What goes around: SF transit agency gets reality check

Sometimes when bureaucrats swing the budget axe too carelessly, it comes around to hit them in the head.

That's what happened last month when the staff at San Francisco's Municipal Transit Authority (MTA) proposed 58 layoffs -- 51 of them SEIU 1021 members -- as a solution to its $20 million deficit. But while pink slips for the 24 parking control officers, 10 car cleaners, 13 transit checkers and four fare collection receivers were being prepared, our members mobilized.

They leafleted bus riders -- who already are enduring higher fares and service cuts because of irresponsible fiscal management -- and explained that the newest cuts would result in dirtier buses and less revenue for the system, leading to further cuts down the line. They took their case to the MTA Board of Directors and to the city's Board of Supervisors. They mobilized community groups and scoured the agency's budget, finding and proposing alternative cuts that made more sense.

The political pressure we exerted embarrassed the MTA board and staff into taking us seriously. CEO Nathaniel Ford, who's insisted all along that his proposed cuts are the only solution, finally had to acknowledge that 1021 had "some good suggestions" and agreed to sit down with us to discuss them.

Nearly half the workers got a 30-day reprieve from the layoffs and will likely keep their jobs. Five of the checkers were saved after agency staff realized the checkers actually generate revenues for MTA. We're still working to get some of the cleaners and fare collection receivers back on the job.

The board's Budget and Finance Committee held a hearing on the public health and safety impacts of the proposed cuts. Sup. David Campos interrogated the MTA management representative, saying that 1021's proposals seemed quite logical and asking if the agency had considered them before proposing such drastic cuts. The MTA rep hemmed and hawed and finally sputtered that they had looked at those ideas, but now they were looking at them "more aggressively."

In the face of such apparent management incompetence, Campos asked the city's auditor when MTA was last audited. The answer: 1996. Campos called for a new audit of the agency.