2003 February

December

Calendar16 Education

Committee

23 Executive

Board

23 Union

Meeting

Mpls.

Local 1005

Officers

President/Business

Agent

Ron Lloyd

Vice-President

Michelle

Sommers

Recording Secretary &

Asst. Business Agent

Kellie Miller

Financial Secretary

Treasurer

Jerry Ewald

Union Office Phone

612-379-2914

e-mail

[email protected]

www.atu1005.com

THE

PRESIDENT�S

CORNER

ATU Local 1005

President–Business Agent

Ron Lloyd

Page 2

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! MAY YOU AND YOUR

LOVED ONES ENJOY THE SEASON IN

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

We want to encourage all members to attend the Contract

Meeting on Sunday, December 28, 2003, 11:00 AM, at the

Minneapolis Convention Center. The room will be open at

10:00 AM and copies of the contract offer will be available

for your review for one hour before the meeting is called to

order. The Executive Board members will announce their rec-

ommendation, the contract offer will be explained and your

questions and comments will be heard.

Voting will take place at the Convention Center following

adjournment of the meeting until 4:00 PM. Members who are

unable to attend the Sunday meeting may come to the Union

Office, 312 Central Avenue, Room 438, Minneapolis, between

9:00 AM and 5:00 PM to pick up a copy of the proposed offer

and to vote.

Remember that the contract agreement between ATU 1005

and Metro Transit not only effects your work life, but it can

also greatly impact your family and home life. This contract

meeting is your best opportunity to ask questions and to be

heard..

Page 4

Part One: Background: Why, what, where and how!

Part Two next issue: Inside the world of LRT

BY LIZBETH GOLDBERG

HIAWATHA LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT

Metropolitan Growth and Congestion:

With 2.6 million people, the Metropolitan area currently ranks 14th in the nation in population, remain-

ing fairly constant over the past twenty years. However, our congestion rank has risen from around

40th in 1980 to 34th in 1990 to 17th today.

Congestion:

Texas Transportation Institute's annual urban mobility report ranked St. Paul and Minneapolis as having the

nation's 17th worst traffic among the 75 cities surveyed. The Twin Cities experienced the fourth-highest rate of

congestion growth from 1996 through 2001. Two years ago, 71 percent of metro area commuters experienced

traffic congestion during rush hours. Up from 13 percent in 1982, when the studies began, Tim Hinkel,

Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDot) Program Manager reviewed the study for MnDot. He said

"While buses, ramp meters and "freeway incident management" help alleviate congestion in the region, it's clear

those strategies and the current highway construction program aren't keeping pace with the growth in traffic."

Pioneer Press, Oct. 1, 2003

Population and Growth:

- Between 1990 and 2000, the population of the Twin Cities grew 15.4%, from 2,288,721 people (1990 census)

to 2,968,806 (2000 census), nearly 3% more than the estimated 12.65% growth.

- Between 1990 and 2000, the number of households in the Twin Cities grew 16.7%, from 875,504 to 1,021,454,

more than the estimated growth of 14.35%.

- The Twin Cities is the 15th most populated metro area. (New York is first with a population of 21,199,865;

Kansas City, with a population of 1,776,062, is 25th.)

- According to the 1990 census Minnesota ranked 10th in percent of population that use public transportation

(5.3%).

Forecast and Framework of Met Council:

The Met Council has conducted preliminary forecasts for the seven-county region to 2030. Findings include:

- Continued strong growth: 930,000 more people, 460,000 more households, and 550,000 more jobs.

- Household growth in the next two decades expected to surpass any previous decade.

Immigration, typically one-third of region's growth, will increase its share by 2030.

Page 6

AT THE GARAGE

SouthContact Liz Goldberg

Dan AbramowiczHired in August of 1992 as a

Driver operator, Dan has called

South Garage home for all of

his eleven years, along with

serving as South's Union

Representative since 1995.

"In 1995 I took the job as

Union Rep, I wanted to try it

and see what it was like. My

first year, we had the strike.

Then Coleman restructuring. I

was a new board member and it

was tough; 1996 was the tough-

est. Then as time went on, it

started to swing forward. Now

my biggest challenge is trying to

keep track of drivers and their

numbers."

"In 2000 I turned down a

Schedule Making position that I

had applied for in 1999. I decid-

ed to hold off on it; I like my

job here and I still like driving.

I like the interaction in the

garage. People know me, they

like me and I like them and I

get along with management."

"I put it this way: I have a good

relationship with management,

but a better one with drivers."

In May 2002 Dan married MJR

Operator and Union

Representative Michelle

Sommers, who has since been

elected Local 1005 Vice

President.

"My marriage to Michelle is the

best thing that's ever happened

to me! My wife helps me a lot.

She is my sounding board. She

is my inspiration - both emo-

tionally and intellectually.”

Dan is also Editorial Board

member on the Education

Committee

The Nicollet Service

Advisory Team (SAT)

developed the Operating

Conditions Report (OCR) in early

2000. The purpose of the OCR

was to simplify and combine the

numerous forms used for similar

purposes, and more importantly,

to provide a method for tracking

and responding to concerns.

The OCR would replace various

documents: Employee

Suggestions for Schedule,

Headway and Map Changes,

Report of Overloads and Passing

Up, and District Supervisor

Request for Service

Planning/Scheduling Assistance.

The OCR provided a single docu-

ment for employees to submit

schedule concerns for review.

The Driver Exception Report

(DER) and Running Time Report

Card would remain in use, as they

are primarily used for other pur-

poses and don't provide sufficient

data to warrant a schedule change.

The proposed form was reviewed

by the SAT at each of the service

garages. Each SAT held meetings

at their garage to present the OCR

concept and to answer drivers'

questions. Large posters were

created for an OCR "How to Use"

guide and displayed in the drivers

rooms at all the garages. Trainers

and garage managers encouraged

operator use of the OCR to

address service concerns.

Initially, the OCR was a paper

document; the first OCR was sub-

mitted in December 2000. The

current electronic OCR program

replaced the paper-based one on

January 1, 2003, with little fan-

fare. Drivers continued to submit

an OCR to a garage manager, dis-

trict supervisor, trainer or coordi-

nator, or in the 'OCR Drop Box'.

The manager or designated

appointee at each garage is

responsible for the first review of

each OCR. If the garage repre-

sentative believes the concern

doesn't warrant a schedule change,

an explanation will be sent to the

driver, for instance, 'your report of

overload is acceptable under our

peak load standard of 125% of a

seated load on local routes'. If the

representative agrees with the

concern, it is forwarded to Service

Development and an acknowl-

edgement sent to the driver.

Forwarded OCRs are logged elec-

tronically in Service Development

and tracked similarly to customer

contacts in Customer Relations.

A contact person is responsible for

logging responses, assigning them

Have You Submitted

an OCR Lately? By Sheila Miller

Continued Page 15

Page 8

Not all results were positive how-

ever. In Denver bus vandalism

soared until the system launched

an anti-vandalism program in area

schools and began assigning plain

clothes security personnel to cer-

tain buses. Several operators also

objected to overcrowding of the

buses, scheduling problems and

difficulties with joy-riding juve-

niles. High inflation and concerns

with growing public deficits were

the main culprits in ending

progress of the no-fare experi-

ments.

Experiments Doomed

By the late 1970's financial con-

siderations had propelled several

transit systems including those in

Washington DC and Chicago to

increase fares. In 1979 operators

represented by Dallas Local 1338

found themselves collecting fares

50% higher than those of the year

before. Not long thereafter all talk

of fare reductions was quieted

when the newly elected Reagan

Administration threatened to make

significant cuts in federal transit

funding and pledged to shift fed-

eral program costs to local gov-

ernments.

CRYPTOS by PAT KELEHAN

Each letter stands for another. Ifyou think X=O, for example, itwould equal O throughout thepuzzle.

Clue: C=I

HUM TXCLX KZB DFMGTHDG YDBH

UCB UTCG FCMPM QUML BQCHPUCLX

DL HUM RGCSMG'B ATL. UM QTB

RCBPCFYCLMR ADG KYDQCLX UCB

HDF!

Answer on page 19

History

Continued from Page 3

Other Members that

have died: Paul

Derrick # 1479 -

Retired.

Timothy McRaven

4/15/69 - 11/30/03

Tim, Operator #9669, passed

away at the age of 34, after an

unexpected illness. He was

first hired as a part-time driver

in 1996; Tim left service the

same year and was re-hired

April 1998 and drove out of

Heywood garage.

Tim had a quiet presence, but

you always knew he was "in

the house". He was loved by

many and will be sorely

missed. Tim is survived by his

wife, Shantell, twin daughters

born in December 2003, his

parents, three brothers and

many other relatives and

friends. Tim's brother

Donald (Bruce) Mc Raven, is

South operator #9019.

"He touched many and will

never be forgotten," say his

union brothers and sisters.

Page 10

cent of transit passenger-mile

growth in the U.S. from 1990-

2000. Buses accounted for 4 per-

cent and other modes 12 percent.

Source: APTA

Without Metro Transit and other

regional bus operators, Twin

Cities residents would spend an

additional $222 million each year

on lost time and wasted fuel. Source: Urban Mobility Report 2003,

Texas Transportation Institute

Twin Cities' households devote

17.9 cents of every dollar to trans-

portation, spending an average of

$9,167 a year to get around. The

Twin Cities ranked 17th most

expensive of 28 major metropoli-

tan areas based on the amount

families spend on transportation. Source: Transportation Costs and the

American Dream - Why a Lack of

Transportation Choices Strains the

Family Budget and Hinders Home

Ownership, Surface Transportation

Policy Project.

Light Rail Legislative Timeline

1975: Minnesota Legislature pro-

hibits the Metropolitan Transit

Commission (MTC) from using

transit tax levies for any prelimi-

nary work on an automated fixed

guide-way system. (Laws of

Minnesota 1975, chapter 13, sec-

tion 71(d))

1980: Minnesota Legislature

directs the Metropolitan Council

to conduct a feasibility study of

light rail transit in the metropoli-

tan area. (Laws of Minnesota

1980, chapter 607, article 13, sec-

tion 3)

1984: Minnesota Legislature cre-

ates Regional Transit Board

(RTB). (Laws of Minnesota 1984,

chapter 654, article 3, section 116)

1985: Minnesota Legislature pro-

hibits any expenditure of public

funds on light rail transit. (Laws

of Minnesota 1Sp 1985, chapter

10, section 105)


removes the 1985 prohibition by

giving any regional rail authority

the ability to study, plan, or design

a light rail transit system. (Laws

of Minnesota 1987, chapter 405,

section 4) In addition, the

Metropolitan Council is allowed

to cooperate with the regional rail

authorities in light rail transit

planning. (Laws of Minnesota

1987, chapter 405, section 3)


appropriates $4.17 million (avail-

able only if matched with dollar

for dollar amounts from other

funding sources) for regional rail-

road authorities to plan, design

and construct light rail transit

facilities. (Laws of Minnesota

1988, chapter 684, article 2, sec-

tion 2)


requires the RTB to adopt a

regional light rail plan. (Laws of


tion 12)

Minnesota Legislature creates the

Joint Light Rail Transit Advisory

Committee to assist the RTB in

LRT planning. (Laws on


tion 13)

1991: Minnesota Legislature cre-

ates the Light Rail Transit Joint

Powers Board. (Laws of

Minnesota 1991, chapter 298, arti-

cle 7, section 8)


establishes the Corridor

Management Committee (Laws of


tion 12)

1994: Minnesota Legislature abol-

ishes the RTB. All duties and

responsibilities are transferred to

Hiawatha Light RailTransitContinued from Page 5

Hiawatha Light Rail Facility - Receiving

Feeder Bus Service: 46 Metro

Transit routes will connect to 13

rail stations with timed transfers,

delivering 20% of all rail cus-

tomers to their station. Bus serv-

ice to provide neighborhood

access to the LRT and facilitate

cross-town and reverse commute

travel options.

Fare collection: Self-service, bar-

rier free, proof of payment.

Fare price: Light-rail fares will

be the same as bus fares.

Transfers will be valid between

bus and rail if used within 2 ½

hours.

Construction funding: (in mil-

lions)

Federal Transit Administration

(FTA) - $334.3

State of Minnesota - $100

Metropolitan Airports

Commission (MAC) - $87

Hennepin County Regional Rail

Authority - $84.2

Federal Grant for Congestion

Mitigation & Air Quality

(CMAQ) - $49.8

Transit capital grant - $39.9

Minnesota Department of

Transportation (MnDOT) - $20.1

TOTAL $715,300,000

Partners:

Metropolitan Council - owner

Metro Transit - operator

MnDOT - design and construction

Metropolitan Airports

Commission

Hennepin County

City of Bloomington

City of Minneapolis

October 2003:The Hiawatha light-

rail project was more than 80%

complete and continued to be on

time and on budget.

Vehicles:

Five light rail vehicles are in the

LRT maintenance facility and are

being tested for performance and

safety on tracks between the

Cedar Riverside and Lake Street -

Midtown stations.

Construction Progress:

Twelve stations have been com-

pleted in Minneapolis; crews are

completing installation of tracks

and electrical wires, signals and

gate arms at

crossings.

Construction

crews will

move south

at the end of

this year to

complete

facilities at

the airport

and in

Bloomington

to the Mall

of America.

Bloomington

construction

began in

April; crews

will progress in stages down the

median of 34th Ave. Both airport

tunnels have been mined success-

fully without cost overruns or

schedule delays.

The Metro Transit Light Rail

Transit Operations and

Maintenance Facility was com-

pleted in spring 2003. The facility

will house LRT vehicles, opera-

tional and maintenance facilities

and the rail Control Center.

Bloomington/Mall of America

realignment:

An enhanced alignment will relo-

cate the Mall of America Station

within the Mall's existing transit

center, and triple park-and-ride

capacity.

Signals: Train detection signal

lights.

Grade Crossings: Graded=15

Traffic lights with

preemption = 10

Traffic lights without

Preemption =8

Stations:

Each station will feature a unique

design that reflects the character

of the surrounding neighborhood.

Stations are expected to attract

transit-related development, such

as housing, stores, and services, in

nearby areas. The city of

Minneapolis is coordinating plan-

ning for each station.

Bus/light rail coordination:

Metro Transit service planners are

working to ensure that bus routes

and schedules will be closely

aligned with light rail.

Corridor residents fear that that

neighborhood streets will fill with

cars left behind by light-rail pas-

sengers. Met Council hired park-

ing experts to suggest remedies

that have worked for other cities

Page 12

Out on the Track under I-94

Page 14

ANGERThis subject has been covered well in a book by McKay, Rogers, and McKay. Our human emotions

have been the topic of many books, articles and countless investigations. Anger has been called right-

eous indignation that calls us to act in moral defiance to injustice. Feelings of being attacked, con-

trolled or abandoned often bring the kind of stress that we need to cope with. We have often sub-

scribed to the theory that anger just needs to be expressed for mental health, but the authors of this

book tell us that these ideas and other popular concepts are incorrect. They boldly claim, "anger is

rarely inescapable and seldom necessary." They use some powerful ideas to back up this claim.

Relieving stress and coping with anxious, painful moments is a goal and the temporary result of anger.

It is not, however the anger that is legitimate and right, but the human suffering stimulated by the

experience of stress.

Anger, however, is just one of the many coping strategies available to discharge stressful stimulus.

These coping strategies are necessary because our picture of a world in which people act in good and

correct ways is often violated. While we were children, we quickly learned to control stress by looking

at how our parents cope and began making it part of our own behavior patterns. Anger, they point out,

it too often the strategy we use in spite of it's limited value. The cost of anger in stress reduction is

usually too high. It takes such a huge toll on us from a physical standpoint and it tends to damage rela-

tionships. People who use coercive strategies such as anger on a long term basis, can expect their sup-

port and appreciation to diminish over time. The anger cycle can feed on itself, is rarely about real

issues, and worst of all it can obscure the path to real solutions.

The most often cited reason to justify anger has been shown to lack merit. Failing to express anger

does not build up more anger. Additionally the trigger thoughts that we use to generate our anger may

be false, or at best very debatable, and our anger could, because of this, have no legitimate basis.

When we feel stress, we can choose another way of coping, we can turn away from angry triggering

thoughts. The authors encourage us to find individual ways of coping and suggest some of the follow-

ing:

1. Exercising

2. Intense work activity

3. Humor

4. Writing

5. Relaxation exercises

6. Verbalizing pain (self controlled)

7. Recreation

8. Problem-solving activities

9. Problem-solving communication

10. Music

11. Resting

12. Crying

By K. H. Rice

This list is by no means all there is, but these points are meant to give use some ideas. Any one of

these can be used instead of anger when you feel stressed. We'd like to know, what seems to work for

you? If you have an unusual or interesting idea and would like to share it with the rest of us, give us a

call. Unions rely on writing and problem solving and see value in these other ideas.

This information was taken from "When Anger Hurts" by McKay, Rogers, and McKay.

Page 16

In November, Local 1005 sent

two delegates to Miami,

Florida to participate in a rally

protesting the Free Trade Area of

the Americas (FTAA). Jerry

Ewald and I proudly carried our

ATU 1005 banner in a march

through downtown Miami, which

consisted of an estimated crowd

of 20,000 union members.

The Labor March went off with-

out incident; however, it was sort

of wild. The police presence was

unbelievable. There were thou-

sands of officers in full riot gear

lining the streets. They had

armored vehicles, tear gas, hel-

mets, shields and enough weapon-

ry to squelch any would-be riot-

ers. There was some violence

from an anarchist group through-

out the day but labor's representa-

tives held a peaceful rally.

We also attended a forum where

we heard workers from Brazil,

Columbia, Nicaragua, Mexico and

the United States tell how the

North American Free Trade

Agreement (NAFTA) has nega-

tively impacted their lives. The

workers spoke so passionately that

it was often hard to follow what

they were saying; their inter-

preters could hardly keep up, or

be heard, as the workers got loud-

er and louder, telling their stories

of mistreatment. However, their

message was still clear, SAY NO

TO THE FTAA. John Sweeney,

President of the National AFL-

CIO emphasized we must say NO

to corporate control of our gov-

ernments.

The FTAA expands NAFTA to

include Central America, South

America and the Caribbean. The

FTAA and the General Agreement

on Trade in Services (GATS) are

particularly worrisome to public

sector employees. These trade

agreements, if passed, will consid-

er services a tradable commodity.

This can force privatization of

public services such as utilities,

public transit, postal services, san-

itation, healthcare and education.

Multinational corporations can sue

governments for any actions that

could decrease future profits,

which could include public sector

employees competing with the

private sector. In addition, these

unfair trade agreements under-

mine our democracy by giving

multinational corporations more

power than our elected officials.

The FTAA sets ceilings on things

like environmental standards

rather than minimums. For exam-

ple, if the United States passes an

environmental standard that

exceeds the FTAA's standard, our

government can be sued for creat-

ing a barrier to the trade agree-

ment. The self-serving multina-

tional corporations have the abili-

ty to override a community's com-

mon good efforts in order to

improve their bottom line.

The deadline for negotiating the

FTAA and GATS is January 2005.

It is imperative that we have a

regime change in November 2004.

We must elect a President that

will protect worker's rights and

not sign these agreements into

law.

This issue is extremely important

to all of us. Please seek out more

information and get the word out

about how this will negatively

impact workers from around the

globe. We must demand fair trade,

not free trade.

More information is available at

www.aflcio.org/stopftaa,

www.globalexchange.org,

www.fairtradenow.org.

Local 1005 Protests in MiamiBy Delroy Schafer

Page 18

Letters

To The

Editor

Continued

an overall strategy to control costs

and the process of health care

delivery.

Health insurance companies

offered a different approach, with

more freedom of choice of doctors

but always more expensive.

Some tried to incorporate ele-

ments of control, like member

clinics, to control costs, but the

different entities were ultimately

independent and there was the

element of insurance company

profit(greed) driving costs.

Health care became an issue in the

1992 presidential race and the

Clinton Administration set out to

do something about the lack of

coverage and high cost connected

to coverage. Their solution was

to try to manage care. This

involved getting people to sign up

for some sort of managed care or

HMO in an attempt to emulate the

success of efforts like Group

Health to control costs.

This attempt sent a wave of panic

into the insurance companies for

various reasons, not the least of

which is federal regulation. You

see, in the land where insurance

was invented, after all these

years, there is still no federal reg-

ulation on insurance companies.

Regulation is left entirely up to

the states. The state with the

weakest regulation is Arizona,

thus the large number of

insurance companies in Arizona.

Don’t forget that just because a

company is headquartered in one

state doesn’t mean it can’t do

business in any other state; in fact

it is often the most profitable way

to conduct business.

Managed care would have brought

national competition and lowering

of costs and profits. Insurance

companies saw this threat to their

profits and fought the Clinton ini-

tiatives in two ways. One way

was an intensive lobbying and

public relations campaign with

several million dollars spent try-

ing to influence public opinion

and ultimately congressional

votes.

The other way was to go buy up

as many HMO’s as possible.

Either way the insurance compa-

nies still had the source of their

profits covered, expensive tradi-

tional insurance policies or owner-

ship of HMO’s. The strategy

worked better than their wildest

dreamers could have imagined, as

Congress rejected the proposed

plan and purchasing HMO’s was

easily accomplished.

In Minnesota, Group Health

was bought by Prudential and its

name changed to Health Partners,

leaving insurance executives in

control of the most successfully

cost-controlled delivery system in

the country. The implications for

insurance profits are truly

astounding.

We are left in a vulnerable spot by

our positions as consumers of

health care. The costs shown to

us recently show premiums of

$1130 per month split between

company and worker for depend-

ent coverage. That translates into

more than six dollars and fifty

cents per hour for a forty hour

work week, over $13560 per year.

Life insurance only costs about

ten percent of that amount.

I would like to suggest that there

is another way to purchase

health care. Under a single-payer

Canadian style plan, could it

possibly cost so much? In

Australia, health care can be pur-

chased from the government for

about $2400 a year and people

can opt out and receive a refund

of their taxes to purchase health

care from the private sector.

If a low-cost alternative to out of

control health insurance is offered

in this country, we can bet that the

insurance executives will be

fighting it all the way. After all,

it looks like as much as $10,000

of the annual cost is profit. When

the Province of Saskatchewan first

tried single payer, some thought

uninsured would move in and

businesses would move out.

What actually happened was that

businesses moved in because they

could guarantee health care for

their employees, giving them a

competitive advantage in attract-

ing workers that soon caused

other parts of Canada to follow

suit.

The State of Minnesota could go

beyond just buying cheaper

prescription drugs in Canada and

offer a single payer plan to once

again lead the nation in this field.

Just as Richard Nixon could go to

China in the 70’s without being

called a patsy of the Communists,

our conservative governor could

establish a single payer plan with-

out being called a Socialist.

Instead, he would be viewed as a

pragmatist making an innovative

attempt to solve a very tough

problem.

Frank Collins - South Dispatch

From the Executive Board

Happy Holidays

Documents

2003 February