Turnover Truth at the CTA

This guest blog article is by Brother Christopher Campisi, Local 308 Union Steward and Rail Car Repairer

According to Freedom of Information Act requests below, the turnover rate at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has remained stable. The only significant aberration is how less of the employees are achieving retirement and how many are fired without a pension (administratively separated).

It appears that the Full-Time Temporary (FTT) positions have increased from 168 to 890. This is alarming. The churn-and-burn of "Apprentices" in the Second Chance Program and FTT Flagman (Flagger) may be hiding the slow pace at which the CTA is actually increasing its workforce. 

In fact, I would say on paper they want to show an increase in hiring and training to the public, but in reality they are trending in reverse.

The percentage increase in FTT positions from 2020 to 2024 can be calculated using the data from the "Count of New Hires by Position Type and Year" table. In 2020, there were 168 FTT positions, and in 2024, there were 890. The calculation is as follows:

Find the difference in the number of positions: 890 (2024) - 168 (2020) = 722

Divide the difference by the initial number of positions (2020): 722 / 168 ≈ 4.298

Multiply by 100 to get the percentage: 4.298 * 100 = 429.8%

Therefore, FTT positions have increased by approximately 429.8% from 2020 to 2024.

Based on the provided data, the percentages of employees who resigned and were terminated versus retired are calculated below.
 
Another trend is that the amount of Part-Time Temporary (PTT) has decreased (most are Customer Service Assistant). This could be connected to the hiring of Bus Operators as Full-Time Permanent (or maybe this refers to the changes on the bus operator hiring, but it still leaves me with the opinion we are short staffed, and nothing is getting better. 

If you have less Instructors you have less new hires, I would fix the Instructor deficit by promotion and not outside contracting retirees. 

This has sent a message to the operators that there are no further ladder steps for those who want to teach others a trade.  How can anyone talk about an "apprentice" program without realizing the mess that CTA has created? We need a working system in place that teaches entry level applicants a trade that provided a continuous ladder of opportunities.  

In the Rail Equipment Maintenance department this started with Bombardier's 5000 series trains. We lost most of our talent in Instruction as they began to hire non-railroaders off the street no nothing to run the Maintenance Instruction.

The percentage decrease in PTT hiring from 2021 to 2024 can be calculated using the data provided in the "Count of New Hires by Position Type and Year" table.

The formula to calculate the percentage change is:
Percentage Change = ((New Value - Old Value) / Old Value) * 100
Percentage Change = ((327 - 580) / 580) * 100
Percentage Change = (-253 / 580) * 100
Percentage Change ≈ -43.62%
Therefore, PTT hiring has decreased by approximately 43.62% from 2021 to 2024.

The opinions expressed by guest bloggers here or in Shop Talk newsletter are not necessarily the opinion or sanctioned policies and actions by Brother Eric Curtis Muhammad Basir, ATU Local 308 members, elected leadership or stewards. In the spirit of the First Amendment and the ATU Obligation, all CTA workers and supporters are welcome to submit content of any point-of-view for this blog. Real identities will be hidden upon request.