WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 23, 2019 13
LIRR OVERTIMES
WOES AREN’T
SHOCKING
LIRR employee overtime and pension
abuse has been going on for years. It
has been repeatedly documented by
internal MTA, Offi ce of MTA Inspector
General, State Comptroller, Citizens
Budget Commission, Empire Center for
Public Policy audits and reports, along
with numerous newspaper stories.
Governor Andrew Cuomo and his
appointed MTA Chairman Patrick
Foye and MTA Finance Committee
Chairperson Larry Schwartz recent
outrages on this issue remind me of
Captain Renault from “Casablanca,”
who said, “I’m shocked — shocked — to
fi nd that gambling is going on,” while at
the same time collecting his winnings.
Union leadership has out-negotiated
management at contract renewal time
for decades. It is evident that MTA
& LIRR do not have an up-to-date
payroll system which would fl ag such
abuses. Supervisors who routinely
sign off on overtime work hour
abuses by employees need to be held
accountable.
At the upcoming contract
negotiations, will the MTA insist
that future union contracts include
more fl exible work assignments and
reduce salary increases? What about
contracting out more work to the
private sector or hiring part time
employees? Will they ask employees
to increase their contributions toward
medical coverage (LIRR non-union
workers only have to contribute 2
percent) for medical insurance and
retirement pensions?
Why have Governor Cuomo,
Comptroller DiNapoli, state Senate
Majority Leader Andrea Stewart
Cousins, state Assembly Speaker Carl
Heastie and most of their colleagues
not signed on and endorsed legislation
submitted by Assemblyman Michael
Fitzpatrick that would prohibit
overtime payments from being
factored into a retiree’s pension
calculations?
You could also use the federal
employee civil service model. Federal
employee civil service retirement
pension calculations are based upon
the average past three years’ salary
prior to retirement. It doesn’t include
overtime.
Without these changes, it will
continue to be the status quo.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
CAN YOU INDICT
THE PRESIDENT?
WHY NOT?
The concept that “a sitting president
cannot be indicted” is a “policy” in the
Department of Justice that has been
in eff ect since the 1970s. It is not a rule
in the U.S. Constitution, nor is it a
Congressional or statutory edict.
If this issue were ever adjudicated
in the federal court system, the “no
indictment” side would certainly lose.
The courts allowed President Clinton
to be sued civilly by Paula Jones back
in 1994, and the suit took many months
of his time.
Robert Vogel, Bayside
NO MORE BIKE
LANES IN QUEENS
I am an environmentalist, I do my
best to recycle and limit my water use.
All this talk about creating bicycle lanes
here in the city is just not feasible.
We are a crowded city and comparing
us to other countries that have bicycle
lanes is ridiculous. All the renderings
are showing people riding bicycles
with no cars around.
I drive where there are bicycle lanes
and where you can rent bicycles, and I
hardly see anyone riding or renting a
bicycle; just bicycles taking up parking
spaces.
For all the elected offi cials that are
proponents for bicycle lanes, let’s see
pictures of them riding when it is
raining or the streets are full of snow.
Maria, last name withheld,
Queens
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LETTERS AND COMMENTS
SNAPS
SWIMMING DUCKS IN BOWNE PARK
PHOTO SUBMITTED BY LISA KEST-FEIN
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