The SEIU held a protest in Downtown Crossing yesterday to protest the T's decision to let janitors go.
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The SEIU held a protest in Downtown Crossing yesterday to protest the T's decision to let janitors go.
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Comments
Given the state that many
By Hyde_Parker
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 10:46am
Given the state that many trains are in, I'm surprised to read that the T has janitors....
The poor quality of the work
By anon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:07am
The poor quality of the work demonstrated by the MBTA's janitorial staff doesn't reflect well on the SEIU.
Can't iRobot or some company in Kendall Square give us an automated solution for cleaning trains and tunnels?
Well that's the thing. I
By Hyde_Parker
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:30am
Well that's the thing. I think unions have a purpose, but the minute they stop focusing on members' quality of work and start focusing more on ensuring those precious 15-minute breaks (and yes, they are precious, but so are clean trains) they seem to lose relevance these days.
They lose their relevance
By anon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 12:10pm
when they fight for employees who have grossly neglected their duties.
So was I! I am scared to
By Heather
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 5:37pm
So was I! I am scared to death to see what the T becomes!
outsourcing janitor jobs to low wage low benifit jobs has costs
By Nancy L
Thu, 07/03/2014 - 9:47am
MBTA janitor is not a glamorous job or in its essence, interesting, but it must be done with care. With the union, these guys are able to earn enough to help support a family, to pay rent, buy their own food and clothing, take earned time off and save for retirement.
Their next job could be earning minimum wage without benefits, without healthcare, with less self-sufficiency and more dependence on government programs like SNAP, MassHealth and housing subsidy. And not enough income to save for retirement.
Outsourcing, or privatization, to non union labor lowers the bar. It turns quality jobs into low wage jobs that society pays for. Private interests put the savings in their pockets instead of the pockets of lower middle class employees who live in the community. There are real costs to privatization and they are born by you the taxpayer and the family that lives of the ragged edge of poverty dependent on govt assistance.
I Disapprove Of Dancing In The Street Like That ...
By Elmer
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 10:59am
... while wearing a necktie!
Not exactly
By Markk02474
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:01am
The plan is reported as replacing about 30% of union janitors with outsourced contract ones.
Not Not Exactly
By Ted
Thu, 07/03/2014 - 2:37pm
No, the union janitors are outsourced already. They are not being replaced by anyone under the MBTA's plan.
Eh the T is by far the
By DTP
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:19am
Eh the T is by far the cleanest transit system I've been on, so maybe they could spare a few anyway.
This is painful to watch though.
The DC Metro used to be
By anon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 12:07pm
The DC Metro used to be cleaner (although I haven't been on it in years now). They had a super-strict and strictly-enforced no food or beverages policy (tickets for bottled water!), though, which we do not, and I always assumed that was why there was such a big difference. When I lived there I found it uncivilized not to be able to have a coffee on the subway, but now when I wind up on a bus next to a person shelling and eating pistachios, I remember why we can't have nice things.
Washington DC has a very clean system.
By Pete Nice
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 12:17pm
You aren't even allowed to eat or drink on them.
But not as frequent as the T (usually)
By Daan (here and ...
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 1:52pm
When visiting on a weekend I discovered the trains on the Red line in D.C. during the early evening ran every 20 minutes. For all the problems of the T at least they tend to run more frequently.
Yeah. They may be cleaner,
By anon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 2:38pm
Yeah. They may be cleaner, but they have a number of other drawbacks. I don't know if they still do this, but at rush hours, every other red line train only ran for the middle part of the line - roughly the equivalent of every other train only going from Harvard to Field's Corner or North Quincy - so if you lived at the end of the line, distance-based fare plus peak fare surcharges meant you were paying nearly twice as much for half as much service, which really rankled when you were sweating it out on a platform in the July heat. Don't miss it.
Never had a problem
By JohnAKeith
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:27am
I've always felt the T stations were clean enough.
Sorry to see the jobs outsourced.
Its more than likely
By anon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:31am
that 90% of the people in that video have no association with the T, their paid protesters. SEIU is an utter disgrace.
Solidarity
By tired of this bs
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:51am
Yep. That.
99% of corporate lobbyists and legal whores aren't employees of the corporations they lobby and whore for, too.
Unions are corporations too.
By anon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 12:53pm
Unions are corporations too.
No labor union
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 3:35pm
has an article of incorporation with any state or federal agency. If you want to make up stuff you should become a conservative blogger.
Ok
By anon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 3:40pm
So their special interest groups, similar to lobbyist.
They operationally are
By anon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 4:27pm
They operationally are corporations with members as shareholders. A cartel is a cartel be it labor or business.
and
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 7:00pm
GE is a person.
Unions are people!
By Markk02474
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 3:42pm
According to the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. Corporations also people...
but then wouldn't you expect
By trickycrayon
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 1:03pm
but then wouldn't you expect they'd be able to sing & dance in time with the music.......?
The MBTA and their bone
By FirmamentHub
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:33am
The MBTA and their bone-headed decisions...The elevator at Chinatown station is a barf bag!
LOL I know it totally smells
By MBTA SNAFU
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 12:51pm
LOL I know it totally smells like barf. Actually most of them do. That or feces. #MBTA
Yikes.
By Mitchell D.
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 11:48am
The flash mob seemed to take the participants by as much surprise as it did the audience.
I see the janitor at the NQ
By Meaghan W
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 12:22pm
I see the janitor at the NQ stop mopping and sweeping almost every day, so he lost his job :( ?
T riders may have
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 3:38pm
to smell stale pee again.
Cuts to start in September
By Markk02474
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 3:43pm
So, don't worry just yet.
http://youtu.be/9xAi80ShG0I
By kvn
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 1:35pm
http://youtu.be/9xAi80ShG0I
Take out the papers and the trash
Or you don't get no spendin' cash
: The Coasters - Yakety Yak
Way to loosen hold of unions?
By Daan (here and ...
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 2:06pm
The MFA did the same thing a few years ago. They refused to renew a contract with long time union maintenance employees in favor of out sourcing.
I think this is a trend that the T is simply following. It's not that different from outsourcing manufacturing. It's all about saving money.
But penny saved = (British) pound foolish. Example is Amazon: By catering to the lowest common denominator of lowest price one super retailer has devastated the book retail industry. Same goes for Walmart decimating small town retail districts. By promising the lowest price the majority of consumers allow themselves to become enslaved to a tyranny of lowest price, forgetting that lowest prices equals low wages which equals full time employees still needing government assistance.
They
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 07/02/2014 - 3:36pm
keep dancing further to the left.
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