Winnipeg Roads & Infrastructure

[windypeg]

Cops and firefighters benefit from the myth that their work is disproportionately hazardous and so they need all that extra pay. In reality a lot of other professions are at least as dangerous. Statistically it's more hazardous to be be a garbage collector than a police officer - they can get limbs run over or caught in machinery, have heavy things fall on them, get cut by needles or broken glass, etc. Same would apply to bus drivers - they get assaulted, one was murdered recently. Yet for some reason cops deserve to make twice as much money as if they're the only ones who face hazards at work.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by esquire

As a driver, being a trucker must certainly be preferable... just, you, the satellite radio, piss bottles and the open road. No dealing with split shifts or volatile passengers required.

No passengers, no split shifts but sleeping in the back of a rig, being away from home for extended periods, long working hours, etc It isn't the easiest life either and if you have a family and want to be home every night being a transit driver v a long haul driver could be a better option. That said if you got paid significantly more as a long haul driver it could start tipping the scale, especially when being home every night also means your family is struggling financially.

[esquire]

^ yeah, if you're driving to Florida or Nova Scotia on the regular, that would have its downside and take a toll on your home life. But many of the truckers I've talked to tend not to venture out of the region and sleep in their beds each night.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by vjose32

Do bus drivers really need to get paid that much?

More. Bus operators in Edmonton make more when they start than a Winnipeg operator makes after 4 year. A top rate Edmonton operator earns $10/hr more too. Winnipeg can't hire enough qualified people for the job at current wages. Once hired they often don't stick around. So, tell me if they need to be paid that much.

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ yeah, if you're driving to Florida or Nova Scotia on the regular, that would have its downside and take a toll on your home life. But many of the truckers I've talked to tend not to venture out of the region and sleep in their beds each night.

Most ? Most truck drivers are 2 tp 4 day routes. You must be talking to courier drivers in the city. Or CoOp drivers who are just refueling stations and stores in the province. The majority of our trucking industry doesn’t sleep at home in their own beds.

[roccerfeller]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

More. Bus operators in Edmonton make more when they start than a Winnipeg operator makes after 4 year. A top rate Edmonton operator earns $10/hr more too. Winnipeg can't hire enough qualified people for the job at current wages. Once hired they often don't stick around. So, tell me if they need to be paid that much.

How much of that is related to Edmonton's larger population? Is any of it related to the LRT having more ridership and thus more $ to reinvest?

[drew]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

Essential services and binding arbitration are to blame. If Transit had been declared an essential service then our wages would be in line with those in Edmonton and Calgary. A bus operator in Edmonton has a starting wage higher that WT's top rate, and their top rate is 30% higher.

There certainly needs to be some sort of wage reality check with respect to some civic workers.

I think bus drivers should be better paid, but a 30% increase would have them making after 4 years, about the same that my wife who is a teacher makes after 10 years of teaching.

Fire fighters and cops definitely make far too much. I would argue it is in the order of 20 to 30% too much.

IMO, the wages need to be re-examined, and positions that offer full pension should be expected to come with a salary that is slightly lower than a comparable private sector position.

[cheswick]

Salaries should be such that demand for the position equates supply of positions available. Simple as that. There isn’t some widespread driver shortage. Salaries are likely at a pretty equitable level right now. There aren’t many positions that only require high school that’ll pay $50k after 4 years.

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Salaries should be such that demand for the position equates supply of positions available. Simple as that. There isn’t some widespread driver shortage. Salaries are likely at a pretty equitable level right now. There aren’t many positions that only require high school that’ll pay $50k after 4 years.

Where's the like button on this forum? This will have to do

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Salaries should be such that demand for the position equates supply of positions available. Simple as that. There isn’t some widespread driver shortage. Salaries are likely at a pretty equitable level right now. There aren’t many positions that only require high school that’ll pay $50k after 4 years.

. Like!

Good point. Civic salaries are so out of whack especially at the WPS and WFPS, take a Mickey Mouse 8 month course at the ACC fire college in Brandon and make the same as a pharmacist with six years of university a teacher with a four year degree or an engineer with 4-5 years and a degree and all those fields have educational standards to enter the faculties. Anyone who applies and pays the money gets into fire school and yet all make about the same after 5-7 years!

Civic politicians and arbitration boards fell for the union BS about equitable salaries to other jurisdictions in determining wage increases and salaries, to me if you did t like what you were being paid in Winnipeg then go to Vancouver or Calgary and try and get hired on there and try to live on that salary there! Civic politicians in Winnipeg have failed taxpayers far too long here!

[Jeff]

Don't forget the massive, intimidating influence the police and firefighter unions have. Example: Paula Havixbeck in the news recently demanding an apology from the firefighters union for smearing her in the last civic election campaign for mentioning the city paid most of the head guy's salary.. which ended up, of course, being true.

[Tacheguy]

[QUOTE=rrskylar;8077447]. Like!

Good point. Civic salaries are so out of whack especially at the WPS and WFPS, take a Mickey Mouse 8 month course at the ACC fire college in Brandon and make the same as a pharmacist with six years of university a teacher with a four year degree or an engineer with 4-5 years and a degree and all those fields have educational standards to enter the faculties. Anyone who applies and pays the money gets into fire school and yet all make about the same after 5-7 years!

Civic politicians and arbitration boards fell for the union BS about equitable salaries to other jurisdictions in determining wage increases and salaries, to me if you did t like what you were being paid in Winnipeg then go to Vancouver or Calgary and try and get hired on there and try to live on that salary there! Civic politicians in Winnipeg have failed taxpayers far too long here!

I think the problem starts at the Provincial level due to the binding arbitration legislation for essential services. ability to pay is not a criterion for the the arbitrator to take into account in setting wage increases. That was one thing I was hoping Pallister might change, because the ndp never will.

[The Unknown Poster]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Salaries should be such that demand for the position equates supply of positions available. Simple as that. There isn’t some widespread driver shortage. Salaries are likely at a pretty equitable level right now. There aren’t many positions that only require high school that’ll pay $50k after 4 years.

I agree. i thought the sentiment that drivers were UNDERpaid was odd. If I was a driver, Im not sure I'd *really* expect more than $53,000 for that job. Thats pretty damn good.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Salaries should be such that demand for the position equates supply of positions available. Simple as that. There isn’t some widespread driver shortage. Salaries are likely at a pretty equitable level right now. There aren’t many positions that only require high school that’ll pay $50k after 4 years.

Actually, there is a driver shortage, and a lot of the people hired aren't suited to the job. Operators used to be paid a better wage and make a career of it. Not anymore. Only need grade 10 now BTW. They lowered it to qualify more applicants. Hasn't worked out so well. You need grade 12 to service and wash buses however.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by The Unknown Poster

I agree. i thought the sentiment that drivers were UNDERpaid was odd. If I was a driver, Im not sure I'd *really* expect more than $53,000 for that job. Thats pretty damn good.

You have no idea and won't until you walk a mile in a bus operator's shoes.

[dmacc]

How is the progress coming along to the over pass on Bishop and Mcgilvary? I haven't driven past either in a while.

[Biff]

^^^ The two guys working on it are making decent progress. The pedestrian bridge is up. I would imagine it will still be some time before they throw the girders up for the transit overpass.

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by Biff

^^^ The two guys working on it are making decent progress. The pedestrian bridge is up. I would imagine it will still be some time before they throw the girders up for the transit overpass.

They usually wait for a long weekend so they can shut down the street... Louise Riel day is coming, good Friday is in march.

Also, have they just given up on fixing the collapsed retention wall at the pembina overpass? I see the other side is progressing pretty nicely.

[The Unknown Poster]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

You have no idea and won't until you walk a mile in a bus operator's shoes.

True. But dealing with abuse or safety issues is different. Its driving. And $53,000 is good money. I mean, unless everyone here is rich. $53,000 is good money to me (I make more but I remember making less).

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by The Unknown Poster

True. But dealing with abuse or safety issues is different. Its driving. And $53,000 is good money. I mean, unless everyone here is rich. $53,000 is good money to me (I make more but I remember making less).

Median income in the 25 to 54 age group in Manitoba (2016 census) was$41,659. So yeah $53,000 is pretty good money especially when you consider that 64% of Canadians in the age range have some post-secondary education.