Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433

ANOTHER LOW FOR ACI

Yesterday Oct 15^th Richard Johnson and myself went out to ACI for an Extra Board Work Rules meeting that had been set up for a week with both Henry Miranda and the GM RON MACKAY. Upon our arrival we were notified that we had to sign in with security, a big deal not normally except for the fact that this is the absolute 1^st time this has ever happened at ACI, then we were told to have a seat and Henry Miranda would be down to see us. This is another absolute 1^st at ACI, COINCEDENCE? I doubt it very much, it was quite clear that we were to be kept off of the 2^nd floor of Operations. That is where MacKay’s, Abraham’s and Simonetta’ s offices are so read between the lines because we did and it was very easy to see. Then to make matters even worse, Ron MacKay didn’t even bother showing his face for this meeting that had been pre arranged a week earlier with him and Henry Miranda. They used the excuse that MacKay was downtown at a meeting, very funny I thought as he had already agreed to a meeting with us earlier in the week. Smell a little fishy? We think so and so does everyone else that we talk to, and to make matters worse they waited until we got oout to ACI to tell us that they were cancelling the meeting and that MacKay wasn’t going to show his face, so much for a courtesy call before we left the office 20 mins earlier. So good ole ACI wasted almost 2hrs of our time with some more of their CRAP. So I must ask this question “ why in the hell was ACI so worried about us getting up to the 2^nd floor”? That is where the UNION Board is that we have the right to see and check on, as well that is where the Operators lounge is, so to me the point was made real clear by MacKay yesterday, so LET THE FUN AND GAMES BEGIN.

ACI AKA SNAKES IN THE GRASS

Once more ACI is proving themselves to be nothing more than snakes in the grass, and the have Metro Valley Rail and the City condoning each and every move that they are making. Did you know that ACI has 26 Supervisors for 52 Operators that is 1 supervisor for every 2 Operators, and Phoenix Transit has 25 Supervisors for 750 Operators and that includes the dispatchers. This does nothing but show me that ACI is way over staffed when it comes to Supervisors, and if they would lower the Supervisor numbers to something on the REALITY scale then they would not have to screw our Train Operators and show them the Unemployment Line. If 25 Supervisors at PTS can handle 750 Operators with the area they have to cover, then why the hell does it take 26 Rail Supervisors to cove a 20 mile straight shot piece of Rail I sure as hell can’t figure that out can you???? For 3 days in a row now I have sent emails to Ron MacKay, Rick Simonetta, Debbie Cotton, Reed Caldwell asking these and many more Questions and guess what not one of them has bothered to answer as of tonight 9/30/2009 I can only imagine why not!! I guess seeing the truth in writing doesn’t work for ACI or the crew of Metro Valley Rail who lately has been on a hiring spree in the Downtown Office. Hillary Foose from the Metro Valley Rail office says that ridership is up which runs up the operating cost so therefore we have to lay off the Operators, this is nothing but a bunch of donkey shit, any one that watched the news in the last couple of days would have seen and heard that ACI and Metro Valley Rail is letting anybody going to the US Airways Arena ride the train for FREE for the next couple of months. So free rides = no revenue maybe if they were to shelve this Einstein’s idea they may have some money to Pay for 4 Operators, but that is only common sense, and I haven’t seen any from ACI or Metro lately. Now there is a Manager at ACI trying to force the Operators to work OVERTIME which by contract cannot be forced on the Operator, the Operators are being told that if they don’t sign up and work all the overtime that ACI will have to cut the number of trains and runs and therefore have to LAY OFF more Operators, to me that is nothing more than a threat towards the Operators. And with that being said it goes to show me and probably everybody else that ACI is extremely short of Operators, plus the fact that they have had supervisors running their trains the last 2 nights really shows how short they are, but they can LAY OFF 4 OPERATORS makes a lot of sense don’t you think. I really think that ACI and Metro Valley Rail need a wakeup call and they need it SOON.

THE LATEST BUNCH OF LIES AND DECIEPT FROM ACI AND VALLEY METRO RAIL

This is the latest pile of shit from ACI and Valley Metro Rail, between the 2 of them they have now put 4 Light Rail Operators in the Unemployment Line after all kinds of big promises made by ACI General Manager Ron MacKay in many Town Hall Meetings. As of 710pm Monday Night Sept 28th without the ink even being dry on the layoff notices MacKay has a SUPERVISOR T-23 out operating a train as he does not have enough Operators available to run tonights schedule. It will be real interesting to hear his sad sack of shit excuse for this blunder tonight, maybe Abraham himself should plant his ass in the seat for a shift if they are so god damed short handed that they have to lay off 4 Operators. Does any one with a sane mind really think that these Operators would have given up a secure job Operating Valley Metro Buses if MacKay had told them that they could possibly be laid off in less than a year? I know that they wouldn’t have. For some reason a majority of the Rail Operators figure that ACI and MacKay are the greatest thing to happen in the Valley, maybe now that they see reality they will change their way of thinking towards these bottom feeders. And to think that ACI is bidding on the North Garage, GOD HELP US ALL!!!!! Ray Abraham of Valley Metro Rail has directed MacKay to axe 4 Rail Operators and 4 Supervisor positions from the 28 Supervisors ACI has on payroll, but MacKay’s way around this is to re-name 2 supervisors LEAD so as to make a paper shuffle and keeping their jobs secure. What the HELL do they need 28 supervisors for anyway? That is almost as many as Phoenix Transit’s total Operation, seems like a waste of a lot of money to me. And what about the hiring frenzy Valley Metro Rail has been going on in their Downtown offices? I am almost sure if they were to get rid of the majority of them there would be more than enough money to keep 4 Operators. The last time I looked in the RFP for Light Rail I am sure that it said the successful bidder would be required to hire and maintain a staff to operate the trains, I do not recall the RFP saying that Valley Metro Rail would award the contract to the successful bidder then dictate to them who why and how to man the trains!!!!! But for some reason Abraham has decided that he is now running the Light Rail system not ACI my sources tell me, so if this is the case then why is ACI still here? This would seem to be a big waste of money as far as I see it. Debbie Cotton and Reed Caldwell are fully aware of this happening today as it is my understanding that they were both sent an email letting them know what is going on at ACI and Metro Rail. Maybe it is time that every concerned rider of the rail should pick up their phone and call him to voice their disconcert of his latest antics. With the Rail Ridership being way up according to all News Channels it just amazes me how they can lay off Operators when they cannot even make service as it is on a daily basis. My source tells me that there are not enough Operators to cover all shifts as it is, so this BONE HEAD move really does not make any sense. And if MacKay and ACI think for a minute that they are going to use Supervisors to man the trains because they are short Operators because they LAID them off then HE and VALLEY METRO RAIL have another thing coming, as this Operation will be watched like a hawk from this point on. Maybe it is time for a big MEDIA BLITZ as they are the source that is saying that the ridership is way up, and I am sure that ALL the TV stations as well as the News Papers will love to get hold of this story which we will start working on ASAP, and then let MacKay and Abraham answer to the MEDIA.

1^ST TRANSIT RECYCLING DEPOT

The WTF has turned into the employee recycling plant of Bus Operators in the Valley over the past 8 months. It started with Oscar Andino and has continued ever since, with sometimes as many as 4 Operators per week. In the past 8 months 1^ST Transit has TERMINATED 80% more Operators than all the other properties combined in the Valley. ALL 1^ST Transit employees must remember not to get hurt at work, because if you do and you are out too long on Industrial you are going to be Terminated by Kim Johnson the Queen of the HR Department. If by chance this happens to any of you at 1^st Transit, I URGE you to head straight for the DOL ( Department of Labor) and then the EEOC and file as many charges against 1^st Transit as you can muster up. Because you can bet your ass they are going to do whatever they can to make sure that you are not going to be able to get Unemployment Insurance. They want to make sure that after they terminate you that you are totally screwed. And then the next thing you do is write a letter to DEBBIE COTTON, REED CALDWELL and MAYOR PHIL GORDON letting all 3 of them know what you have been through. Just call the Union Hall and the Administrative Assistant will be more than Happy to give you the addresses and phone numbers for all 3 as we have them on speed dial. And after all that is done we will help you get hold of Sarah Fenske at the New Times who will be more than happy to hear your story and publish it the NEW TIMES for all of the cities to read. We cannot pinpoint just how much Corporate knows about what transpires out at the WTF but I do not believe they have any kind of a clue as to just what the HELL goes on out here with the recycling game with Operators. Make sure that any time any of the GOON Squad wants to talk to you that you automatically ask for a UNION REP regardless of how trivial the issue is, because if they hear an answer they don’t like then you will be up for the recycling process and NO INCOME until you may be able to find other work in the Valley which right now is next to impossible. If any of you have any questions feel free to call the hall at 602-495-9466.

CAN YOU SPELL BAIT AND SWITCH? I CAN ACI!!!!!

That’s right ACI the great Company from Boston that is here for the Operators, my ass they are they are here for nothing but themselves. They seem to be the best at the old bait and switch game as well, we sat through town hall meetings with GM Ron MacKay as he proceeded to promise the prospective Operators the moon if they made the move over to ACI and gave up all their security at Veolia Phoenix, and guess what? Not a single word of that shit has come true, we have all been taken on a fantasy ride to HELL except for a few rail operators that want to keep their noses brown. The Operators were told that they would have 25 PTO days as soon as they made the move and were out of probation, has that happened? NO it has not happened, the Operators were told that they would have medical that was comparable to what they had at Phoenix, has that happened? NO it has not, they are now on their 3rd medical plan andACI reallydoesn’t seem to give a shit one way or the other. ACI has an Operations Manager that seems to make up rules whenever he feels like doing so, without giving a shit about the outcome in the end, this is also the same nice guy that would never leave an Operator on the train after the train hits a car at a crossing, MY ASS he won’t just ask the Operator in training that hit a car at Highland and Central and who was understandably shaken up after his ordeal, he was left on the train until it reached the end of the line, the funny thing is that same Operations Manager is the on that told us that that would never happen go figure eh just another lie!!!! This is also the same Operations Manager that wanted to FIRE an Operator for being totally honest in his incident report, the Ops Manager didn’t like what he wrote which was the truth so he tried to FIRE him. This is also the Company who negotiated a tentative agreement with us then backed out of it, and at the same time has perjured themselves with the NLRB when they told the FEDS that they had never reached an tentative agreement with us. This is also the Company that allows you to continue to operate a train for 2 hours after you are alleged to have run a red signal!!!!!!!

Just maybe it is time that the CITY of PHOENIX has a real close look at just what the HELL is actually going with ACI, because I really do not believe that ACI is giving the CITY all of the facts, and the one they do pass on are probably all fabricated. And I wonder if the City is aware of the fact that ACI keeps the trains moving even when they have been made aware of bodily fluids lying visible and in plain sight on the floors of the rail cars. This seems to be another case of the CITY of PHOENIX awarding yet another Contract to the LOW BIDDER of all the bidders, I guess they just will never learn.