NJ toll collectors fighting to keep jobs on Turnpike, GSP
SATURDAY DECEMBER 28, 2013, 1:05 PM
BY DONALD WITTKOWSKI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON — Working in a metal booth in the middle of a highway — while traffic zooms by and choking exhaust fumes fill the air — may not sound like an ideal job to most people.
But the unions representing toll collectors on the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike are fighting to protect those jobs as technology cuts into the work force and plans for privatization become more intense.
Union leaders are worried that toll takers may disappear altogether unless they are able to stop the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, the parkway and turnpike’s operating agency, from privatizing the fare-collection system on both roads.
“It’s just a shame what is being done. They’re in constant fear of losing their jobs,” Kevin McCarthy, president of Local 194 of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, told The Press of Atlantic City. The union represents the turnpike’s toll collectors.
The turnpike authority has decided to accept bids for a private company to oversee toll collection, including the human toll takers and the automated E-ZPass system. The authority believes it may save millions of dollars by making the switch. The same issue was debated in 2011, but privatization was avoided then because the unions agreed to accept salary cuts and other concessions.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_toll_collectors_fighting_to_keep_jobs_.html#sthash.pBWERX6z.dpuf
Technology and privatization at work.
Lets continue to see where it can be applied to benefit taxpayers.