Rewarding Failure

In addition to the other forms of absenteeism, an average of 350 Muni drivers, mechanics, and maintenance workers are on long-term disability leave at any time, producing a yearly disability bill of $17 million. (Muni's auditors have been livid about the abuse of workers' compensation and disability pay for years, complaining about an abnormally high reported rate of injury and an abnormal laxity in oversight of those benefits.)

The transport workers contract allows a driver to show up to work before the end of his shift -- without calling in late -- 10 times a year, or four times every five months. The other kind of miss-out -- the no-show and no-call miss-out -- is allowed four times every eight months, or seven times a year. If a driver scores more miss-outs than allowed in a rolling five- or eight-month period, he or she can, technically, be fired. And people are sometimes fired for excessive miss-outs. But Muni does almost nothing else to discourage regular absenteeism by the mechanics, maintenance workers, and drivers who, collectively, compose 90 percent of the work force.

Lax absenteeism standards are by no means a response to low wages. By contract, Muni drivers are guaranteed the second-highest transit driver wage in the country before their millions in overtime are distributed. (Transport union base wages here are set as the average of the two highest driver wage scales in the United States, currently Santa Clara County and Boston, Mass.)

So each Muni driver pulls down an average of $41,000 in straight pay ($50,440 for mechanics) plus $8,000 a year in overtime. Some drivers make $20,000 a year in overtime. Mechanics do even better. Last year, a track maintenance supervisor pulled down $45,000 in overtime, in addition to his $57,000 base salary.

Sick streetcars and buses are tended by about 1,000 Muni mechanics and maintenance workers. A dozen unions work the maintenance yards scattered throughout the city. There are unions for bus-washers, electricians, and mechanics; the attendance practices of these unions tend to follow the lead of the Transport Workers Union. Indeed, the mechanics have an even higher rate of unscheduled absenteeism than the drivers. And the effects on service are plain to see.

Muni equipment has a terrible record of miles traveled between breakdowns. New electric buses, for instance, break down every 444 miles, according to a database maintained by federal transportation authorities. The national average: every 2,000 miles.

When a mechanic doesn't show up for work, a vehicle languishes in disrepair and riders languish in despair. Government audits reveal that San Francisco's mass transit fleet, overall, breaks down twice as often as similar equipment operated by Boston, Seattle, and New York. Muni's new Breda streetcars, specifically, break down four times more often than the national average.

Because so many Muni drivers and mechanics are so regularly missing in action, 45 percent of Muni's daily trips are aborted or late, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a body responsible for coordinating transportation policy in the Bay Area. This is not to mention such common practices, as reported in Harvey Rose's performance audit, as drivers cutting their runs short in order to leave work early, or calling in breakdowns when there are no breakdowns.

Two weeks ago Muni General Manager Emilio Cruz asked the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for a supplemental appropriation that would cover about $10 million in Muni budget overruns. According to Muni's records, those overruns came mostly in the overtime and workers' compensation areas. The sudden deficit was made worse by an unexpected reduction in passenger fare revenue.

There was less revenue, because there were fewer riders. Muni riders are taking about 100 million, or some 33 percent, fewer trips this year than they took in 1984. Yet, the bus schedules have not changed for many years. The same number of runs are scheduled to serve many, many less passengers, who still wait and wait, because 45 percent or so of those runs are late or simply not coming -- ever.

With a tough election coming up, Mayor Brown has the choice of alienating transit unions or the populace with his Muni policies. Asking the voters to "accept that service has improved" would certainly not rile Muni's unions. Whether the public will be in an accepting mood is another question entirely.

If the mayor decides to tackle Muni's absenteeism problem head on, though, he might want to make a trip to the Muni Library. There, buried deep in the stacks, is a file labeled "Labor." Inside the file is a single document. It is a 1982 study on controlling absenteeism. It suggests firing workers who are chronically late.