MARTA officials outlined an aggressive restructuring of the transit agency Friday that they hope will stanch its financial bleeding and remake its public image. But it could also bring a confrontation with its union and its riders.
General Manager Keith Parker acknowledged a $30 million fare increase is planned for next fiscal year, which starts July 1, but he hoped the fiscal plan, which could cut costs by $50 million, will eliminate the hike or keep it below the scheduled 25 cents.
“The goal is to avoid one at all,” he said.
The plan, based on a management audit by consulting firm KPMG, calls for outsourcing over five years many operations, such as payroll, human resources, cleaning services and para-transit for medical appointments. MARTA’s board has said it plans to use the KPMG audit as a roadmap for revamping the agency’s financial structure and to eventually expand service.
A number of the steps are likely to spark opposition by union employees, whose contract expires this summer, that could delay or derail changes. The plan calls for increases in employee payments for medical coverage and moving from a pension to a 401(k)-type retirement-savings program, for example.
It also calls for negotiating tougher work rules with the union to reduce employee absenteeism, which the audit found was rampant and costly because of increased overtime. Negotiations will also focus on changing labor policies to try to reduce workers’ compensation claims, which the audit also identified as a costly problem.
“Business as usual simply is not an option,” Parker said. “We cannot keep (operating) the way we are without falling off the fiscal cliff.”
Attempts to reach Curtis Howard, the president of the MARTA chapter of the Amalgamated Transit Union, were not successful. He has blamed absenteeism on management being unwilling to schedule workers’ time off and blamed high workers’ comp costs on the work environment. He also has indicated any cut in benefits will prompt a fight in upcoming contract negotiations.
MARTA Assistant General Manager Robin Howard, who oversees audits, said the changes would also tackle the agency’s culture to empower managers and workers to come up with creative solutions and turn them into public ambassadors for MARTA.
“We have to change the way we think,” Howard said. “We have to start thinking in terms of saving a dollar every place we can.”
Parker said he believes the Legislature also needs to change its thinking about public transit, but he said MARTA had to stabilize its fiscal house before he could request state funding. MARTA is the only transit agency its size without legislative funding.
Parker said his meetings with Gov. Nathan Deal and key legislators had left him optimistic that if MARTA showed it has a sustainable business model, lawmakers would seriously consider helping fund expansion of the system — which he said suffers from having a limited schedule and not going enough places.
Revamping the agency’s culture and making it a place of which workers were proud would go a long way to transforming MARTA, Parker said.
“When morale goes up, ideas come forward,” Parker said, and MARTA must “look at everything we can to cut waste.”
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