[rossjudson]

Do you understand why people get pissed off when they read the salary tables? The people riding the trains don't have massive employer contributions to their pensions -- or even have pensions. They don't get paid overtime -- they just work unpaid. Stagnant wages? How have wages changed in the area generally, relative to the cost of living?

If you want the upside of big jumps in salary, you should have to take on some of the risks (like losing your job and medical insurance, or your business).

Do you ever wonder if there's someone else who would be willing to do the job you are doing for less?

Would you appreciate your salary negotiation going like this:

"I want 20% increase over four years."

"No. We're laying off 20% of the staff because revenue is down. We might hire you back as a part-timer later, without health insurance or benefits."

[junco]

Sounds like people working in terrible conditions like that could benefit from forming a union. But they'd rather pull everybody down to their level rather than work to bring their own working situation up to something that isn't absolutely fucking abysmal (unpaid overtime (!), no cost-of-living adjustments -- why should any company be allowed to treat their employees that way?)

[rossjudson]

Those "people working in terrible conditions" don't have the ability to threaten everyone around them, like your transit workers do. They'd rather push everybody down, rather than recognize that they have the same options available to everyone who wants an increase in pay. Go find someone willing to pay you more.