great comparison for anything, but I think I have a pretty good job -- it required a college education and specialized training. My salary is on the low side when compared with my peers, but it's decent. Now I find out I could be making more sitting in a booth all day, checking the lost and found for missing keys, and telling people (in an extremely disapproving, unhelpful, and unfriendly manner) that they demagnatized their ticket with their cell phone? And that the workers who are doing this job, already earning more than me, think they deserve even more money?
It currently costs me a little less than $6 to get to and from work each day on BART. That's about $120 per month, just to take public transportation to and from work.* Plus, that rate is already scheduled to go up about a dollar before the end of this Fall. I do not want to pay even more money, especially if it's going to boost the salaries of people who have never been anything but surly with me.
*An earth-friendly decision that I should be supported in.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
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