Fighting to Preserve Liberty in America
Let the games begin. The Republicans now control the House of Representatives and have pledged to cut $100 billion from the budget in short order. About half a beat later came the howls from the transportation lobby that they can’t possibly mean highway and mass-transit projects. Why is this even a matter for debate?
Ah, the romance of rail travel. From Murder on the Orient Express to From Russia with Love to White Christmas to Some Like It Hot there is something alluring about a train. But for all those warm feelings it’s time to recognize that we are in the 21st century and to leave trains to the movies.
If the news hasn’t reached you yet, we are all on an express train heading over a cliff due to public unions and the ridiculously generous pay and benefit packages they have gotten from the taxpayer, and we never even got to sit at the bargaining table. A report in the New York Times yesterday reports that there are 8,074 employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the entity that runs the commuter railroads and subways in and around New York City, that made more than $100,000 per year. This includes a conductor who retired in April that made $239,148 which was $4,000 more than the Chief Financial Officer made.
By the way, did I mention, that the MTA had a budget deficit of $400 million? Did I mention that they went through a series of service cutbacks to try to close the gap? Perhaps, I can suggest another place to look? But there’s more.
Two train car repairmen and twelve police officers who guard the bridges and tunnels under the MTA’s control were among 50 employees that pulled in more than $200,000. Mr. Thomas J. Redmond, the aforementioned conductor had a base salary of $67,772, overtime of $67,000 and he took in almost $100,000 in unused sick days and vacation time.
A locomotive engineer earned $75,000 in base salary, with overtime of $52,000, but wait there’s more. He also received $94,600 in penalty payments. What are those, you might ask? Union rules say that because the engineer worked in a storage yard, he gets paid extra if he is assigned to move a locomotive outside of the storage yard, for example to a nearby maintenance facility. I don’t understand your pique. Don’t you have a similar arrangement with your employer? You mean you don’t get a penalty payment when you have to go to a meeting on another floor in your building? I am shocked!
But don’t feel sorry for the senior management. The new president of the Long Island Railroad, part of the MTA, now earns $350,000 plus a $3,500 monthly housing allowance. I guess $350,000 is not enough to get by on so we have to pay the guy’s mortgage too.
This is what the politicians give to the unions when they negotiate contracts with them. The unions in turn, make sure those politicians get re-elected, through the unions electioneering efforts. Does that sound like collusion to you? New York State is broke, just like California but we will have to pay for all these sweetheart contracts that make the federal budget deficit look like chump change.
