Kudos for Setting a Good Example

In Los Angeles, the DWP union has been doing something right. Workers there are set to get a 5.9% raise for this year, matching the official inflation over the past year: Windfall for DWP workers. Not keeping up with inflation (and waiting a year even when you do) is the primary means which bosses use to cut workers wages over time. It's so ingrained into the contemporary mentality that you sometimes encounter defensiveness when pointing this out as a "wage cut".

The article explores the fear this kind of example instills in the bosses, pointing out left and right how upset their lackeys are at the raise. Fortunately, there is some perspective here: the $16.4 million needed to cover this is small compared to the $4.3 billion budget. On top of that, when forced to deal with this situation, the DWP had to admit that it's not an additional burden on the infrastructural needs. Instead, money can be cut from "outside consulting contracts" – a code word for money handed out to friends.

The biggest fear from those opposed to this is that other workers might demand the same treatment. Well, those workers should!

Inevitably Sowing the Seeds of its Own Destruction

Every new detail and fact that comes out of the Metrolink crash is a further condemnation of this system. Today it was brought out that the engineer was working a split shift, with his work week spread out over 53 hours: Probe looks at whether Metrolink engineer's split shift played part in deadly crash. It doesn't take scientific studies (thought there are plenty out there) to see that irregular and longer shifts lead to more exhaustion and in turn more mistakes.

And then you take this over-worked individual and make him the single point of failure? One hallmark of a secure system is redundancy. Simply put, if one system fails, a second one kicks in, and then a third if that system falls through. It doesn't eliminate the risk entirely, but it's an effective means of limiting risk in a situation where human lives are at stake.

But safety takes money, and – like with split-shifts – maximizing profits trumps all other concerns. Safety systems have been available for over thirty years, yet everyone from the heads of Metrolink and Union Pacific all the way up to President Bush have argued against the added expense of safety features. To insult us all, the President called these long-existent systems "unproven".

It would cost more money to actually expand the amount of track. Why shouldn't there be more track going in and out of the second largest metropolitan area in the United States? Because it would cost too much to lay the track and maintain it once in place.

What no paper has mentioned yet is that there used to be more human eyes on and around these trains as well. The engineer wasn't alone in the cabin. There were switchmen on the ground to monitor the coming and going of the different trains. But again, that kind of staffing takes money.

So a few fatalities is a small price to pay to maximize profits. There's no fixing that, it's the fundamental basis of the American way of life. Unless people decide to fight back, that is.

Step in the Right Direction

In Greece, some people are taking a more proactive approach to soaring food prices: "Robin Hoods" steal at the store, give to the poor?. The article throws out the word "anarchists" without really backing it up, i.e., are these people consciously organized under that label? In any case, seemingly spontaneous acts like this during the early years of the Great Depression were building blocks to greater resistance in the working class. It's how the people organize that will determine whether something like this gets crushed as an exception or builds into something positive instead of just desperate.