In first wave of cuts, Turnpike to layoff 20 toll collectors

Voluntary Layoffs huh? I would like to know the details of the ridiculous severance packages they got in exchange for volunteering to leave a piece of cake job with incredible benefits. There is no way these employees did this out of the kindness of their heart.

Get rid of them all! I wish someone at MTA would call the turnpike authority in Dallas and get some advise. They got rid of all the toll takers and automated the whole thing. Everyone drives through the plazas at 55+, fewer hassles and less traffic.

$53,000 a year to take tolls? That's $25.50 an hour to take tolls? You have got to be kidding me. What cashier in the private sector makes $25.50 an hour and gets a pension when they retire? Why not just replace the whole lot with Stop & Shop cashiers and lower the tolls? And while we're at it, replace the idiots managing the Turnpike with store managers from the Gap. They couldn't be any worse and the state would save a boat load of money.

How about the toll takers that literally just stand at the Fast Lane gates on the Tobin? Why the heck are they even there? Heck why are the gates themselves even there unlike every other Fast Lane lane in the state?

thats just great, now the lines will be even longer at the toll booths.

Lay them all off

Merry Christmas, toll takers!

It's about time the manual toll-taker positions get reduced to reflect the quantity of tolls collected electronically. Why does it take a deficit to do this?? Should have happened long ago.

Of course, this will lengthen backups at the toll booths, allowing the Turnpike Authority to claim that it's 60%-100% toll increases at least allow motorists more time to savor the astounding beauty of its toll plazas.

"This is the first step," Executive Director Alan LeBovidge said this morning after an authority board meeting in Boston. "We are in negotiations with the unions to [cut 100 positions], but this is the first step."
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See this is the problems with unions, especially public employee unions. They should ALL just be FIRED. With the skilll level it takes to be a tolltaker, you could replace them with monkeys and pay them bananas and get the same results, and save lots of $. Here we are talking about doubling tolls on 100's of 1000's of people in a recession, costing them several hundred $ per year, and we have to negotiate with unions on if or how many unskilled and unnecessary toll takers making $65,000 - $70,000 per year that we're going to fire? What is wrong with this picture? Our government is a FAILURE, because it allows public employe unions to run the show. The fact that a toll taker makes that much $, when the avg. new college grad might take 10 years to get to get to that level is sickening and disugsting. Abolish the tolls and the MTA, and fire them all!!!

THIS MOVE IS 10 YEARS TO LATE. THE SHIP HAS ALREADY SUNK. LET IT STAY SUNK AND BUILD A BETTER AND MORE AFFECIANT SHIP NOT CAPTAINED BY PIRATES.

What do you call 20 Pike layoffs?

A start!

53K to make change? Unreal.

HOOORAY!!!! SLASH SLASH SLASH!!!!! Sorry ex-toll workers get up and find another job now. I do feel bad, but not at the expense of my pocket. The State's so called savings won't matter anyway since there will still be new and inventive ways for me and you to pay more taxes.

... I doubt they were cut from the workforce...they were probably reassigned to another department....and don't they use spellcheck when writing articles ??????

Explain this, The typical cashier earns roughly $6 to $10 dollars per hour. Est 12K-20K per year. How are salaries of 50-70K a year justified for literally the same job as a retail store cashier? Why should that expense be passed on to the drivers of MA? This type of job would be Ideal for many college students in the area or anyone who is trying to supplement an income.

Let's calculate the severance pay cost (you know the policy was enriched for the volunteers), the cost of probably keeping them and their families in benefits for life, the cost for accelerating the amount and payout of their pension benefits and who knows what else. Rehired in the back door somewhere else...? Letting these people opt out will probably cost the State money vs. saving it.

I agree with comment #1. Using HR-sanitized language to report layoffs is revolting. And are we to assume ther's no connection with the industry-written op-ed a month back announcing that toll collectors are obsolete and everyone should have an EZ-Pass?

Of course, they didn't.....couldn't care less that they're on their way out either.

It will save the Pike $65,000-70,000 each worker NOT COUNTING the "one time charge." Why isn't the "one time charge" noted in the article. Is it a $million a piece? They're not "volunteering" to quit for the good of the bloody taxpayers!!!!! Instead, they're getting paid not to show up, just like UAW workers in Detroit. And if the Pike is "laying off" toll takers making only $53k, then those are the kids, the new hires. They've still got hundreds of toll takers making over $100k a year who haven't been touched. Way to "save" money.

20 layoffs what happened to the 1000 obama oh sorry deval said he was going to layoff after he hired 2000 . That went out the window with property tax relief when the cowardly commiecrats voted out question 1. yoou fools.

What a joke! So instead of taxpayer money being used to pay toll-takers doing "work", it's actually going to be used to pay them for many years to sit on their butts at home. Nice.

Base Salary of $53,000... for putting their hand out and then puuting the change into a register... Only in Massachusetts!

53,000 a year for handing out tickets and giving out change?!?!? You gotta be kidding me, that's a minimum wage job.

Only 20?

How can the base pay of a toll collector be $53K per year? That is
just one example of the problems in our economy. An unskilled job paying
over $50K per year with generous benefits. The injustices in
our society continue and will never end. Greed and corruption
are everywhere. I have a Boston Globe Parade magazine from 1991.
The #1 listed problem was the faltering economy and # 2 was
government spending. Has anything changed? Just more deficit
spending and corruption. The party is over and reality is here!

I just went through a voluntary layoff believe me it is alot better than what you would get if they laid you off.

Witness the sinking blimp — accompanied by a frenzy of tossing things overboard, to slow the dive ...

I'm generally pleased whenever I learn of a government agency reducing it's workforce — particularly when it's a poster child for poor management like the Mass Turnpike Authority! Even so, I feel sad for the 20 employees & their families who now have this cloud hanging over their holidays. Given how glacially slow the Turnpike Authority has been to recognize & address its problems, the timing of today's announcement looks like "Grinching" to impress the creditors.

For these 20 affected employees, I hope that the Mass DET does better by you than the Turnpike Authority has, & you're all able to find suitable re-employment quickly!

good. now make those unmanned lanes FAST LANE ONLY! I'm sick of seeing more cash lanes than fast lane. it's ridiculous

There already are incredibly long lines during peak periods. If the Pike cuts toll takers from 440 to 150 as stated in the report, how bad will it become? Actually, maybe this is a plan to raise money. Drivers will become so frustrated with waiting that they will just drive through the Fast Lane and get hit with a $50.00 fine.

""We are in negotiations with the unions to [cut 100 positions]"

Translating the above into english, they are checking what will the union need in extra benefits or pay in order to allow them to fire the 100 do nothing overpaid toll takers. By the time you account for that, there will not be much left of the savings.

Eliminate all toll takers, require drivers to use transponders or pay with quarters / tokens, fine the people who drive through without paying.

Why exactly do we need toll takers for, anyway? That is, other than a way to "spread the wealth" to connected friends...

53,000 base to count change. Only in Mass!

How a toll collector can make so much blows my mind. No offense, but these people are essentially cashiers, except they don't have to scan any products. Imagine if Stop & Shop or Dunkin Donuts paid their cashiers $70,000 a year? They'd be struggling to make money too.

Unions are good to protect their workers, but sometimes they get to powerful and greedy. This union needs to blown out, get rid of everyone and start over hiring people at fair wage. $10 an hour maybe? What do cashiers make these days? I seem to think of another industry where the union got to strong and the workers make much more than fair wage and are now in finacially mess... What industry is that? Oh thats right. The auto industry.

fire them all. overpaid state worker bums. keep cutting. no raising taxes.

These 20 people probably also work at Massport

You mean to tell me that most teachers in this country make less than a toll taker? IF that isn't the craziest thing you've heard I don't know what is!!! It's time to wake up and get our priorities in order. No wonder why we import engineers and mathematicians !!

It's about time. Only thirty years too late.

Let's get to the root of the probelm.....Why does a toll collector get a base salary of $53,000?

Tim,
Now I see where the term "Negotiating with the Unions" comes from!

Good Call!

Another sick joke from the state employees, a job buy out. Just fire the bums, ops they know someone so we have to pay them to quit. Massachusetts is as bad as Illinois.

The state of massachusetts does not give serverance. They give you what you have in pensions plus vacation, personal time and vacation accrued. They might give you 25 percent of your sick time that you have on the books.

Please note state employees does not get severance. Only private sector employees.

The problem is they made too much money for just doing toll 65,000 to $70,000 for one toll people and it is easy job and should hire college student for $7 a hour. Our goverment loves to spend money for stuip reasons. $65,000 is too much

$53k a year for what is basically a cashier job?!?!? 450 toll takers?!?!?!? Wow, that seems like a lot but it definitely goes to show how bloated and wasteful the organization is. There was a story on NPR recently about how the MassPike is the least profitable toll road in the entire country.

Also, with all of the skimming scandals that have come up time to time, it would be interesting to see how much more $$$ actually shows up when the layoffs have been completed.

I'm sorry but how can you justify paying 53,000 dollars to someone who is taking tolls in the first place. Alot of them can't even bother to get off the there cell phones.
They should get pay cuts across the board .
Government workers need a dose of reality in the private sector they would make half what they make now with less benefits.

The generousity of our State, using taxpayer's money of course, is overwhelming!! Is it any wonder that our Great State is swifty sinking to the bottom of the harbour!!

I hope they all lose their jobs as well as their homes. It's absolutely moronic in this day and age that MA has people handling change on a highway so that drivers can pay for usage.

May your fourth grade math teacher roll over in his/her grave.

How did you come up with a $10.0M savings? Laying off 25% of 440 toll takers results in 110. Using your calculations of a $70,000 savings per toll (which is another topic) you are not even touching $8.0M with rounding.

So either go back to school for math training or say that you are a mouthpiece for Pike management.

If all the Tolls in all of Massachusetts were removed you would not need any Toll-Takers. This is the ONLY FAIR SOLUTION and I don't even use the Mass Pike. But I am smart enough to knoe that the people that commute to Boston help in very important ways to the health of the States economy. REMOVE ALL TOLLS!!!!!

It's been said but the base salary is outrageous! BASE salary! My first yeat teaching my base was 32,000$, and after a few years and halfway through a masters I am not at 53,000$
Just CRAZY. Yes lay them ALL off.

Hmmmm ... why is there NO support in these comments - if this system had a nano ounce of defensible credibility there would be ONE comment saying toll takers at $70,000/ year are valuable and their rates are reasonable because ..... but NONE - not a peep from anyone who can defend such an appalling system - AND they want to RAISE the tolls - this state would be better run by crack whores who KNOW the value of a dollar!

Massachusetts quite definitely DOES get somethings right and I could not fathom living anywhere else - BUT the overwhelming volume of fiscal ineptitude is shocking particularly for a state that has the highest ratio of educational institutions per sqaure foot on Earth.

Just so you know, as the wife of a toll collector, It is not the amt. of money all collectors make.Most of those amts. include lots of overtime because there is insufficient help to make the commutes operate smoothly.
Did you also know that those who live between 1 and 6 don't have to pay tolls when they travel between 1 and 6!!That income could have kept the tolls from increasing.
The person who collects tolls does so 365 days a year in all sorts of weather conditions and gets spit at, has coins and cans thrown at them, sworn at and called every foul name in the book!! Can you do that job and take all the bad decisions that the higher ups make, and then deal with angry patrons who wait in line and then take it all out on the collector.
Four different collectors wrer injured that I know about, two lost their sight from people thowing things at them, one was killed by an angry truck, and one was attacked and beaten for not letting someone not pay!!
Yes the collector is made out the bad guy, but the general public is not much better for the way they act either.
Boston does not care what happens as long as they don't have to hear it!!
Oh and if yiur are interested they get 4 weeks pay to leave voluntary, thats it folks!!

This whole thing is absurd. Although it does make sense why these tolltakers make this much. These people are the brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces & nephews of our policitians and union reps. This is where these unskilled people get jobs and lap the luxury of free benefits for life. Imagine how much someone who's worked there for 20 yrs+ makes? Gotta be easily over $100K. Here's a thought...with so many college kids in Mass, you could easily hire them out for minimum wage to do this job. No benefits, no union BS to deal with. Just a smile and someone who can add & subtract.

I wouldn't want to suck in all those CO fumes and deal with all those surly massachusetts drivers for all the whiskey in Ireland, let alone $25/hour. Merry Christmas.

Ignorance is bliss- wrong my husband and I are not related to any person in political office. He has a BS in Business for BC. He worked for Digital for 20 years and was handed his hat and said see ya!!
You have not got all your facts staight and you all continue to blame the wrong people.
Ask yourself why doesn't Boston increase the fees for trucks?We are the cheapestState for trucks. If all the fees were equal for everyone it would make a huge difference.
Who put the big dig price tag in the authority budget, not the collector, that was The Upper Bosses!!
think about what your saying and who you are condeming because one if not all of you will undoubtlly take and swear or throw something at a collector who had no part in those decisions.

Sounds like Annie is grasping at straws - honestly - 70,000 because it is chilly and some of Hubby's customers aren't sugary and nice 24/7 - if there was a premium for working outside and having an occasionally bad day - EVERYONE would get 70,000!!! Annie - do you have any idea how many people work in similarly "poor" conditions and get less than 1/2 of your hubbies 70 grand and NO pension or other BS - if the job is so terrible, why does he go to work everyday - because he and YOU know that he is grossly OVERPAID - or he'd quit - tell us here that isnt true - ANNIE. There is no other reply here that offers a spit of support for the stranglehold that your union has on the toll payin stiffs and the spineless politicians that your ilk has on the State of Massachusetts. It's piracy in it's purest form.

Annie dear,

For the wife a BC grad - your grammar is atrocious. I assume that you did not go to college. Hopefully, your husband, Mr. BC Business, is better educated than you are. Perhaps not and that explains why he can only keep a union protected job for the overpaid and under qualified.

I hope that you are not teaching your children to communicate in such an embarrassingly substandard way. Among other issues, you help to illustrate how far we need to go with - EDUCATION!

Go figure!!! A toll collector making at least 30% more than a teacher!!! Fire the Rude bastards!! They don't even have the respect to hang up their cell phones while taking your hard earned money! Most of those cashiers are making more than the people driving through the toll booths. People with stressful private sector jobs. Try asking for directions. They give you a look as if to say "Thats going to cost you extra" Only in Mass!! We should be importing our toll collectors not our scientist!!

Now they can take their skills into the private sector and get paid what they're actually worth. I'd say they should be able to pull down $9 or $10 an hour working at the ticket counter of a movie theater.

As the relative of a toll collector who has worked on the Mass Pike for over 30 years I can honestly say that $53,000 is approximately the base salary. The $70,000 figure is including benefits and there is absolutely no way that a toll collector, even one who has worked there for over 30 years, is making over $100,000 unless they are constantly working overtime. Also while some of the toll collectors may have some sort of connections, at least closer to the Boston area, the majority do not. These layoffs will affect many employees and their families. Maybe before people start making assumptions they should research this topic more thoroughly.

If any one of you had an oportunity to work that job and make that kind of money you would! Sounds like alot of jealous people out there to me.
These collectors are there doing a job just like you do your job. If it wasn`t them it would be someone else...maybe even one of you or your kid.
I think eveyone should have a chance of making a good living but that only happens to ceo`s of big companies that are a hell of alot more overpayed than a toll collector and they are the real "Rude Bastards".
Don`t blame them for the salaries...they didn`t set the pay scale...they are just trying to make it out there like eveyone else. By the looks of some of these letters it seems like you are the folks being talked about giving the collectors a hard time. Why don`t you all just go about your business and let them do theirs.

To John Kennedy - Sorry but it's not OK that the state it paying toll collectors more than it pays some of its attorneys. Tax payers should not be paying $35 an hour for a job that should pay $10.

Maybe there’s more to the job then meets the eye. Gosh , jealousy runs a muck. No one ever said you couldn't apply for the job,oops, too late. There was nothing stopping any of you . Guess you have to be pretty smart to find a good job. Remember we choose the job not the other way around. You think they make a lot, I heard the supervisors make about 100,000, and they don't do hardly anything.

how can I get a job as a toll worker?

wow 53k base salary in mass? over in NY they were paying me about $10 an hr. no benifits. It wasnt worth it, I did it for only a couple weeks before i quit. Its definately more of a pain in the @ss than most fast food, cashier, ect jobs. Only way i would ever go back is if they paid me 53k.