Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, September 8, 2010
News Morning News
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 8:00 AM
That sounds ominous: Sri Lanka ends presidential term limits.
Maybe Seattle Metro drivers will want to join those striking transportation workers in Paris and London: County government looking to suspend cost-of-living-increases for drivers (and did you know they average $61,000 a year?).
Spilling oil, spreading blame: BP points fingers at Transocean, Halliburton, and others for the Gulf catastrophe.
Spil ym daer: Obama stands firm against extending the high-end Bush-era tax cuts.
Another police officer fatally shoots a man with a knife: This time in Los Angeles.
A love deferred: Rodney King marries one of his jurors.
Lights out: Last GE factory making incandescent bulbs closes, "green" manufacturing jobs move overseas.
Here's a headline for the arachnophobes: "There aren't more spiders, they're just bigger and mature."
At the same time the region's most obvious outdoor spider seems to be everywhere, our largest house spider is also at its most active. Males of Tegenaria gigantea, the giant house spider, are on the prowl. And some are as big as your hand.
2
Why do people riot in LA when the cops kill a person of color with a knife and in Seattle people hold candle light vigils?
The same reason people riot in LA after the Lakers win a championship?
The same reason people riot in LA after the Lakers win a championship?
3
Beats me, @2. I'm still trying to figure out why people don't drop the knife when a cop pointing a gun at them yells "drop the knife!"
7
Only 61K to be responsible for the lives of complete strangers while arguing with schizophrenic homeless people? Sounds like they need a better union.
8
Good for you, Rodney. I think you're the only decent person who's ever been on Celebrity Rehab or Sober House.
9
@3 I can't tell if you're being willfully stupid or you really can't understand.
Now, I don't know what was in Mr. Williams' mind, or in the cops'. Being a thinking person, and taking the relevant data at hand, I can surmise a few things. One, Mr. Williams was an artisan, and it could very likely be that he thought of the knife as his tool, not as a weapon, and therefore wouldn't immediately think of it as the cause of the cops' fear. Two, he apparently was partially deaf, and it is possible that he didn't hear what specifically it was that was the source of the cops' fear. Three, according to some who knew him, Mr. Williams was a friendly and gentle person, it is very possible that he continued to move towards the cop in an effort to help him through his fear.
Again, these are guesses based on the various things I've read. They might not be true. I do have an imagination, and can come up w/ various other scenarios that also fit the available accounts of the incident. Since you're having trouble w/ your own imagination, please feel free to ask me what these other scenarios might me.
Now, I don't know what was in Mr. Williams' mind, or in the cops'. Being a thinking person, and taking the relevant data at hand, I can surmise a few things. One, Mr. Williams was an artisan, and it could very likely be that he thought of the knife as his tool, not as a weapon, and therefore wouldn't immediately think of it as the cause of the cops' fear. Two, he apparently was partially deaf, and it is possible that he didn't hear what specifically it was that was the source of the cops' fear. Three, according to some who knew him, Mr. Williams was a friendly and gentle person, it is very possible that he continued to move towards the cop in an effort to help him through his fear.
Again, these are guesses based on the various things I've read. They might not be true. I do have an imagination, and can come up w/ various other scenarios that also fit the available accounts of the incident. Since you're having trouble w/ your own imagination, please feel free to ask me what these other scenarios might me.
10
Here's a rebuttal from the Local 587 Transit Union (pages 4, 5, and 11):
http://www.atu587.com/documents/ATUAugus…
And here (page 7):
http://www.atu587.com/documents/ATUSept2…
http://www.atu587.com/documents/ATUAugus…
And here (page 7):
http://www.atu587.com/documents/ATUSept2…
11
@9, as it happens, I was referring to the guy in LA who got shot, so maybe you're the one who's obtuse.
12
@3:
Maybe because hard-of-hearing people don't always HEAR the cop, ya think?
@1:
The fact they're stuck living in L.A. is in my mind the only justification they need to riot at the drop of a hat.
And Brendan, put down the WPC crack-pipe already. The average WAGE (which is very different from a SALARY) of a Metro driver is currently around $47K per year - NOT including overtime. The additional income is derived from the fact that Metro's 2700 drivers put in an average of about 8 hours of overtime per week. Why? Simply because it more cost-effective for Metro to pay them lots of overtime, rather than hire additional drivers or put the roughly 37% of the workforce currently working part-time (averaging about 10 hours per week) on full-time status.
Maybe because hard-of-hearing people don't always HEAR the cop, ya think?
@1:
The fact they're stuck living in L.A. is in my mind the only justification they need to riot at the drop of a hat.
And Brendan, put down the WPC crack-pipe already. The average WAGE (which is very different from a SALARY) of a Metro driver is currently around $47K per year - NOT including overtime. The additional income is derived from the fact that Metro's 2700 drivers put in an average of about 8 hours of overtime per week. Why? Simply because it more cost-effective for Metro to pay them lots of overtime, rather than hire additional drivers or put the roughly 37% of the workforce currently working part-time (averaging about 10 hours per week) on full-time status.
13
Funny, as a full time Metro Driver, whom has barely 40 minutes of overtime built in a week, I am grossing only 57,00 this year. After 8 years of service, I guess I just don't cut the muster to earn barely over the median income for King County.
PR is Metro's Gestapo. The CEO (That's right CE mother fucking O!) is trying to pin the cut of service on the drivers. Kevin Desmond refuses to take a pay cut, unless all union members due as well.
Funny, Metro pays out bonuses to their salaried management. Metro operates not just as a bumbling beaucracy, but also as a corporate empire.
Desmondes is launching a PR stab at our union in hopes to sway drivers. We can't strike. Like police officers and fire fighters, we are forced into arbitration. The county has lost more contractual arbitration suits then they can count. He is trying to sway as by attacking us with public outcry.
Last contract, we took a reduction in our COLA (Cost Of Living Increase, actually 2%). This occurred mid-contract, with the recession in full swing.
We don't actually get raises. If our COLA is forever removed: I may never see more then 28.47 an hour for more then ten years. The ATU is willing to bargain a freeze on the COLA for several years, AS LONG AS THE COLA HAS TO BE RE-ACTIVATED AFTER THE RECESSION. Desmondes refuses to negotiate.
Does anybody bother to do any expose on Metro's bloated management? After all their salaries are public record.
PR is Metro's Gestapo. The CEO (That's right CE mother fucking O!) is trying to pin the cut of service on the drivers. Kevin Desmond refuses to take a pay cut, unless all union members due as well.
Funny, Metro pays out bonuses to their salaried management. Metro operates not just as a bumbling beaucracy, but also as a corporate empire.
Desmondes is launching a PR stab at our union in hopes to sway drivers. We can't strike. Like police officers and fire fighters, we are forced into arbitration. The county has lost more contractual arbitration suits then they can count. He is trying to sway as by attacking us with public outcry.
Last contract, we took a reduction in our COLA (Cost Of Living Increase, actually 2%). This occurred mid-contract, with the recession in full swing.
We don't actually get raises. If our COLA is forever removed: I may never see more then 28.47 an hour for more then ten years. The ATU is willing to bargain a freeze on the COLA for several years, AS LONG AS THE COLA HAS TO BE RE-ACTIVATED AFTER THE RECESSION. Desmondes refuses to negotiate.
Does anybody bother to do any expose on Metro's bloated management? After all their salaries are public record.
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