Net-Zero Labor Initiative

Jay H Walder in his letter to the board members on July 27, 2010 states on the second page: ‘Our goal must be to use fare policy to maintain ridership, improve equity and reduce the cost of collecting fares.’ It was obvious then to any reasonable person that the station department is the target in the cross hair.

We here in why did you join the union thought that our brethren in the station department in the TWU Local 100 had countermeasures. It is clear until now that they are not ready thus Jay H Walder has a free hand. However we here in why did you join the union will press the station department brethren to move out of sight just like the lion hides under the bush to avoid the rifles of the hunters. We would recommend to them instead of being the hunted prey that they have to turn into the predator so that Jay H Walder can be defeated.

We believe that John Samuelsen with his TBOU buddies are aware of the Jay H Walder Financial Plan Challenge that is planned for MTA 2011 PRELIMINARY BUDGET JULY FINANCIAL PLAN 2011-2014 VOLUME I upcoming contracts of ‘Net-Zero Labor Initiative - This Financial Plan assumes that each new labor contract will not impose any additional financial burden on the MTA for two consecutive years and reflect annual CPI-based increases thereafter. This is intended as a clear statement that the MTA can not be financially stable as long as salary, wage and fringe benefit costs rise in ways unconnected to productivity and the regional economy’s ability to support the system. A net-zero approach to wage increases could be achieved through collectively bargained work rule changes, productivity improvements or contributions to benefit costs. These savings are captured below-the-line as savings compared with the baseline dollars captured in Volume II.’

Now if Jay H Walder has laid his plan openly and has let the whole world know ahead of time what his intentions are, it is surprising that TWU Local 100 has no countermeasures plans in place that are ready. They too should be revealed to the whole world what our intentions are except for Samuelsen with his TBOU demagoguery. The rumors are that Samuelsen is not well versed in net-zero. However we believe he is asleep at the switch in either case it does not bode well for the membership. It is incomprehensible that John Samuelsen would allow Jay H Walder to acquire those savings at the expense of our backs, sweat, and blood. We here in why did you join the union reject the work rule change theories of Walder. Neither productivity measures are acceptable nor is a contribution to benefit - as it is our paychecks are thin. Take home pay lasts for a couple of days thus shaving the current paycheck to the bone is not acceptable. In addition we here in why did you join the union say no to Walder’s desire for additional contributions. As it is our contributions to benefit are already high thus they  should go lower than the current status. John Samuelsen with his TBOU chums have no lee way in either of the Walder four theories of net-zero, work rule changes, productivity measures, and contributions to benefit.