More Reasons to Fear Public Employee Unions

Coyote Blog ^ | May 20, 2008 | Warren Meyer

[ml/nj]

Most all local governments have extensive programs in place for government inspection of elevators because, you know, private businesses can't be trusted to operate safe equipment. But it turns out the least safe elevators are operated by the government itself:

New York City Transit has spent close to $1 billion to install more than 200 new elevators and escalators in the subway system since the early 1990s, and it plans to spend almost that much again for dozens more machines through the end of the next decade. It is an investment of historic dimensions, aimed at better serving millions of riders and opening more of the subway to the disabled.

These are the results:

¶One of every six elevators and escalators in the subway system was out of service for more than a month last year, according to the transit agency’s data.

¶The 169 escalators in the subway averaged 68 breakdowns or repair calls each last year, with the worst machines logging more than double that number. And some of the least reliable escalators in the system are also some of the newest, accumulating thousands of hours out of service for what officials described as a litany of mechanical flaws.

¶Two-thirds of the subway elevators — many of which travel all of 15 feet — had at least one breakdown last year in which passengers were trapped inside.

The whole thing is pretty depressing. But perhaps just as depressing is the fact that the NY Times, in a quite lengthy article, never once questions why the government is in the elevator maintenance business at all. You see, the New York City Transit system hires all of its own maintenance people, presumably because, though the article never mentions it, the public employees union insists that these functions remain in house. OK, here is a quiz: How many private elevator owners in New York City have their own staff repair elevators? My guess is the answer is close to zero. Everyone uses third party elevator equipment repair companies or operate under long-term service contracts with the manufacturer. Why? Well, lets see what problems NY Transit faces:

“They don’t have enough competent people with the proper training,” said Michele O’Toole, the president of J. Martin Associates, which the transit agency hired in 2006 to evaluate its elevator operations. “It all reflects back to qualifications, training, capabilities.”...

Elevators and escalators are spread out over a far-flung system, requiring more mechanics and slowing responses to breakdowns. There has been little standardization of parts, so mechanics must cope with a bewildering hodgepodge of machinery. And the machines, which operate 24 hours a day, are subject to all sorts of abuse: Elevators become makeshift bathrooms, and escalator steps are pounded by heavily loaded hand trucks.

Guess what? These are all classic reasons for outsourcing. Manhattan elevator maintenance companies are set up to handle a far-flung elevator inventory, and can more efficiently stock parts, buy special equipment, and provide specialized training than can any individual operator. Shared external capacity can also be sized and used much more efficiently to deal with random failures -- the more elevators in a region one maintains, the better staff can be utilized across a stochastic system.

But of course, the NY Times is never going to go against any public employee union, so it takes the line that this is a good governance issue, rather than a structural issue where an individual elevator owner is always going to be less efficient than outsourcing to a large regional third party company. It compares NY Transit to other public transit agencies, but not to other private owners of elevators. My guess is Donald Trump owns more elevators than NY Transit - how does he handle elevator maintenance?

By the way, the article says that there are 167 elevators and 169 escalators in the system. They also say there are 200 full-time maintenance people. So, on average, one person spends 60% of their year on a single elevator or escalator. Think about the elevators and escalators you ride every day. Can you imagine someone working on it for 1200 hours a year?

And what is this in the quotes above about slow responses to breakdowns in the far-flung empire? With 200 people for 336 devices, they could practically assign an individual repair person to each one. I can see him now, with his toolbox, sitting on a folding chair in the back of the elevator with a box of Krispy Kremes, waiting to spring into action at the moment of failure.

[ml/nj]

Hat tip to Billy Beck and his blog for linking to this article.

The original article at the Coyote Blog Site contains links which I did not reproduce here. You may wish to go there to follow these links wherever they may lead.

ML/NJ

[Saundra Duffy]

You don’t have to tell me. In California, we are held captive. Help! Severel years ago, an employee of the California State Employees Assn was stealing thousands of dollars to feed her gambling habit. I think she went to prison for a time but the big wigs of the organization . . . nothing happened to them. Business as usual. They have way too much power and the dues just keep pouring in. There’s no way to stop it but thanks for trying.

[PGR88]

We here in Upstate New York suffer the same legal monopolies and high costs of AFSCME and SIEU, due to rules made in Albany — but unlike NY City, we don’t have Wall Street and Manhattan property tax revenues to pay for it. It’s killing Upstate, but these groups are so entrenched in Albany, it won’t change. That’s why people simply leave this State.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

mark for later. thanks.

[businessprofessor]

Public employee unions are rotten to the core. The politicians who support them are scum. The “new energy” governor of Colorado pulled a fast one with an executive order authoring public employee unions. Supposedly, strikes are forbidden. However, public employees are never punished (except by Ronald Reagan) for strikes or other work actions so the ban is meaningless.