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MBTA increases signing bonus to $7,500 and expands list of eligible jobs beyond bus drivers
By adamg on Mon, 04/03/2023 - 2:22pm
The MBTA announced today it will start offering a $7,500 bonus to qualified candidates for a variety of jobs starting April 15.
The T had previously offered a $4,500 bonus to bus drivers, but with severe shortages of workers all over the place, is now offering the larger amount to bus drivers, rail repairers, track laborers, trolley and subway drivers, service technicians and fuelers.
The MBTA offers competitive salaries, extensive healthcare benefits, free public transit, training programs, tuition assistance, employee assistance programs, and an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. MBTA employees also receive attractive retirement plans, paid vacation, holidays, and sick time, and flexible spending accounts. The MBTA also covers the cost of obtaining a Commercial Driver’s License as part of the Bus Operator hiring and training process, which is an over $10,000 value.
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Comments
Asking for a friend
Can you be hired at the T if you have felony convictions in your past?
Sure hope not!
Sure hope not!
It's worth trying. Legally,
It's worth trying. Legally, they'd be in a gray area if they wouldn't consider hiring anyone with a criminal conviction (as long as the crime isn't related to the job): https://www.mass.gov/guides/guide-to-criminal-records-in-employment-and-...
I suppose it would depend
on what the conviction was for, if they are doing it at all.
("Stealing buses" would likely be a "no".)
Putting first year $22 hourly wage into context...
If they work full time, 40hrs a week or around 2000 hrs a year, this is a one year pay raise of $3.75 an hr, that expires. The $22 wage becomes closer to $25.75.
If they work part time, 30hrs a week (which isn't guaranteed) or around 1560 hrs a year, this is a one year pay raise of $4.80~ an hr, that expires. This pushes the $22 wage towards $27~ per hr.
Their pay will also contractually rise with years of service, capping at 5+ years, when the top pay is reached ($40 an hr).
But the pension
If someone today is recruited at age 45 ,what do they get if they retire at age 55 or 65?
I can't imagine the MBTA....
Would gross up these bonus payments, so the actual take home $ is significantly less.
They'd have more luck if they
They'd have more luck if they could figure out a way to get rid of split shifts.
It's nothing that needs
It's nothing that needs figuring out. You could build the schedules without wide splits... and it requires 20%-30% more operators. Chicken! Egg!
yup
I forget the exact hours but it was something like part 1: 6 am to 10 am and part 2: 4 pm to 8 pm. Pretty brutal for $45k a year. Almost like a hazing process the driver has to go through to get to the holy land (full time bus; trolley operator, etc.
$7,500 ain't (expletive)
Give 'em the same immunity that the cops have. What other defense is there against spitters and door-kickers?
Huh?
Don't they have that?
It's not a legal principle that applies specifically to law enforcement, but rather employees of government.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/qualified_immunity
Good stuff
Northeastern doesn't deserve you.
Baker repeatedly claimed "the
Baker repeatedly claimed "the T doesn't need more money, it can't even spend the money it has!" and now we know why it couldn't.
This understaffing is Baker's fault, and he did it on purpose. Baker only hired and appointed people to the T and its boards who were completely aligned with his overall strategy of privatizing, replacing 2 workers with 1 worker, allowing people to retire without replacement, etc. This directly kept costs down but the real goal was to shrink the workforce to the point that it was simply unable to do the work associated with spending the T's budgeted funds. I know that problems at the MBTA pre-date Baker, but as far as I can tell the staffing problems are his novel and unique contribution to the situation. The T wasn't hurting for workers under Patrick.
Imagine if the MBTA had hired the 2,800 workers it needs years ago when it first needed them instead of waiting until the system was literally on the brink of collapse so it would have to hire in a historically-difficult labor market and pay inflationary wages!
Those split shifts are a big
Those split shifts are a big part of the problem.
Yes , you can work full time, just come in the morning for half your hours and then come back in the evening for the other half. Doesn’t make sense and really you are tied down all day and night. You can’t do anything enjoyable. No life whatsoever.
What jobs?
I keep hearing about the thousands of positions the T needs to fill yet their career site job list only shows 71.
Even for not public facing roles
I used to be a fan and advocate and I agree it's the best way for the area to go forward but it's not reasonable for someone to not account the legacy of incompetence and decay.
Pedestrians need not apply
IIRC having a drivers license is a requirement for all MBTA jobs. Not sure if that applies to T administrators though; are they exempt?
No
Am an MBTA employee. I do have my license, but I didn't need to provide it (except I could use it as proof of identity when initially hired, but other documents work as well).