#1 - LTD ...PREPARE for a Strike

Why LTD Union Employees Should Prepare for a Strike

Wonder why LTD is crying poverty.  Yeah payroll taxes might be down but the bosses want to blame the last contract and how expensive it was for the company.  Yep that's right we are the problem.  And because of that they expect us to pay.  We can expect wage freezes or even reductions.  And they already tried to make us pay for benefits.   That will be on the table.  But are we really the problem?  Maybe they should be looking in the mirror.
1. BRT or Emxx or what ever you want to call it.  This program is a money pit.  LTD is making commitments to move forward with a system that federal funding will disappear for because of tax cuts, deficits and war.  The matching requirement is dropping from 80% on federally supported programs to a likely 50% match.
 
2.  Long term planning for BRT is already spending money on planning for the Pioneer Parkway and Coburg Road even though the feds haven't promised a red cent for these routes.  The eminent domain lawsuit for the Pioneer Parkway and Main condemnation will be small potatoes compared to the resistance Coburg Road business will mount against BRT.
 
3.  In April 2001 the LTD Board Finance Committee recommended that $7 million be transferred to from operations to capital because they worried taxpayers would get wiggy about a large reserve in operations.  The minute the money was in the capital fund a bunch of new capital projects consumed the money -new radio system more than $2 million, Springfield Station $2 million, buying property and building a new facility for the contracted out service RIDE SOURCE to the tune of $1.45 Million or more.  Oh and because of the artics the shop had to be remodeled for more than $1.5 million.  There is no capital project that Pangborn and Helleksen are not absoutly in love with.  Good-bye raining day fund for operations hello to service cuts and fare increases.
 
4.  The LTD finance department spent $350,000 in 2002 for a new accounting software program for payroll and budget and accounts payable.  But before they spent this money Helleksen wasted $60,000 on software consulting that did not work out for LTD.  Basically this money was flushed down the toilet.
 
5.  AVS bus purchases - 6 buses that are hardly ever on the road.  They smoked, their brakes burn out - oh and it is the drivers fault they burn out.  They are dangerous in their accessibility.  At  more than $450,000 a pop for the bus, what fine waste of $2.7 million.  Oh now we might end up repainting them because of branding differences.  Gee I wonder how much that will cost and how many riders really care.
 
6.  After two LTD paid for junkets to Holland by managers for a foreign made bus that had never been deployed in service anywhere in the world, and Ken Hamm hosting their nice sales people in his home for a Christmas party - all of this travel and time was a waste.  Why didn't the bosses figure out the money exchange market was pushing the dollar down and the cost of this ridicules Phileas bus up in price.  Bush's tax cut and deficits have caused the dollar to nearly collapse.  Helleksen spends most every morning poring over the Wall Street Journal, shouldn't she have figured that out. (You think that we don't notice when we walk by her window?)   So Hamm sprints to Seattle - (you know where the Huskies play and they can do no wrong up there) - and has a love at first sight meeting with the deployed New Flyer Artic.  Word is that they are changing the name to the New Fyre.  At more than $500,000 per bus they are doing so much good off the road.  But then artics are so great that Hamm bought a half dozen Mann artics for the 1970's.  He probably was being a little nostalgic.  With the training time on this equipment it is lucky if we break even.
 
7.  Ken Hamm was hired just over four years ago for $110,000 per year plus perks.  His pay is much higher these days and his benefits are greatly improved and better than ever.  How much vacation do you get after fours years of service.  Guess what Hamm gets? More than four weeks!!  Ask what Ken Hamm makes today and compare his increases to yours and you will see what they the management think of you.  Or better yet check out Mark Pangborn's pay increases or Diane Helleksen's increases since July 1, 2000 when we last negotiated the contract.  These two hench people of Hamm have had big personal increases especially Pangborn - the caring LTD manager that told Paul Headley that trained monkeys could drive the LTD buses.  Check it out - it is public information.
 
8.  What about the managers and other administrative employees?   They get better life insurance than union folks.  They get long term disability insurance.  There workers comp claims are not challenged.  They take off on Fridays or enjoy other flexible schedules that we can never dream of.  Entire administrative departments except for a single person can be gone at the same time.  Whenever they think their pay is too little they do a salary study change everything and give some of their chosen few hefty increases and screw people that they don't like.  The manager retirement benefits are nearly worth a third more than our benefits on average when we retire.  If a manager employee retires at 60 and a union employee retires at 60 each with 25 years of service the manager will get 75% of their final pay.  Union people get about 42% of their final pay.  This management retirement benefit does not even include the cash retirement slush fund that they are building up tax free besides the formula for their retirement benefits.  Someone ought to be asking some questions about these big differences!  We perform the work for the reason LTD to exist and we get screwed in the process.  Now that Team LTD!
 
9.  How come 40% of our drivers are women and they could not find a way to recruit and hire a well qualified female as a supervisor this time????  Two women retire as supervisors and are replaced by men.  But lets face it, Hamm and Johnson don't like women except in traditional roles - subordinate.
 
10.  LTD has a long term plan to contract out driver services and more and more of shop work.  Cleaners will become a thing of the past as LTD contracts out this service.  No Job is safe.  The Team is a myth and we can either accept that we will get screwed by Jackie Damm, Diane Helleksen, Mark Pangborn and King Hamm or we need to get ready for the biggest challenge that we might have ever faced. 
 
Solidarity Forever