'UNRULY' FERRY PILOT FACED AX

New York Post ^ | 10/17/03 | FRANKIE EDOZIEN, WILLIAM J. GORTA and PHILIP MESSING

[kattracks]

October 17, 2003 -- The Department of Transportation tried to fire Staten Island Ferry pilot Richard Smith, but instead had to relegate him to a job ferrying corpses to a potter's field in The Bronx, a former official told The Post yesterday.

[demkicker]

Thanks to the Union, this idiot was able to keep his job and kill so many...

[Rudder]

Yeah, but at least the corpses weren't piling up on the mainland and stinking up the place.

[gubamyster]

Interesting how the same paper can provide such seemingly conflicting descriptions of the same guy:

SHOCKED NEIGHBORS: PILOT A QUIET MAN

[kattracks]

Apparently, they did some digging since the first article was printed yesterday.

[gubamyster]

but instead had to relegate him to a job ferrying corpses to a potter's field

Apparently, they did some digging since the first article was printed yesterday.

No pun intended, huh...?

[HitmanLV]

Don;t be so sure.

Workplaces are very 'pass-the-buck' and 'blame game' atmospheres. These after-the-fact accounts don't mean much to me.

When I quit my last job my boss went ballistic - very bitter and negative, blaming me for everything that was going wrong, badmouthing me to other coworkers, even going so far as to tell some she 'asked me to leave,' something only the dumber people beleived anyway.

Truth was, I had 22+ excellent evaluations in the prior two years, two by her own hand. Only when she lost me did she decide to get all negative. Pitiful, really.

So don't necessarily believe this - it could be true, but I also know it could be just a lot of buck passing and negativity by very little people.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

So don't necessarily believe this - it could be true

Do you mean the part about him leaving the scene and going home to try and kill himself? That's certainly the behavior of someone who might have a teentsy-weentsy bit of guilt for being responsible for a disaster that killed and injured a bunch of people.

[HitmanLV]

I don't doubt he was responsible - I was referring to references to his bad behavior, attitude, etc in the months prior to the accident.

A lot of times that's crap that petty people sling after the fact.

[gunnedah]

But one thing it does tell you if true:It is almost as impossible to fire a government employee as it is a union employee and in either case the public pays for it.
There is no balance left in America we are going to tether one way or the other from here on out.We are all being placed in harms way because of the scribes and I have read somewhere where it talks of them confusing the world and ridding it of any semblance of truth.

[HamiltonJay]

UNION prevents a bad employee from being fired, now 10 are dead and how many got free amputations at the hands of the Union alter?


I can respect the concept of collective bargaining, but unions protecting incompetent workers has nothing to do with collective bargaining.

[scouse]

"When I tried to fire him, I couldn't because of the union."

Another name to be added to the law suit.

[laker_dad]

Cops said Smith had two pellet wounds to the chest and a slash wound to his left wrist. Police found a .177-caliber American Cross pellet gun near Smith inside his Staten Island home an hour after the collision.

I know (real) hand guns are (mostly) illegal in NY, but come on, bud! That was just plain wussy!

[Aquinasfan]

"When I tried to fire him, I couldn't because of the union."

The ripple effect of evil.

[bert]

Unions Kill

[Hatteras]

I was never ever frightened
by the murderer on our block
He nurtured orchids and raised hamsters
The neighborhood is still in shock

La la la la, la la la la....
La la la la, la la la la la la

[Dark Knight]

This story does support a firing. Absent from every issue is the story behind the charge. He was insubordinate and contrary...how? This is a ferry for goodness sakes. Get there on time, pilot by best practice, and if you don't, it is management's responsibility to document, and lay the groundwork for firing. They usually don't. Then they complain that it's the darned unions fault.

This guy has a pilot's license, and was the captain of a ship. When he is under way, interferring with his judgement is bad. He had a collision as the pilot of the same ship, and was commended for his actions in that mechanical failure.

He did not let a DOT inspector on the bridge. Firing offense...maybe. Piloting ability questions...no! If management had questions about his piloting abilities or his deportment, they could fire him. All they need to do is spend the effort. They did not want to. Plain and simple.

If this excuse of a manager could put him onto a graveyard run, for non piloting issues, why couldn't he keep him there? If he really thought of him as a threat back then, why didn't he fire him, and then be forced to rehire by the union appeal? The answer is pretty easy. He did not know that there was a piloting issue in the past, or he was a bad manager did not know how to fire him and should be named in the upcoming lawsuits.

My sad question is what is going to happen to this pilot if the DOT investigation shows something similar to the last accident on the same ship, mechanical failure? Or the question of his actions, if it shows that he saved a bunch of people that would have died? You don't get that kind of a license for nothing (Wesley Clarke excluded of course).

I agree with you about the scribes, they don't even know what they write about anymore. Someone says boo, and they print it. Logic free and rumor based.

DK

It is very difficult to fire civil service employees, I agree. And the increase in numbers is unsupportable by need. But when Clinton fired the travel office to put her cronies there, and had the FBI accuse the head of a crime, that was immoral. Civil service is there to prevent politicians from controlling the bureacracy directly. That is scary!

[BlessedBeGod]

"When I tried to fire him, I couldn't because of the union."

Uh-oh.

[BunnySlippers]

"When I tried to fire him, I couldn't because of the union."

Union .... BINGO!!!

[mewzilla]

A selfish, irresponsible SOB is not going to feel remorse. He's going to laywer up and cry he wasn't to blame. I'd wait for the investigation to finish. If this guy is a decent human being, the Hell on earth he's going through now will be far worse than any other punishment that could be inflicted on him.