Cash-poor MTA may put recipients of unemployment benefits to work again cleaning subways

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The cash-strapped MTA may soon put welfare recipients to work scrubbing and cleaning the subways.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority wants to revive its participation in the city's Work Experience Program - which makes the unemployed toil for their benefit checks.

"This is a program that has a proven track record of doing three things: providing low-cost cleaning help for the subway; providing job training to people who need it, and leading directly to full-time employment for many of the people who participate in the program," MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said.

The MTA eliminated 173 cleaner positions last year in a series of budget cuts that slashed a total of about 3,500 jobs.

Subway riders told about the plan Monday largely gave it a thumbs up.

"I think it's a fair way to get the subways clean," Joanna Kielbiowski, 32, of New Hyde Park, L.I., said at a midtown subway station. "Sometimes when I take the subway, it's disgusting."

Adam Salah, 21, of the Bronx said the program would be "a good way to get people on their feet ... and get the subway cleaner."

Michael Pollack, 29, of Long Beach, L.I., was on the fence.

"I feel like saying yes and no," Pollack said. "On some level, it's exploitation of people in a bad position. On the other hand, a lot of people wait around looking for a handout, and this is a way for them to earn it."

WEP participants were assigned to subway cleaning tasks for about nine years ending in 2008, when the previous MTA administration nixed the free labor.

In budget documents, the prior MTA administration claimed operations would be cheaper without the workers.

About 150 union-represented cleaners who trained and helped supervise WEP workers received an additional $1.70 an hour under a 1996 pact between Transport Workers Union Local100 and the MTA.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/29/2011-03-29_cashpoor_mta_may_put_recipients_of_unemployment_benefits_to_work_again_cleaning_.html#ixzz1I6UFBASm

[Saddle Bronc 124]

An excellent idea for both meanings of MTA--the NYC version (which the OP referenced) and the Maryland one (albeit, better to have them scrub the Light-rail stations due to the limited subway of Baltimore).

[mawilson 2,133]

I like it.

[The_Dude 1,142]

I like it.

Should I start looking for the lightning that is about to strike me? I agree with you

[mawilson 2,133]

Should I start looking for the lightning that is about to strike me? I agree with you

What's not to like - people actually *working* for their paycheck.

[rika60607 215]

I don't. I do not see a 60 year old paper-pusher scrubbing the trains. Unemployed may have no health insurance, so who's gonna pay for all the injuries caused by doing labor they can't handle?

...and is it wise to take away from their effort to find a job more fitting to their skills and education?

I like it.

[mawilson 2,133]

I don't. I do not see a 60 year old paper-pusher scrubbing the trains.

But do you see him eating scraps out of a dumpster if scrubbing trains is beneath him?

Unemployed may have no health insurance, so who's gonna pay for all the injuries caused by doing labor they can't handle?

Picking up trash can cause injuries?

...and is it wise to take away from their effort to find a job more fitting to their skills and education?

Yes. Somebody's gotta clean the damn subway so that people with skills and education can get to work.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes. Somebody's gotta clean the damn subway so that people with skills and education can get to work.

Agreed. But should that somebody not preferrably be a regularly employed person working for either the MTA or a contractor that is tasked to do the work that needs to be done? Wouldn't it be wiser to make sure that the work that needs to get done is done by people in regular employment rather than creating a shadow labor market that - in the end - reduces regular employment? I mean, let the cities get a hold of this and figure out that they can do their services with a subsidized workforce at a lower cost and pretty soon you'll see the unemployed maintaining public parks and streets and whatnot. The people that used to do these jobs will potentially find themselves doing them still - just not as employed persons but as UI benefit recipients.

I'm not saying that programs that transfer people from unemployment to work while also providing a public benefit can't work. You just gotta be careful with the scope of such programs because this can become a slippery slope quite fast.

[mawilson 2,133]

But should that somebody not preferrably be a regularly employed person working for either the MTA or a contractor that is tasked to do the work that needs to be done?

Yes, but thanks to Unions, they probably cost upwards of $100,000/year, health insurance and all.

"Among the top 10 paid employees was a Long Island Rail Road conductor who earned almost $240,000, though his base pay was only $75,390. The average salary for all 886 conductors on Long Island was just over $100,000."

As Cuts Loom, MTA Ups Wages

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes, but thanks to Unions, they probably cost upwards of $100,000/year, health insurance and all.

"Among the top 10 paid employees was a Long Island Rail Road conductor who earned almost $240,000, though his base pay was only $75,390. The average salary for all 886 conductors on Long Island was just over $100,000."

As Cuts Loom, MTA Ups Wages

MTA can outsource such work to other firms at a lower cost, no? There's obviously no need to pay someone $100K to do custodial work. But I would speculate that in between that $100K and an essentially free workforce (free to MTA, that is) there are people willing to do the work at a reasonable compensation level and companies that would supply such workforce at much less than $100K per year per worker.

[mawilson 2,133]

MTA can outsource such work to other firms at a lower cost, no?

No, I don't believe they can outsource jobs to non-union contractors.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

No, I don't believe they can outsource jobs to non-union contractors.

That's fcuked up, then.

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

That's fcuked up, then.

welcome to being a republican.

[rika60607 215]

Yes, I also see him begging for food on a street corner

Picking up trash can cause injuries to someone older and/or with certain health issues (back pain, arthritis), noise of the environment can do damage to people with other conditions... someone feeble falling under the approaching train... (or was it a suicide?) oh no. I do not like this idea.

Now if this job was offered to the unemployed who's benefits ran out and on a voluntary basis, I am all for it!

But do you see him eating scraps out of a dumpster if scrubbing trains is beneath him?

Picking up trash can cause injuries?

Yes. Somebody's gotta clean the damn subway so that people with skills and education can get to work.

[mawilson 2,133]

That's fcuked up, then.

Well, they *are* allowed to hire non-union companies as long as those companies

pay workers union-level wages and benefits, which sort of defeats the purpose

of hiring them.