DOT Workers Want 5 More Hours
Remember the movie 9 to 5? That used to be the work week, and people used to get an hour off for lunch. These days, if you want that hour off for lunch its 9 to 6, or 8 to 5, or 8:30 to 5:30. And the three martini lunch? Only in Mad Men. Yet it’s not a surprise that in CT DOT land, where they are still working on plans to incorporate horse carriage lanes in the I-84 corridor, that they are just now getting around to looking at a forty-hour work week. Currently they have a thirty-five hour work week. And I’m using the term work week liberally here, because cruising by any DOT project makes you question the work part. And that’s even when they use sub contractors.
The Advocate reports:
Employees of the state Department of Transportation will make the case to lawmakers today that increasing their hours from 35 to 40 per week might cost money but will improve the agency.
The legislature’s Appropriations Committee plans a 12:30 p.m. public hearing on a proposed resolution authorizing the longer work week for about 800 willing DOT workers, many in engineering and public transportation.
Bob Reilly, a DOT project engineer who backs the move, said it would benefit everyone.
“It allows us to have better coverage for jobs,” Reilly said. “And it keeps projects moving.”
Matt O’Connor, a union spokesman, said employees now can work overtime but need the approval of their managers. That is not always easily obtained, he said.
But the proposal is not cheap. Estimates are that it would cost $4.7 million this year and $9.9 million for the following fiscal year.
State Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, said the cost could be a problem. The state faces deficits in the billions of dollars.
“It becomes a tough argument to make this year,” Duff said. “We’re counting every penny we can.”
But the state budget office will testify in favor of the proposal, spokesman Jeffrey Beckham said. Federal transportation money could cover some of the cost, he said.
Many policymakers say the DOT has been decimated by early retirements, leading to problems with high-profile projects.
The measure would help the state attract more young professionals to the DOT from the private sector, Reilly said.
“You get these young guys out of college. Do you want to work 35 hours at $50,000 or 40 hours at $60,000?” he said.
Er, wait. According to my basic school house rock math, the 35 hour work week at $50k a year is$7142 per 5 hours. Why would the additional 5 hours suddenly become $10k? No wonder DOT projects are such a financial mess, these guys can’t do basic math! It’s worse. They need to do math to do engineering stuff! We are doomed! And while we are at the parsing of spokes model Jeffrey Beckham’s words, did he really just say that this work week increase is for young guys? Yes he did. Apparently in there are no women engineers or public transportation workers coming out of college that would be excited by the bad math of the CT DOT.
source: Advocate, DOT workers want more hours, By Brian Lockhart, 01/21/2009
