Posts Tagged "commute"

How NOT to win a public fight

Posted by talda on Aug 18, 2009 in Everyday, Rants | Comments Off

This was some kind of weekend. Mainly because I was waiting around on pins and needles for word on whether the threatened BART strike was actually going to go down.

Well, waiting around on Sunday afternoon that is. Saturday was spent blissfully as I turn off thoughts of work once I leave the office. There is no fretting over that once I’m out the doors. It helps keep me sane. Plus is the #1 indicator that I am stressed the mess out over the job.

Anywho, this proposed strike. So it would have been the first strike since 1997 and would have CRIPPLED the commute. With an average of 300,000 people taking BART everyday, can you imagine that many more people on the already congested roads heading to San Francisco? I wonder how fast we can get to nowhere. Traffic would be at a stand still. I had to mentally prepare myself to wake up earlier in hopes of getting to work on time. Thankfully, around 6:30pm Sunday evening, we all got word that the strike was off. That an agreement was made between management and the last union holdout, the Amalgamated Transit Union [ATU] Local 1555, and all was now right in the world. Well, depending on the actual union vote later next week.

Anywho, during this little tussle, what stood out to me was how the ATU didn’t stand a chance. Not one tiny iota.

First against them: the general state of the economy.

Sure in a time when money is falling out of the sky, standing firm in your demands for benefits and wage increases and better working conditions are supported but we’re at our financial worst at the moment. People are being furloughed, having their wages and benefits cut or frozen for the foreseeable future or, worse yet, losing their jobs. This is not the time to be upset that you’re being asked to consider a wage freeze, paying a little bit more for your benefits and paying into your retirement pension. Especially not when many of your members make more than the commuters who use your service [wanna see how your salary stacks up? Try it. It’s fun! If you consider getting punched in your stomach fun] and do less work.

Second against them: the other two unions

BART management was able to come to an agreement with the other two unions working with BART, the first and third largest unions in terms of membership. They agreed to management’s contract terms yet the ATU didn’t and continued to threaten a strike. And in a show of union solidarity, the other two unions would honor said strike.

So if the 900 members of the ATU called a strike, thousands of other union employees, who have already agreed to a contract, will be forced out of work. They’d have to take the much lower strike pay and suffer along because one group refused the offered contract. That doesn’t seem fair. And plays nicely for BART management. How you ask?

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain

Posted by talda on Apr 17, 2009 in Everyday, Legally Blonde Chronicles | 1 comment

I am completely bummed to find out that I’m spending more in commuting costs per year than I make in a month. Granted, at least I’m not losing money trying to get to work but that’s a month + worth of salary I could be using for something else.

Muni is raising their monthly pass to $55 in June and there are rumors of an additional hike to deal with the budget shortfall and that got me thinking, if I’m going to potentially be spending $60 on just the Muni half of my commute, I might as well just spring for a parking pass and drive myself to work. But then the realities of the additional $20 in total on top of mileage and gas forced me to rethink that idea.

There are a couple of options I’ve been feeling out but just haven’t pulled the trigger as of yet since I’m still conducting my reconnaissance. But either way I’m going to have to figure out a way to shave some pennies off this expense until I can move across a bridge and cut out tolls completely. I’d save $960 on tolls a year [not counting when I cross the bridge for church or other random reasons] alone.

But that’s for another day. I need a more realistic solution/alternative at this moment.

So I had to prepare a little introductory speech for my business communications class and it went fairly well. My personal style tends to be more light and humorous and that usually goes over well. During the feedback portion the prof had wondered why any of us would need notes when we were talking about ourselves, because really, who knows us better than we do?

And because one of the rules was that we NOT respond I nearly gave myself heartburn and indigestion trying to keep quiet. Why did I have notes? Because if I didn’t have notes than I would have spent the past two minutes rambling about nothing in particular with a lot of unfinished thoughts and ultimately no insight to who I am. And then you would have docked me points for not clearly organizing my information.

I have notes because I need boundaries. I need to focus. My notes are like the blinder things they put on horses. Yes I sort of kind of just related myself to a horse but you get where I’m taking this right? Exactly; I just proved my point. The last two paragraphs are why I need notes even when talking about myself. Don’t let me wander. Make me go from point A to B in the least amount of moves possible or else I’ll go all dotted line on you.