In response to a comment in the thread about TTC costs, someone claimed that a TTC operator made $75K per year. The perception of how well paid, or not, an operator is deserves its own thread, and here is a comment I received on the subject from an operator named Gord:
Just a quick comment to correct a little bit of mis-information showing up in this discussion. Tom B. states that TTC operators earn about $30.00 per hour. I wish I did. The actual top rate of pay is $26.58 per hour for an operator with over 30 months on the job.
Doing the basic math shows that $26.58 X 40 X 52 = $55,286.40 annually. If you factor in the cost of our benefits, pension, etc., I am sure that you can make the argument that we earn more than this but that is not what I actually receive in my pay each week.
Just to set the record straight: I am paid for 8 hours and 53 minutes each weekday BUT my actual workday is 11 hours and 46 minutes long because I work split shifts (swing work in TTC parlance). I start work at 5:49 am and do not finish until 5:35 pm with 4 hours and 16 minutes between the two pieces of work that I do.
I’m not complaining; I choose my own work and I enjoy what I do (like most TTC operators). I don’t have weekends off (but get two weekdays off instead) because only the most senior operators can get this work.
In terms of operators/collectors showing up on the Sunshine list, think of how many hours they have had to work to get there. This is because there is a lot more work available than there are operators to do it. In order to provide service, the TTC needs to pay overtime to fill the vacancies.
You are correct to state that recruitment is falling short. There are a lot of trainees who do not make it through training, and there are also a number who do not make it through their first year on the job due to the stress involved.
Working for the TTC isn’t a “9 to 5″ job (unless you drive a night bus). We’re on the job long before most people even wake up in order to be there when they want to go to work.
I’m sorry about the length of this comment (maybe you could start a new topic on the typical day in the life of a TTC operator).
Steve: Don’t worry about the length of the comment. Some of my regular contributors are rather long-winded themselves. Thanks for filling in this information for others to see.
Just one bit of clarification: The reason for the oddball amount of time in a day is that an operator is paid for the time actually scheduled for the run plus some basic allowances such as travel time to and from the route if they don’t pick up the bus or streetcar at a garage or carhouse. Very few operators get exactly 40 hours pay per week because it is impossible to divide up the work that way.
TTC operators should be paid Min 30,000/annual – Maximum 50,000/annual (with 5 years or more experience including night shift and overtime). There are a lot more people out there with better skills than you and get less paid than that. TTC is one of the most expensive and inefficient public transportation system in the world.
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According to the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Report for 2006, 277 TTC employees earned more than $100,000 last year. That is more than double the 134 members of the “$100,000 Club” a year previous. In comparison, the TTC had 95 employees in the club in 2004.
Read more in the National Post
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Even with 1000 hours of overtime how do you justify such pay for such a simple job?
Admit it. You are over paid and you should be thankful to all people paying for your salaries. Stop defending and denying.
Steve: I really am fed up with people misrepresenting information on the “sunshine list”. For the last few years until I retired, I was on that list in my professional position as an IT manager at the Toronto school board. Many other people in the same general salary bracket as me — Vice Principals as a good example in schools — had drifted above 100K simply by inflation. It won’t be long until many teachers are over 100K, and those who now hold multiple jobs, such as a day and night school position, are there now. The large percentage increases in the length of the lists are caused by the lack of inflation adjustment of the 100K line. It is no longer way up at the top rank of salaries, but now includes a wider group below. This is common to salaries everywhere.
If you look at the positions of those at the TTC who make over 100K, most are in management in skilled positions such as engineering and trades, not operators. By the way, the article you cite from the National Post is from 2007, and it makes the point that only 17 people on the list were operators.
If you want to kvetch about how much operators make, be my guest, but get your facts right.