We received this email:
Dear Honorable County Commissioners,
Today, Sunday, April 23, 2017 a packed Union Hall made up of over 60 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1395 which represents the Transit workers who work for Escambia County Area Transit and Escambia County Community Transportation held a “special vote” addressing a vote of “no confidence” of First Transit Corporate. The Union members quickly took a unanimous vote with many members holding both arms up.
First Transit has lost the faith of the workforce after the debacle of mis-managing the ECAT workers 401k defined contribution plan. Last June, after complaints started rising from ECAT Transit workers that felt their 401k pension contributions and employer contributions were not being matched or in many cases to many members not even being contributed to. After researching the numbers the Union quickly filed a grievance on behalf of all Transit workers.
The grievance is still pending and even been process to an arbitration. But, because this has been argued before the County Commissioners during public forums in the past and the Clerk of the Court has hired an independent auditor who has to review the pending case. The ECAT workforce has been loud and vocal about their anger of monies missing from their pension accounts.
The clear message from the Union members was its time for First Transit to go. What was noticeable was the motion on the floor did not include the local First Transit Management, just Corporate First Transit. The Union also expressed concerns of ECCT being managed by small transit companies. Tarah Lovette, one of the senior drivers at ECCT stated, we’ve worked for a small Company in the past, “we did that, and we’ve done that” referring to Pensacola Bay Transportation running the Paratransit system in the past before losing the contract due to causing major safety hazards with unsafe vehicles. “There is only option and its time for the County to take over ECAT and ECCT services!
The membership took a vote of no confidence of First Transit Corporate. Again, it passed unanimously! Time for change!
Respectfully,
Michael A. Lowery
President / Business Agent
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1395
The BOCC would be crazy to take over this bunch. They need to rethink the whole need to have a taxpayer funder transportation system. It seems it has always been ripe for abuse, inefficiencies, and employees that are always threatening to shut down the system for those handful of people that use it until their demands are met. Probably cheaper to give everyone who rides it free UBER rides. Take the money that is wasted on all these gas guzzler buses and put it toward the new jail and cut a deal with UBER. Adios ECAT!
People who wear uniforms and drive buses designated as “Escambia County” Area Transit (ECAT) should be public employees working for “Escambia County.” Almost every person living in Escambia County probably thinks that the person driving a bus on which they are riding “is” an employee of Escambia County. If the Board of County Commissioners thinks it is a good idea to contract out public transportation to the private sector, why not conduct a comprehensive review of the county government and contact out everything that can be contracted out to include the public library system and the county’s fire department? This seems like an easy decision to make. The Board is well-briefed about the long-standing private contractor issues that result in a lack of accountability for public transportation. If the Board feels the decision is too hard for it to make alone, it could put the question to voters on the November 2018 ballot to get the public’s guidance and direction.