Have you ever seen those ads for the staffing agencies who only offer jobs that pay over $100,000 per year? What kind of jobs come to mind? Doctors? Lawyers? Ceo's? Engineers? Entertainers? How about Parking Attendant or Floor Sweeper? No? Well here in Massachusetts those are the jobs that should come to mind. On June 15, 2009, Jay Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald reported that the Teamster's Union Local 82 in Boston was employing ex-cons as laborers at the Hynes Convention Center. In that article it was mentioned some of those laborers were making over $100,000 per year as members of the union.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1178998
The article detailed how these people were responsible for the labor in setting up shows at the convention hall and then the cleanup...in other words sweeping the floors! When that news first came out the headline and outrage was about the violent criminals who were being paid out of public funds. Of course the typical Democrat response from the pols at the time was, well, the state doesn't hire them, the union does, we just contract with the union. It is the typical doublespeak that drives anyone who understands math absolutely crazy! I always wonder why the reporters doing the interviews never follow that answer up with the observation the workers get paid out of the money the taxpayers pay to the unions as part of their contracts! As bad as it was ex-cons were involved, I think the real outrage should have been over the salaries these thugs were making. Now it has happened again or I should say the outrageous practice of our state government over paying for labor has come to light again because it is clear the practice never stopped.
On Thursday February 3, the Boston Herald reported they had discovered 16 parking attendants working for Massport at Logan Airport who made over $90,000 and of those 7 had made over $100,000! http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0203mass_pay_at_massport_some_parking_attendants_pull_in_100g_a_year/srvc=home&position=1
So what are the duties of these parking attendants. According to the article, finding cars for travel weary commuters and brushing snow off of them, traffic control, manning the booths etc. It was clear after reading the article someone was trying to make the job sound important and vital to justify the salaries but there is just no way to do that seriously. While I am grateful to the reporters, Joe Dwinell and Hillary Chabot, for bringing this out into the open I am still left with more questions. According to the article the attendants are members of Teamsters Local 25 Parking Union. Well, are we to believe that the Logan Airport contract is the only one that local has in the city of Boston? A quick check of the local's website shows it boasts a membership of over 9000 workers. I wonder how many other attendants throughout the city in public lots are represented by this local. If their parking attendants are making $100,000 plus per year can you imagine what their nurses or food processors are making?
As disgusting as these pay rates for parking attendants are I cannot in good conscience blame the union. I lay the blame solely on those elected and appointed state officials who are supposed to be watching out for the taxpayer and doing what's in the best interest of the State of Massachusetts. Can anyone argue with a straight face that $100,000 or more per year for parking cars is in the taxpayers best interest? So why aren't the reporters grilling these folks about these contracts?
In the article State Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan promises to "review" the practice. Really? How about promising to stop the practice? Is that too much to ask? Massport spokeswoman Danny Levy claims last year was an "unusual" year. What does that mean? Did they all of a sudden have to park trailer trucks instead of cars? I wonder what her salary is? The one pol quoted in the article, state Sen. Mark C. Montigny (D-New Bedford) did say “There’s no excuse for a parking attendant to be making over $100,000 anywhere — under any circumstances.” Well that sounded nice for the paper but the truth is Sen. Montigny is a member of the ruling party in Massachusetts and that party is the biggest supporter of the same union in question. Simply put he was being dis-ingenuous. How about this senator? How about admitting there is no excuse, under any circumstance, for a Massachusetts state official to sign a contract that would lead to at least 16 parking attendants making over $90,000 per year!
These practices have been going on forever in this state, remember the big dig? Until the day comes when the Democrats lose their monopoly of power in our state government nothing will change. For those who believe that day will never come I ask you this. Do you think any group of 20 voters anywhere in this state would agree that a parking attendant job should pay over $100,000 per year under any circumstance? How about the people who live and work in the inner cities in this state. Democrat strongholds or not do you think this would sit well with them? I don't. Think about all your friends and family who are struggling right now just to survive. Think about your own job and what you get paid to do it. If you are as angry as I am then call your state reps and senators and let them know how you feel. At the very least go to the voting booth and start leveling the playing field for the citizens of this state. Until we do there will continue to be parking attendants and floor sweepers making over $100,000 per year!
