Peskin: Remove Muni Operator Wage Limit?
Update: The Examiner has a story about this proposal today including skeptical comments from TWU Local 250A director Irwin Lum.
Supervisor Peskin is circulating a draft of a charter amendment to make some changes to Proposition E, which governs the Municipal Transportation Agency. In particular he is proposing to remove the section in the charter that specifies a wage limit for Muni operators. This section states in relevant part:
“The board of supervisors shall thereupon fix a wage schedule for each classification of platform employees and coach and bus operators of the municipal railway which shall not be in excess of the average of the two highest wage schedules so certified by the civil service commission for each such classification.”
The purpose is to allow Muni management and labor to more effectively trade off work rules for wage increases. Also included in this is measure is a proposal to dedicate more garage and parking fees to Muni.
Rescue Muni hasn’t seen this proposal yet but we will comment on it as soon as we see it. In general we like the idea to dedicate more funding to Muni, but it’s always risky to re-open Proposition E, as the previous proposal to do so was a bad idea that we worked to defeat.
Thank you for taking the time to review Peskin’s propose. We, the riding passengers, count on RescueMuni to help us decide what is best way for improving Muni service.
However, please do not shoot down Peskin’s propose unless you have a detailed plan on a better idea. Obviously the status-quo is not acceptable. Muni needs to undergo some thorough structural changes if we’re ever going to get a public transportation system that has respect for the time of their passengers.
-Ziggy
In general, I hate any proposition as they tend to limit options and do not let any room to maneuver effectively. WE should have professionals making the decisions, not “armatures” (which is all of us. what do we know about running a public transportation company?)
However, I am afraid that with no caps (again, I do not like such brute involvement in market forces to begin with) the unions will have even more power…