Comments on: In a four-year plan, fare hikes and labor concessions abound

By: nycpat

nycpat — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:22:23 +0000

His salary would be less if he were Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or Commandant of the USCG. Executive compensation has to come down all over this land of “ours”. Hell the head of the NYPL makes $800,000, it’s ridiculous.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:45:59 +0000

Maybe at a rent-seeking American for-profit company Walder would make ten times as much. At a responsible Japanese for-profit railroad, Walder would probably be making about as much as he makes today. I have no idea how much JR East’s CEO makes, but Toyota’s CEO makes a little less than a million US dollars a year, and Toyota is about ten times bigger than JR East.

By: bob

bob — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:01:32 +0000

There’s another aspect of this you need to think about. If you cut compensation (it’s not just salaries, benefits are part of the equation), will you get employees who can maintain the system? A lot of fancy electronics are being installed, in subway cars, stations, signaling systems, etc. Troubleshooting this stuff is a lot harder than the older technology. If you pay lousy salaries and treat employees badly, you won’t get people smart enough to keep it working.

There is a lot of suspicion among TA workers that the long term dream is to outsource that work to contractors. And it may look cheaper to do so. But once the internal knowledge is lost the contractor has you by a particular part of your anatomy, and you will pay accordingly. And if you want something fixed immediately, at night, or on a holiday, good luck. You’ll be paying equivalent wage rates of hundreds of dollars an hour.

By: bob

bob — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:54:47 +0000

It’s not a question of affecting the budget – it’s the symbolism. Asking employees who earn far less to sacrifice while not doing anything yourself inherently generates hostility.

Symbolism matters in a public endeavor like this one. So far Walder seems to be very good at uniting a union that less than 2 years ago was riven by infighting.

By: Al D

Al D — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:57:13 +0000

That Samuelsen is a real idiot. Walder’s salary/benefits would be 10x as much in a for-profit company of a similar size. Too bad he has to deal with a Chairman with a real back bone. We should all feel sorry for him.

By: Al D

Al D — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:52:22 +0000

oops…truly!

By: Al D

Al D — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:52:00 +0000

If they were truky economic conservatives, they would not have set things in motion that permitted the MTA to amass such debt that started under their tenure.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:25:48 +0000

Giuliani and Pataki were economically conservative. They were moderate on cultural issues, which do not have an effect on taxes and spending.

By: Older and Wiser

Older and Wiser — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:31:46 +0000

Funny, I thought Walder was there to provide mass transit for the metro area.

By: rhywun

rhywun — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:55:07 +0000

Maybe he means an economic conservative, thus eliminating at least Bush and Palin. Heck, even Paterson said all the right things at first, until the party machine and the media conspired to utterly destroy him for it. But at least he gave us Walder, who so far sounds ready and willing to do exactly what he’s there for: to defend the interests of the taxpayer, which are at direct odds to the interests of the unions.