Ridgewood Mama is right. "Don't vote for Mitt Romney". Why would you, when you can vote for Obama and know exactly what to expect? More debt, tax increases, forced healthcare, more terrorist attacks, more cover ups, more unelected, Obama appointed lobbyists, more apologies to terrorists, higher energy costs, consistent high unemployment rates, more currency printing - devaluing the dollar, more executive fiat, increasing food prices, more layoffs, more regulation, more jobs sent overseas to avoid ridiculous taxation, more back room deals, more Biden gaffes, more Obama gaffes, less freedom and pretty much the same as what Obama gave us during his first term.

Yea... vote for Obama. America's chickens actually HAVE come home to roost.

Does Romney have a vote on what occurs in New Jersey. What is the revevance of this post

Mitt Romney and Chris Christie are side by side in the call for austerity, which is precisely the problem.

Nancy, Chris is referring to Ft Hood, Libya (a consulate is US soil). By apologizing, he would mean the speech to the UN where he apologized for the video. How come you didn't question unemployment, taxes, devaluation of dollar, higher energy cost? Are you agreeing with Chris on those?

Austerity is not the problem. Jack- good points, all.

Deregulation of business is what has crippled the economy. Austerity is what is preventing it from improving.

Both are government programs, ever consider government is the problem?

And take away their Christmas too! Bah.

Njtransit has employees that work on Christmas, what's your point Ridgewood Mom?

They better not get a bonus for it!

If they're union and working on a holiday, typically they earn time and a half or double time.

My suggestion to fix this- no more overtime. Instead allow them to accrue use it or lose it days off.

Ridgewood Mom-- we are not taking away their days, we are only asking them to actually use them!!!!! How long have you or your spouse worked for NJ Transit??? Most businesses (non Unoin) do not allow you to bank years worth of time to pay out when you leave. Be realistic and get your head out of your butt. Besides, why do retired non union people deserve to ride for free??????"?"

And why should any of them have pensions or social security? Why should we even have medicare?

I think someone must have hacked RidgewoodMom's account! Great questions, end them all now, for everyone. Or wait for them to end under their own weight, it will be more painful for the latter.

Austerity while the rich get richer.

RM - You said, "Ridgewood Mom

8:39 am on Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Austerity while the rich get richer."

You clearly have a problem with the free market. What do you suggest exactly? What is your level of education? What is "fair" in your opinion and what are you basing that on?

Likely, it's negotiated.

Now, if you want to get that eliminated, that's another story. Do it at the next contract negotiation.

Can't wait until the union is forced to give up bennies too. Sick day and unused vacation day payouts at retirement disgust me. What the heck is that?

They should make them buy their own uniforms as well, and pay to use the toilets.

XJS,

Those benefits disgust you only because you wish you had them. Then, they wouldn't disgust you any more.

Ridgewood Mom,

I hope you said that tongue in cheek--that it was just sarcasm.

No Mark, I don't wish to have them. I actually have a great job where I can work from home or the office without question. So, when I feel ill, I don't have to report to work and make everyone around me sick. Whereas, the payouts for these people encourage them to show up to work sick - on mass transit no less - so as to expose as many people as possible to their illness for a few extra dollars at the end of their employment.

It's a drain on the system. Silly.

D-zone,
Just to be clear, I was being facetious. I support better conditions for NJ transit workers, unionized and otherwise.

D-zone- everyone has sick/personal days. Whether it's 3 or 15 is a matter of the union for which you work (or the job in the private sector). People also get vacation. They're averse to using vacation as sick days. When people get paid out for their unused sick/personal days, they tend to save them and come in sick. They expose everyone. For the idiots who don't get paid out at the end but come in sick in my office - I want to throttle them. They can work from home and should.

So there is a problem with labor conditions in the private sector then. It was not always so.

No, the problem is the government sector. The nonproductive sector of our economy. Their pay is not voluntarily given to them the way it is in the productive aka private sector.

My understanding was that the government was productive in getting people from place to place, educating children, catching bad guys, putting out fires, catching terrorists, etc. Where does this insane idea that the government is not productive come from.

And what is with all of this class warfare?

What about CEOs for private companies who receive daily salaries that exceed the annual salaries of any NJ transit worker even when the companies they head lose money? What about people who profit from dissolving businesses or increase unemployment by sending jobs overseas, such as Mitt Romney?

RM - You ask "And what is with all of this class warfare?" and then state: "What about CEOs for private companies who receive daily salaries that exceed the annual salaries of any NJ transit worker even when the companies they head lose money? What about people who profit from dissolving businesses or increase unemployment by sending jobs overseas, such as Mitt Romney?"

You are the queen of class warfare. The rich are evil. Hypocrite. BTW, NJ Transit is a quasi-governmental agency. They don't work for the gov't and therefore, the gov't isn't moving people from place to place (unless you meant in the military, or building roads - which I somehow doubt since it doesn't fit this thread).

Ridgewood dad is right- if you work for the gov't and/or are a union employee you receive guaranteed pay raises which are not performance based. The rest of the middle class working in the private sector does NOT get guaranteed raises, and has to earn them. Hence the private sector is more efficient.

Ever wonder why WTC building 7 was rebuilt in less than 3 years while the replacement for the twin towers isn't done yet? Well, let me answer that - The Government is involved b/c the property for the trade center was Port Authority property. And the overruns and architectural re-drafts and the construction screw ups have all slowed down progress.

Ridgewood Mom, sorry for your misunderstanding. If government was so good and efficient, why does it force itself on you? Amtrak lost $850,000,000 on its food service carts, NJTransit losses money while private transportation makes money. The private sector turns out better students and does it for less than the public school which hide many of their expenses like the property taxes they don't pay for, the SROs the PD pays for, the federal subsidies, etc.

The TSA has sexually molesta millions, and have caught no terrorists. Every jihadi plot the FBI broke up was started by the FBI in a "sting". Should I continued?

Corporations voluntarily pay their executives, can't say the same about ANY government employee.

Outsourcing makes America a wealthier nation. Stop hating on success.

Outsourcing makes Communist China stronger.

The OBAMA PHONE government run program ...IS OUTSORCED!!!

Yes, she is. I can't figure out if she's 25 and naive or 45 and stupid.

And you guys are out of ideas.

But as you said they have to start somewhere and why ont there. There are many benefits they enjoy and they are only losing "personal use". I have no problem with this.

Mark,

Because, if you want to cut millions, you don't do it a relative dollar at a time. Realistically, cutting this perk won't make a dent in the money NJ Transit is losing. The powers that be at NJ Transit should be looking at the bigger picture and where they can make bigger cuts and save more money.

Mark Ruckus- they should, you're right. But starting somewhere is also good. They're taking away free personal use. Oh well. They can still use it for work for free- does this include commuting to/from work? Anyone know for sure?

Other cuts NJ Transit should make- cut lines that are the biggest money losers. That would help. But I'm pretty sure people will go ballistic when they no longer have a train service to/from work.

The math would also work out in this case if subsides were adequate.

Private companies would not struggle if so much money was not taken off the top, and if foreign business was not allowed to compete in the US marketplace using subhuman labor standards.

The problem w/ the subsidies is they are paid for out of gas taxes. You ready to pay another nickel a gallon for gas? I am not, certainly not until the fat is cut from the budget starting w/ free rides for life for workers and ending w/ job cuts at the executive level. When they have cut all they can cut and still need more money, wake me.

RidgewoodMom misses the obvious again. Those cheap good may not be good for the people who may have competed to fill them, but they are good for the other 99%+. Those cheap goods allow our dollar to be traded for more goods.

Remember if "cheap" labor abroad didn't make things so affordable, we'd buy less of stuff so many of the jobs wouldnt exist here to begin with.....

So its heroic to exploit others because it gets you stuff.

Ridgewood mom is obvoiusly a NJTransit employee.

lol I've been accused of being a teacher on here before, but never an NJ Transit employee.

I work in the private sector. I make most of my money off money. I don't work as hard as many NJ transit employees do but I make a lot more money then probably any of them. I do it all legally. And I don't pay a penny more in taxes then I am obligated to by law. :)

Ridgewood mom is suffers from liberal guilt. It's silly.

She also either didn't take a global economics class or didn't understand it.

We do not exploit Chinese workers their government does. As their population becomes increasingly educated and productive, the grip of the communistsis weakens. We saw this in Eastern Europe, we will see this in China to. The great firewall will come down the same way the Berlin wall did.

You do realize that most union workers now work for the government and the people they are taking money from are people like the average guy who rides the bus or train every day to work, right? Those union members are the ones taking money away from their peers. You take back what they took, you give it back to those peers in the form of no rate hike.

BTW, thank the Transit Workers union for the new MTA fare hikes when you get a chances.

Ojo do you realize you are blaming all the ills of society on less than 8% of the workers?

I am blaming the rate hike on the large percent of workers who are unionized who year after year get pay hikes and who's health insurance rates keep rising at far faster rates than inflation. You just find that politically inconvenient in the face of an 11% fare hike that is going to kick all the people who ride the subway in the balls and want to stick your head in the sand and pretend it isn't those workers who are driving up costs.

So you're saying it's the workers and not the insurance companies that raise the insurance rates? You can get a pay raise too, unless you suck at negotiating one. And if you suck at negotiating a raise on your own, you should join a union and bargain collectively. I know you hate taking money out of the CEO's pocket though.

Yes it is the workers. Insurance rates are regulated. They only get to raise rates when their costs go up. Their costs go up when people spend more money on doctors & such. But you clueless rubes who barely can balance your checkbooks just don't seem to understand that. And rates go up even higher when people start taxing insurers, device companies and mandating even higher levels of coverage (as in Obamacare).

Really Ojo? You might want to check out what you think is true in your head.

You might want to pull your head out of your rear end and go check w/ the state of NJ b/c they agree with me.
http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/faq_ihcrates.html#8

My favorite is this one: Q. What have been the main causes of rate increases?
line
A. The primary reasons for rate increases are the increased cost of medical services and increased use of medical services. In addition, premiums may increase for a particular policyholder due to a change in rating factors, for example, premiums generally increase with age.

Ojo my friend, do you realize you are citing regulations in place now because of Obamacare? Do you realize you are getting your insurance through a government sponsored program?! If the govt didn't force the pvt carrier to cover you you would never even be able to get insurance. Even so, the cap is 15% per year raise, when the costs rise about 5%. Medicare costs rise half that. Another reason for single payer, especially since you are a Socialist already for getting your insurance through the government. You're just the type of person Obamacare will benefit since you cannot get your insurance through work or a group.
BTW, I think you are the kinda guy that can agree to this. We're in the USA. Let's use your English name, Conjunctivitis unless you want to return to your old name RedRider and get kicked off the site again.

The point is that NJ Transit can collect money from people who are currently riding for free.

In my opinion, it's nickel-dime stuff as there are likely other places NJ Transit can look at to save some real money.

I think it is safe to assume that they are expecting to pickup revenue off of employees riding to work for them.

I pay for my commute to work, so should they. What makes them so special?

There is enough nickel & dime stuff to add up to some serious dollars. This is blocking & tackling. They have to go after all the nickel & dime stuff to get the budget under control at NJT & everywhere else for that matter. That means going after everyone who rides for free, excessive cell phones handed out, wasteful procurement practices, make work jobs, all of it. No idea if the will do those things but they need to.

And more money into the hands of people who will not spend it.

Not good for an economy.

Based on the article this only affects their PERSONAL trips, not for work. But no workers are not forced to use NJ Transit for their own personal use and if they now need to pay for it I doubt many will use it.

But what doesn't make sense is that it doesn't cost NJ Transit any money to allow the employees to sit in a seat. By revoking this perk it does not create revenue. All it seems to do it piss off your current employees and possibly give the appearance you are doing something to save money (though you are not actually doing that).

More misunderstandings to help Ridgewood Mom with. When someone doesn't spend money and they put it in the bank, the capital is used to loan to people who are willing to take a risk. The role of the bank to manage that risk. If everyone pulled their money from the bank, we would have a repeat of the events that created the conditions for FDR and the Fed to cause the Great Depression.

1. Its simple tryintosurvive. You subsidize it.
2. Its simple tryintosurvive. You tell them they can't.

Can we take that subsidy from RidgewoodMom's money tree or will she be making regular donations?

Lenovo is now making tablets in the US. That's right a Chinese company is making goods here....

Governor Christie and Mitt Romney are both anti-transit.

They are anti-work.

If you work hard to pay your way in society they want you to make less. This is because it will mean less taxes for people who already "make" a lot more, primarily off of the money that they already have. They believe and want you to believe that you are lazier and less productive then what you are getting. They see your contribution to society as synonymous with people who don't work at all, despite the level sweat and smiles to customers that you put on every day. They see you as deserving of no better conditions then those had by sweatshop workers in China because cutting into your earnings will mean that we can all (meaning they) get stuff more cheaply.

Ridgewood Mom clearly has no understanding of the indisputable fact that the #1 and #2 sources of revenue for NJT are from fares on the riders and the NJ Transportation Trust Fund which is funded from taxes on fuel, a portion of the sales tax, vehicle registration fees and not at all from the income taxes. And who pays things like gas taxes & fares to ride the bus and train? Mostly working class people. Another off target and uninformed rant by an uninformed person debunked.

Ojo Rojo clearly has no understanding of the indisputable facts that the #1 most effective way of funding public transportation is via government subsidy (as is done in countless countries where there is much greater success) and that this is considerably more cost effective for taxpayers because current levels of subsidization of the various aspects of motor vehicle transportation are remarkably less cost effective then is strong funding for centralized public transportation.

Ojo Rojo is attempting to frame the discussion according to this false choice between decent NJ Transit employment standards and higher fares for riders because he wishes to divide employees and riders according to a false conflict of interest. There is also the option of increasing state level funding, in order to meet a better balanced budget, paid for by a higher (or more normal) share of taxes on very wealthy individuals. In other words, if we were to reverse austerity.

Duh, and in the rest of the world they subsidize mass transit through even higher gas taxes. Good luck getting any Democrats to agree to that. They all know raising the gas tax means goodbye to any chances of reelection.

This isn't about your liberal pipe dream hypotheticals. This is how things are actually done in the here and now and right now and for the past few decades, NJT has almost entirely been funded through either fares riders pay or through the NJ Transportation Trust Fund. Those are the facts and as much as you want to pretend those aren't the facts, you just can't change those facts to suit your misinformed and blatantly partisan agenda. But thanks for proving yet again you have no clue.

Ojo Rios,

I am not interested in getting democrats to agree to anything. When it comes to Christie and Romney, I just want them to quit slashing the wrong things in the wrong way and democratic rivals have a much better stance on these issues.

For what its worth, I identify as neither a liberal or a democrat. In fact, on social issues I am quite moderate if not a bit conservative. I had also been quite moderate on economic issues until recently. And on those my views haven't changed dramatically but have only been framed further to the left by this absurd radical libertarianism that has been plaguing the republican party in recent years.

You may genuinely be against perks, benefits, decent salaries for NJT employees. FIne. Whatever. There are many ways that could be paid for. You like some and you don't like others. Fine. But let's just acknowledge that all of this is part of a much broader austerity agenda and that you are trying to steer the conversation away from consideration of any other possibilities that may also be available because of your philosophical views that lie outside of this particular issue.

Ridgewood Mom, you keep citing subsidies. You are aware that subsidies mean tax dollars. Treating tax dollars so cavalierly is why we are in the tax mess to begin with.

Amen.

Exactly. The 20 and out mentality of unions is astounding. I do understand earlier retirement if it's a beat cop or firefighter, they can't possibly chase down criminals or fight fires if they're getting old and out of shape, but I hardly consider 38 to be "old" and quite frankly, most of these guys could & do work until they're in their 50's (and get even bigger retirement benefits for putting in 30 + years). Then they retire for 20-30 years and get half (or more) of their last annual salary until both they and their spouse are dead. UNREAL.

Meanwhile the private sector employees work from 22-65 and then have maybe 10 years of retirement before they're dead.

It wouldn't be so bad if union employees were making considerably less than their private sector counterparts, but in a lot of cases, they're making more! DISGUSTING. I work to pay their salary ?? WTF

Ride164- YOU have to pay 17K a year b/c ALL of society benefits from an educational system. If we don't offer *FREE public education, then we end up with illiterates and a drain on the system.

I'm not jealous of public employees. I'm sickened by the ones that take advantage of the system and cannot be fired b/c their union doesn't allow it. GROSS.

*FREE=taxpayer funded

XJS society benefits from public transit as well. Any union employee can be fired. The employer just needs to document a reason. What a concept eh? This provides certainty in the workplace. An employee can plan for the future, buy a house or car and stimulate the economy knowing they won't be fired for no reason.

You chose a path that you felt would benefit yourself better than any other. It didn't work out for you. You couldn't make it working for one boss for 30 years, you couldn't be a loyal employee long enough to get a pension. You couldn't negotiate any of that on your own. Your bad.

Bellair - You're wrong on me.

As to society benefiting from public transit- I agree 100%. I just don't agree with the lifelong perks employees get. My thought is this -if they have to pay for personal use of the bus/train, they MAY stop riding the train/bus on personal time. This may lead to emptier trains/buses that could be discontinued b/c they're a waste of money. This can lead to job cuts at NJ Transit. This will save money. Those cut will have to find work in another quasi-gov't agency OR the private sector. Maybe they'll have to update their skillset. I know it sucks for the people who are let go, but government waste sucks for everyone who pays taxes. That's a greater number of people.

As for firing union employees- if you think one blip on the record gets them fired, no matter how large, you're nuts. Short of getting caught stealing (and even then it's not 100% likely they're going out the door), they can get away with just about anything. I know a union member in NYC that sits at his desk and sleeps ALL MORNING EVERY MORNING from 8-noon, goes to lunch. Walks around chatting for a few hours in the afternoon and goes home at 4pm. He blatantly does 1 hour of work a day max. He cannot be fired & they've stopped writing him up b/c the quality of the work he does do is fine. And, it's not that much less than other people in the office who don't sleep. Clearly working hard is not necessary there. It's unbelievable.

XJS I realize you like using fake information to make your points, but I also know union employees. Real ones. Not made up ones like you. I also have known of union employees being fired. Generally if an employee is written up 3 times before being terminated, but yes someone can be fired for a single infraction. I also know that to get a retirement benefit you need to work a minimum of 35 years and and be at least 55 years of age.

You say you work from home. How productive are you? How many hours are you working, napping or on Patch while getting paid? It is clear you are not working very hard either.

Yes, your statements are unbelievable.

Bellair- the NYC employees union, which constitutes police, fire & people employed by gov't agencies. It's a 20 year and you're out with 50% of the last annual salary pension. After 10 years you get a portion of the last annual salary but not 50%. The gov't employee to whom I'm referring works in the Federal Building and is well known for his antics. He's called a "lifer" and while he's never once been promoted he has received every pay increase. He's been sleeping for years. There's a woman at Federal Plaza (different building) and who works for the Federal gov't that sleeps under her desk most of the day b/c she has a second job at night.

I'm not kidding or exaggerating. They exist.

XJS, why were you saying retiring with full benefits when you've just now said 50%? I was talking about DC37 NYC's largest municipal employee union.

ride164- You understand that infrastructure (roads, schools, sewer systems, garbage dumps etc) are good for everyone, no? So you chose not to have children - the benefit to that is you can live virtually anywhere with no regard to the school system. Feel free to move to a lower tax neighborhood with terrible schools. And while you're driving there, think about thanking people who pay more in taxes than you and made that road you're driving on possible.

Sue, You hit the nail right on the head – All this favoritism has to stop. Only problem is if we stop it all, it will take all the power away from the politicians who pass out the favors, and give the power back to the people. OMG, what a concept!

I, for one, am sick and tired of seeing our politicians treat themselves like kings at our expense, and I’m more then sick and tired of realizing they treat their “friends” just the same, on our dime. Don’t believe me? Try to get a government job without the help of a politician. Good luck. I know of at least 4 cases where political ties got people good, and by good I mean well over $100,000 a year jobs, just because they knew the right guy and campaigned for him. I know of many people who don’t get the same traffic tickets you and I would because they have a PBA card. How unfair is that? BTW, I ripped mine up; I refuse to be a hypocrite like so many other who complain about all this stuff, but allow themselves to be bought. And last but not least, and this one really burns my behind. I know of a case where a student who didn’t cut it for one of the State universities she wanted to go to, not only got in, but “fell” into a full boat scholarship, again just because her daddy knew the right folks to grease.

And we wonder why America is failing! We are screwed!

There is truth to what you say. It makes sense.

However, this playing field of one gets more because ... just sets us up for failure down the line.

I don't think some people have a real experience of what this economy is like and how devastating it can be.

Not fully true. NJ Transit hires many 60k and under consultants who are not unionized.

Toomany – It is a free country. Don’t like your employer anymore – QUIT – go over to that higher paying Rail Road, wherever that may be! Which Politician got you into NJTrans.? Everyone knows if you don’t have a political daddy to open the government employment doors for you, you be screwed! No government jobs for us lowly boys and girls!

BTW Toomany, if you are leaving I’LL Take your Job in a Heart Beat!

PS. Tell your political friend I'll put up yard signs for him, heck I'll blanket the State (and take down the ones running against him) and I don't even care what party he is with, I just need a job. Oh, Oh, I can donate a little, a very little bit too.

Thats BS BillBalls. Uneducated conservatives such as yourself think that only connected people can get government jobs. Not true.

Government Monopoly!!!! I hear ya, I was trying to buy a Senator last week but none were available in my price range. Total price gauging, ugh.