Passenger Trains > WaPo - WMATA GM Will Eliminate 500 Jobs

Both management and agreement jobs, in coming months.

See link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metro-to-eliminate-500-jobs-in-coming-months/2016/06/27/9a88e8a0-3c70-11e6-84e8-1580c7db5275_story.html?hpid=hp_local-news_metro-1115am%3Ahomepage%2FstoryU.S.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), who monitors Metro as closely as anyone on Capitol Hill, said Monday that Wiedefeld’s action “has the effect of sending the message that incompetence, poor service, lack of quality control, indifference to reliability and safety, will not be tolerated, and your job could be at risk, whether you are at-will or not. That’s the power of this decision today.”
Wiedefeld described the jobs reduction as a “business efficiency,” not a disciplinary measure aimed at poor performers in the transit agency.
And Connolly said, “Look, most Metro workers, I think, are wonderful people who do great work.”However, Connolly said, “there’s a culture of mediocrity that has been allowed to permeate the workforce, and every customer experiences it. That has got to stop. And so I think this is a wake-up call for those employees that no job is safe.”



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/16 14:10 by hazegray.

hazegray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Both management and agreement jobs, in coming
> months.
>
> See
> link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/traffi
> candcommuting/metro-to-eliminate-500-jobs-in-comin
> g-months/2016/06/27/9a88e8a0-3c70-11e6-84e8-1580c7
> db5275_story.html?hpid=hp_local-news_metro-1115am%
> 3Ahomepage%2FstoryU.S.
>
> Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), who monitors
> Metro as closely as anyone on Capitol Hill, said
> Monday that Wiedefeld’s action “has the effect
> of sending the message that incompetence, poor
> service, lack of quality control, indifference to
> reliability and safety, will not be tolerated, and
> your job could be at risk, whether you are at-will
> or not. That’s the power of this decision
> today.”
> Wiedefeld described the jobs reduction as a
> “business efficiency,” not a disciplinary
> measure aimed at poor performers in the transit
> agency.
> And Connolly said, “Look, most Metro workers, I
> think, are wonderful people who do great
> work.”However, Connolly said, “there’s a
> culture of mediocrity that has been allowed to
> permeate the workforce, and every customer
> experiences it. That has got to stop. And so I
> think this is a wake-up call for those employees
> that no job is safe.”

Re: WaPo - WMATA GM Will Eliminate 500 Jobs ... yeah 450 of them should be management assistants and 50 rank and file workers ... that should even out the books ...

"Culture of mediocrity" covers a lot of ground.

The union has been directed by the Obama administration to 're-do' its last leader vote. Many members have been concerned about the union's long silence as members have been killed.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/US-Labor-Department-Asking-Federal-Court-to-Order-New-Election-of-Leadership-at-WMATAs-Major-Union-382951691.html

Posted from Android

Other than a few training sessions that lay out a groundwork for our jobs, most of what we learn about our jobs are from our co-workers.  We learn how to install the widget and how to connect the controls and how tight to tighten that screw or bolt.  Depending on who we learn from may determine how well we eventually do the work.  If the attitude is, "Just tighten that bolt real good," rather than "Here's the torque wrench.  Tighten that to xxx pounds.  Too much and you'll damage the gizmo washer, too loose and it will end up falling out in a week or two."  It's the managers job to oversee these things and correct bad work habits.  The problem is, Joe got into management because he has a college degree.... in classical music.  He has the degree but no one gives a degree in Diesel Locomotive Widget Installation and Maintenance.  Manage often won't promote their really good employees because they don't want to loose them from the workforce that really make the trains run.  Managers have no idea of how the nuts and bolts make the place work and often they have the wool over their eyes and they don't know who really does a good job and who is sloppy.  The attitude of any shop is established by one or two key people.  If those key people are real go getters, it rubs off on some of the others.  If the "Alpha types" are lazy and take shortcuts, then everyone else is going to get that attitude.  After all, "Why should I bust my butt when Tom sits on his and we get the same pay?"  I've seen it where I worked.  We had a pretty good group in one situation but we got a new guy that was real negative.  It shifted the attitude of the whole group.  Lots of tension during his time in our group.   Fortunately, we were able to survive and he went to another group in a different part of the building.  A culture of doing things wrong or "leaning on the broom" is hard to correct.  The boss comes along and ask you to sort of "push that broom" and you think he's picking on you or asking you to "work."  There are diamonds and lumps of coal in every industry.  Some of those lumps need to be removed.  Removed, unless they want to morph into a diamond.  

John

In the DC Metro operation, getting into management or a cushy sinecure also corresponds to having a powerful person in the District looking after your interests.  That's one reason why Wiedefeld's dismissal process is getting a lot of attention. Some of his firings or sudden retirements mean protectors  can't protect their people anymore.  The re-do in the union leadership election is another example.

Many of the people killed on the DC Metro are guys on the tracks, in the tunnels, driving the trains, etc. Their union was silent as the deaths continued, and sought to blunt challenges to their long term leader's re-election.  Healthy dissent and argument is a good sign.

 

The beatings will continue until moral mimproves....