Passenger Trains > NJT low salaries and gov christies chums

http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/watchdog/2018/01/08/memo-nj-transit-couldnt-fill-critical-jobs-because-low-pay-turned-off-applicants/1002368001/

Government loses huge numbers of good employees to higher paid private jobs.

Many people take huge pay cuts to work in government and be hectored by 21 year old assistants to a congressman.

Posted from Android

In Christie's case, NJT found big bucks to hire his assistant Drewniak, even as they couldn't find time to reach a contract with people who did the work. Same thing for Wisnieski's pal Joe Bober, etc. Equal opportunity patronage job mill...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/18 06:56 by Lackawanna484.

People will put up with a lower wage scale if it is a pleasant place to work. NJT no longer is. Top management are idiots, and for the rank-and-file, it's a hostile work environment.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Government loses huge numbers of good employees to higher paid private jobs.
>

In management ranks, this is also true of Amtrak, from CEO on down the line...except that they don't "lose" them, because they never apply.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/18 08:38 by hazegray.

.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/18 13:27 by darkcloud.

There was a mention yesterday about a combat decorated two star general who had his promotion pulled for addressing a congressional assistant as sweetheart. She had interrupted his presentation.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was a mention yesterday about a combat
> decorated two star general who had his promotion
> pulled for addressing a congressional assistant as
> sweetheart. She had interrupted his presentation.
>
>
> Posted from Android

What exactly is wrong with that? LOL!

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was a mention yesterday about a combat
> decorated two star general who had his promotion
> pulled for addressing a congressional assistant as
> sweetheart. She had interrupted his presentation.
>
Perhaps a little bit more to the story than that. From Stars & Stripes: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/army-general-s-promotion-pulled-after-calling-congressional-staffer-sweetheart-1.504654

All of this is off of railroading. But, more and more, passenger railroading, national or commuter, is all about the politics and not about the most professional, efficient way to provide passenger rail transportation. It's a truism that those who write the checks get to call the shots, and the politicians are writing the checks. It's our money, but it's funnelled through the politicians.

There's always funding somewhere to pay for a sweetheart job for a political crony, or a patronage hire from the "other" party. NJ Transit had lots of money for these. But none for a contract long overdue for its employees.

Incoming Governor Murphy has set a high bar for himself ("rip down NJ Transit and build a world class system" etc). But I'm waiting to see how that gets paid for. Raising taxes isn't an option in one of the highest real estate tax, and higher income tax states in the US. "Tax the rich" has already chased a hundred million per year taxpayer to Florida (Tepper) with his company.

I've mentioned in the past that property prices in Montclair doubled in some neighborhoods when Montclair Direct went into service. Although the state spent a billion on that, it recouped little to none of the increased property values. Montclair did raise the price of non-resident parking, however.