Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Grata-Fied
The Post-Gazette’s transportation reporter has finally come to the realization that labor costs are killing the Port Authority. Benefits and pensions aside, the average wage for drivers when adjusted for the cost of living is higher than systems in Atlanta, Minneapolis, and even Philadelphia. This cost of living comparison was included in the Transportation Commission report as a highlight of their audit of PAT. But the Allegheny Institute has long known that driver costs are harmful to PAT and far out of line with peer agencies.
It’s finally dawned on said reporter.
Nearly two years ago, he authored a piece on driver costs that exonerated the authority, noting that “in the 1970s, Pittsburgh was No. 1, paying the highest wages in the nation to union bus and trolley operators. Times have changed. Now the $22.79 top hourly rate for operators at the financially crippled Port Authority is fourth-highest in the United States among similar-size transit agencies and 17th highest overall when larger cities like San Francisco and New York are included”.
Since Pittsburgh has a lower cost of living, the wages in the other cities did not have the same purchasing power as those of PAT drivers. His analysis missed that. When we adjusted wages to Pittsburgh’s cost of living, PAT topped the list. It was a fact once again confirmed by the Commission’s report, which expanded its analysis to 60 agencies. PAT’s $20.50 wage was 44 percent higher than the agency average of $14.20. Clearly our work, which was included in testimony submitted to the Commission, had an impact.
Now the analysis has legitimacy for the reporter. But that does not mean he has stopped exonerating the authority from its complicit role in the most recent contract, where there was talk of contracting out 20 percent of operations. The Governor and the County Executive intervened when strike talks were imminent. As a result, contracting out routes and maintenance was dropped. “The authority has little control over wages and benefits. They are locked into a labor agreement until Aug. 31, 2008, a contract brokered by Gov. Ed Rendell after a threatened strike”. Wrong. The authority had the control and frittered it away in the name of labor peace. It should have held strong and asked the Executive, who makes all the appointments, to back them up. But with the union holding all of the cards and able to call a strike, the idea was shuttled.
“…with union wages that it claims are the highest in the nation when adjusted for cost of living, a special audit ordered by a bipartisan state panel does not paint a pretty picture of the Port Authority”. Hopefully future reporting on PAT wages will likewise start with a realization that things at the authority are not at all pretty.
It’s finally dawned on said reporter.
Nearly two years ago, he authored a piece on driver costs that exonerated the authority, noting that “in the 1970s, Pittsburgh was No. 1, paying the highest wages in the nation to union bus and trolley operators. Times have changed. Now the $22.79 top hourly rate for operators at the financially crippled Port Authority is fourth-highest in the United States among similar-size transit agencies and 17th highest overall when larger cities like San Francisco and New York are included”.
Since Pittsburgh has a lower cost of living, the wages in the other cities did not have the same purchasing power as those of PAT drivers. His analysis missed that. When we adjusted wages to Pittsburgh’s cost of living, PAT topped the list. It was a fact once again confirmed by the Commission’s report, which expanded its analysis to 60 agencies. PAT’s $20.50 wage was 44 percent higher than the agency average of $14.20. Clearly our work, which was included in testimony submitted to the Commission, had an impact.
Now the analysis has legitimacy for the reporter. But that does not mean he has stopped exonerating the authority from its complicit role in the most recent contract, where there was talk of contracting out 20 percent of operations. The Governor and the County Executive intervened when strike talks were imminent. As a result, contracting out routes and maintenance was dropped. “The authority has little control over wages and benefits. They are locked into a labor agreement until Aug. 31, 2008, a contract brokered by Gov. Ed Rendell after a threatened strike”. Wrong. The authority had the control and frittered it away in the name of labor peace. It should have held strong and asked the Executive, who makes all the appointments, to back them up. But with the union holding all of the cards and able to call a strike, the idea was shuttled.
“…with union wages that it claims are the highest in the nation when adjusted for cost of living, a special audit ordered by a bipartisan state panel does not paint a pretty picture of the Port Authority”. Hopefully future reporting on PAT wages will likewise start with a realization that things at the authority are not at all pretty.
