Posted on 10/04/2005 3:08:33 AM PDT by Pushkin
Dozing on the Dig: Idle hands raise ire By Casey Ross Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - Updated: 03:10 AM EST
A stunning lack of oversight is allowing Big Dig workers to sleep on the job, read newspapers in idling vehicles and drive backhoes aimlessly through city streets – all while pocketing their $49-an-hour taxpayer-funded pay, a Herald investigation found. During a five-day surveillance, a reporter watched heavy-equipment operators nod off or simply sit idle for hours on construction sites along Atlantic Avenue. At times, workers who are supposed to be fixing prior construction blunders napped in full view of supervisors and passing commuters. ``There is no explanation or justification for anyone sleeping on the job,'' Massachusetts Turnpike Authority spokeswoman Mariellen Burns said in a statement. ``It is disrespectful and in this case infuriating to residents, businesses and commuters who are being inconvenienced as work proceeds.'' Big Dig crane and backhoe operators caught snoozing, reading and joy riding are paid about $102,000 a year, according to prevailing wage rates.
How does this suprise people?
Dig it up, putz around in the hole a bit, fill it back in, move a few Jersey barriers around and then dig it up again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat...
They don't call it the Big Dig for nothing.
Some of my "ex" peers who are management(AT&T), monitoring a network are allowed to sleep....no one says a word...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's all night long.....
Expecting people in a blue state to actually WORK????? That is so rude! (/sarcasm)
I'm surprised when I actually see work being done.
I have to walk by this fiasco every day on the way to work. Normally around 7:30am or so I see about 3-4 union layabouts drinking coffee with the detail cop of the day chit chatting with them and machines idle. I can't recall actually seeing anyone work in the past 3-4 months actually. The only way you know anything is perhaps getting done is once a month or so they re-arrange the cones and pedestrian walkways. I think most people in this city have just given up that the project is never going to be truly finished. Can you imagine how demoralizing it is to the average guy who went to college, works long hours, and has to see some lazy union thug making twice his salary for doing absolutely NOTHING?
Where's the next celebration for the completion of The Big Dig going to be held? Will the Boston Pops also show up at this one? Will Matt Amarello's retirement package equal that of Billy Bulger's?
Oh yeah... and which will come first; The end of the project... or the introduction of a car that runs underwater?
I notice no one is suggesting these sleeping clowns be....
fired.
Not surprising, at all.
MM
thanks johnny. I miss the celebrations. Anyone remember when they marched the elephants down the bridge? That was classic! (to people not from Boston they actually marched circus elephants down the bridge one year before delaying opening yet again).
The only big dig completed was the dig for buried treasure. Unfortunately, the treasure was buried in your pockets. But, don't worry, they found it.
"I could have been a contender...
I could have been someone..."
ping
Our tax dollars at rest.
I spent nearly 30 years as a machinist in a compulsory union shop (you paid dues whether you joined or not). It was nearly impossible to get fired. In fact, in all those years there was only one person actually fired, and only because he started a fist fight in front of too many witnesses.
Even Frank didn't get fired. If anyone needed to be fired for being worthless, he was the most creative guy at finding ways to avoid work.
Lets compare Boston and New Orleans. Both Dem cities,
New Orleans is under sea level, so is the Big Dig.
New Orleans has leaky Levees The Big Dig leaks too
Billions will be sent to New Orleans. Billions have already been sent to the Big Dig.
New Orleans has 28% unemployment , Boston doesnt have unemployment , but they pay people to do nothing.
New Orleans has Blanko and Nagin
Boston has Fat Ted Kennedy,John F'in Kerry, and Bawney Fwank.
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