> What effect will this BART B/S have on the bottom line for SMART? Will they have to match pay rates and benefits?


Depends upon who's "B/S" you've been listening too!

If it's the pathetic demagoguery saturating the media lately, then the answer is no. Instead, SMART's wages will have to chase every high tech employer in town, and especially Muni's wages and benefits, just the same as BART and every other transit agency in the area has had to do all these years.

That's right! BART is not the best paying transit job in the area - never has been, and never will be. In fact, BART's union rallying cry in many a year, has been "Parity, Parity, Parity", always pointing to the Muni's higher pay and demanding parity for BART workers. But always, they never quite got there (compromised down somewhat in negotiations) Then soon after, the muni would raise their's again - a bit like the "Arms Race" I think.

The demagogues that run the media forgot to mention that "Inconvenient Truth". They also forgot to mention that modern sooper-dooper transit systems need a lot of highly skilled technical people, and that BART's long time insistence on a socialistic, "one pay rate fits all" compensation method, causes some (lower skilled) to be paid above market rate, while the larger, highly skilled crafts, get paid less than market rate.

Of course, the media tells only - the half of this truth that suits them; leading to a perception that all BART workers are overpaid. They are not. Indeed, BART has had chronic problems in hiring and retention of highly skilled technicians, because as soon as times get good enough, the competent ones will leave for better pay and benefits elsewhere.

In fact, between 1979 and 1982, BART lost 30% of its technical workforce to competing employers. In more recent years, the only way BART could "fill" chronically unfilled technical positions was to simply cut them out of the BART budget when times got tough, which they always do for BART around contract time. Yep, chronically crying wolf, lead the unions to not easily believe, when times really did get tough.

The media also fails to mention the fact, that widespread chronic labor shortages in America in the high tech fields naturally leads to a seller's market; even in economic downturns, and that runs prices (salaries) up. Indeed, my son tells me that at his high tech company, hundreds of jobs remain unfilled - right now. Of course, this is not in California, where all professions suffer. The media has not once mentioned the plain self evident fact, that BART simply must meet the market rate in order to compete - even if the commodity is skilled labor!

And since BART forgot the "Keep It Simple - Stupid" (KISS) principle, it needs high tech workers in spades. Let's hope that SMART is smarter, and just runs a simple off the shelf diesel train, and gets no fancier than basic cab signaling with ATC (for safety sake).

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As to the pathetic demagoguery saturating the media lately, don't buy into it - for your own sake. Don't succumb to this pathetic class envy the media is trying to whip up. They'll whip us all into a frenzy if we let 'em. Don't buy the green eyed notion that the next guy's pay ought to be restricted or lowered, just because it's higher than yours. Perhaps yours ought to be raised instead - at least don't let 'em talk you out of hoping and working hard for that to happen. The recession ain't forever - look beyond it!

What goes around always comes around, and always sooner than we think. Your pay and benefits will be next!

Bet on it!

OPB


PS. - thnx for the rant space, but it needed saying and no one else was saying it.
Now I can go back to doing what I do best - train watching.