MARTA union leaders don’t see the recent management audit of the financially troubled transit agency as a blueprint for survival. They see is as an assault on labor.
“It is a clear attack on labor, and ultimately it is an attack on the community,” said Curtis Howard, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union chapter at MARTA. “We’ve been giving concessions (for years) to keep our jobs. We don’t have any more to give. … We’re down to the bone.”
Howard said the audit — which says the transit agency is spending $50 million above the national average for employee benefits — glosses over realities and management shortcomings and makes it appear that employee benefits and loafing workers are pushing the transit agency toward insolvency. Bad management is the root of the problem, he said.
“This issue is critically important to the future of MARTA, our customers and our employees,” MARTA spokesman Lyle V. Harris said. “But any attempt to draw conclusions about how we intend to proceed, or to predict outcomes, is extremely premature at this point. ”
KPMG auditors delivered a draft of their in-depth analysis of the transit agency — which has a $33 million operating deficit — last month to MARTA officials. The auditors zeroed in on key areas to focus on to reshape MARTA finances and made the following recommendations:
- Revamping the health care, retirement and workers' compensation plans the audit said were pushing benefits so high above the national average.
- Outsourcing agency functions such as payroll and cleaning — privatization — to save between $60 million and $120 million a year.
- Attacking high rates of employee absenteeism, which cost MARTA as much as $11 million a year (MARTA officials say further analysis puts the number at $8 million), and use of workers' comp, which costs about $5 million more than the national average.
On Tuesday, the union lashed back publicly when it released a statement saying privatization plans threaten service and rider safety.
“Many of these companies look to pay the lowest wages without regard to safety and service,” Howard said. “It is a lose-lose proposition.”
MARTA had tried to outsource para-transit for the disabled and the cleaning services for stations and vehicles, but it brought the services back in-house when the results proved disappointing, Howard said.
MARTA officials have battled with the union over absenteeism and benefits for years. Howard said the union has already forfeited $90 million in health care benefits, and he tied absenteeism to bad management. Supervisors often refuse requests from employees to schedule days off for doctor visits or other activities, which then end up getting taken as unscheduled sick days, Howard said.
Moreover, he said, assaults on bus drivers prompt absenteeism — and the union has been pushing to make buses more secure. Last November, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution documented a rise in physical assaults on drivers over the first quarter of the fiscal year — 15 assaults and seven robberies.
“If I get assaulted, I’m not coming to work tomorrow,” Howard said, adding that assaults lead to stress. “That is absenteeism.”
MARTA is currently spending $17 million to install video cameras on buses and trains — partly funded with a $9 million federal grant — that transit officials say will help police investigate crime and the agency resolve customer complaints.
Howard blamed the higher workers’ compensation payments on outdated equipment and buses, which result in more knee, wrist and rotator cuff injuries.
Traffic issues put buses behind schedule, which means no time for lunch or bathroom breaks, he said. And a lot of drivers have to work split shifts because of staffing issues, he said, which leads to obesity and more health issues.
“You don’t have the time to go to the gym and work out,” Howard said. “The quality of life for a bus operator is not good.”
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