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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > August > 09
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Editorial: Voinovich does his thing at his speed
Ohio Sen. George Voinovich was apparently the last U.S. senator to decide how to vote on confirmation of now-Justice Sonia Sotomayor. A couple of hours before the vote, online outlets counted him as undecided, while everyone else was in one camp or another.
He eventually voted for confirmation, saying. “Judge Sotomayor’s decisions, while not always the decision I would render, are not outside the legal mainstream and do not indicate an obvious desire to legislate from the bench.”
On the latter point, he diverged from his party majority.
It insisted the opposite, but so lamely as to lose the votes of six Republican senators generally considered more conservative than Sen. Voinovich, if only a little:
Indiana’s Richard Lugar, Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander, Florida’s Mel Martinez, Missiouri’s Kit Bond, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and New Hampshire’s Judd Gregg.
(Sen. Voinovich was also one of seven Republicans to vote Thursday to extend the Cash for Clunkers program; he was an original sponsor.)
It would have been odd for Sen. Voinovich to side with the fire-breathing conservatives. Indeed, it’s a little hard to understand why he needed to wait until the last minute to make up his mind, given how long Judge Sotomayor was under scrutiny. But that’s his way.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Martin Gottlieb, National Politics, Ohio politics, Short editorial
Edtorial: RTA’s universe is fantasy land
When someone can seriously suggest that it makes sense to have a $100,000 bus driver in Dayton, Ohio, that’s a pretty strong signal that the debate has gone off the rails.
Last week, a Dayton Daily News story reported a bus driver for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority racked up nearly $28,000 in overtime pay on the way to earning $98,700 last year, just short of six figures. He was one of 13 drivers who made at least $20,000 in overtime. Ten of those had yearly earnings of at least $75,000.
Yet, RTA Executive Director Mark Donaghy defends the situation. The RTA, he says, has made a sensible choice to keep a smaller stable of drivers, knowing that decision will result in significant overtime. If a few drivers volunteer for a lot of overtime, they may run up their annual wages, but RTA still saves money by not hiring more people, who would get costly benefits, he argues.
Mr. Donaghy makes a compelling case that he’s right — as judged by public transit custom and tradition.
But that only demonstrates what a fantasy land this realm of public employment has become. If you were building a transit authority today, nobody would create RTA’s staffing system, and it cannot continue like it is. The sales tax money that sustained RTA in good times and made the agency flush has stopped growing. Those days are not coming back, at least not anytime soon.
At a time when bus service is being significantly curtailed and riders — including some of the most needy people in our community — are being asked to pay higher fares, the administration and employees must readjust to that reality.
RTA can curb unnecessary costs, without sticking it to drivers. The core problem that pushes up driver overtime is absences. When drivers are off for vacations, personal time, sick leave or other reasons, routes still must be covered.
It’s challenging enough to schedule fill-in drivers when absences are expected. But if employees unexpectedly don’t show, there’s the potential for chaos. Drivers are on standby to grab the overtime when this sort of thing happens.
Mr. Donaghy points to significant improvements in driver absenteeism in recent years through cooperative efforts with the bus drivers’ union and careful management. Even so, off time for the drivers under their contract is more than generous.
Consider some perks:
• Drivers get 12 sick days a year and are guaranteed their birthdays off or extra pay if they work on their birthdays. This is on top of eight paid holidays.
• They can bank up to 160 sick days. When drivers retire, they can claim cash for theses days: a half-day’s pay for up to 100 days, or a maximum of 50 paid days.
• A driver with 30 years of experience gets six weeks of paid vacation per year. These sweet deals can’t continue, especially now when RTA is telling its customers to accept less and pay more. Sanity has to be injected into the rules.
The RTA is in contract negotiations with its drivers. Talks are more than three months past the contract’s expiration date, suggesting they have been tough. The RTA board and management can’t bend on the fact that they need concessions.
Even though some overtime has to be allowed for, RTA drivers have too sweet of a deal.
Permalink | Comments (89) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Montgomery County, Scott Elliott, Transportation
