To read the Wisconsin State Journal’s take on things, it sounds as though the Madison city bus drivers are getting a bit too greedy. So much so, it seems, that they’re about to kick out the union that helped define “greed”—the Teamsters.
Madison bus drivers don’t need a new and more aggressive union.
What they need is a reality check in their contract fight with City Hall.
Even Madison’s union-loving mayor and City Council are crying foul over excessive overtime and padded pensions at Metro Transit.
[snip]
Metro Transit drivers overwhelmingly rejected a generous contract with the city in May that would have capped overtime at 24 hours a week – that’s still a lot! – and allowed city managers more flexibility for using part-time drivers to plug holes created by high absenteeism among full-timers.
The city was taking the contract to arbitration.
Then came the galling news last week that city bus drivers are shopping for a new union. They want to leave the Teamsters Local 695 because its leaders wanted them to agree to a new contract with “too many concessions,” according to a State Journal report Tuesday.
Apparently, even in a union-friendly town like Madison, Wisconsin, public-sector workers can push too far.
Read the rest here.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
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