EMTA bus driver David Justka was recently fired after hitting a 16-year-old pedestrial while driving his bus. This was not Justka’s first incident driving his bus, it was his third involving a person. His driving record includes four crashes and many traffic violations. In fact in 2005 he struck and killed a local surgeon. EMTA recently settled with the surgeon’s widow for half a million dollars.
Well, the Amalgamated Transit Union thinks he should still be driving a bus and has filed a grievance with EMTA claiming his firing was unfair. The union is arguing that Justka’s prior driving record is irrelevant to his current firing.
Wait a minute. In one of his past incidents, a person was killed. It absolutely should be part of the decision making process when it comes to determining if this person should be driving a bus.
We’re not saying Justka is a bad person. He just should not be driving a bus. Period.
Justka has already been re-instated once, and it should not happen again. The union needs to step back and realize the facts that Justka should not be behind the wheel of a bus ever again.
What do you think? Should Justka get his job back?
He should absolutely NOT have his job back. The union needs to back off.
NO WAY… The man apparently is a bad driver and should not be behind the wheel of anything. I don't think I would want to drive again it were me in the situation.
Why can't the State, or law enforcement step in and revoke his CDL / licenses? Then it wouldn't matter what EMTA or the Union wants or does. I thought driving was defined as a “privilege” in PA , not a right. If anyone deserves to have that privilege revoked, it is this guy.
no, and GREAT example of how unions are out of control and ruining Anerica.
GM, Ford and Chrysler all need to go bankrupt, and start from scratch.
AFSCME sucking city and county dry. UAW makes American cars unaffordable. Good luck on unemployment to all you guys making $70,000 a year building these fine examples of workmanship. Make mine HONDA anyday. Never a problem, and built in America under wages determined by the FREE MARKET economy.
Want the job for $15 an hour? Take it. If not, don't apply. Honda makes SUV's for $22k that last forever and have 4WD.
unbelievable..unions have a place, but putting the public in peril is not one of them. if i was the family of the doctor that was killed i would be suing the union for their gross neglience….let a jury sort it out…they would so lose in this case.
okay if u have a school teacher sexually abusing children do u think they should work in a school HELL NO!!!!!! so this man shouldnt drive a bus…. HELL NO!!!!! Im union and I wouldnt want him back there behind the wheel.
This is making the union look really bad. I understand that a bus driver, drives for maybe 8 hours a day in a urban environment, and is more likely to hit someone than the average person. But my dad has been driving UPS for 30 years and he has never hit a person … let alone 3 in 8 years.
Hell to the NO. let's use common sense here… what would happen if I hit 3 people in the last few years? wouldn't i be cited for that and possibly have a suspension of license? I'm asking, i'm not really sure how that works. no union protecting me there…
This is a case where the third time should not be a charm. Even if one the one person hit would not have died, I believe this guy should look into another line of work. Are you kidding me?! If I sucked at my job this bad to cause catastrophic errors I would have been fired. This is just giving fuel to those who have no faith in unions. We do have to remember that it was unions who allow us to work 8 hours a day & to be compensated fairly for the work we do. But some unions are out of control. When they can fight for rights that don't make any sense such as this or making workers hold out for more pay or benefits than a company can afford causing them to go our of business that just makes them look crazy. Someone needs to hold them accountable for these acts of insanity.
My name is ben and I am the Union President for local 568. The most unfortunate thing here is the fact that we had offered to place Mr Justka in a garage position after his 2005 accident, EMTA refused forcing the Union to go to arbitration. During the arbitration EMTA management was caught lying and as a result of their perjured testimony being recognized re-canted everything and proclaimed Mr Justka was a good driver and did no wrong. This testimony along with helpful testimony from DA Foulk forced the arbitrator to fully reinstate Mr Justka to his previous job of driving. Anyone doubting these statements may contact me at misdagain@aol.com and I will allow you to read the actual documents of anything I have involving EMTA. As for representing Mr Justka, it is our responsibility under Labor Law to do so up until a vote from our membership as whether to arbitrate or not. The Union doesn't have the political influence to force the times and other “correct” media outlets to correctly report the facts. EMTA on the other hand has had a lot of help from the times and others manufacturing misinformation to infuriate the public, and given the misinformation presented I don't blame the public for being incensed with myself or the Union I help represent. That being said I again state that anyone wanting information contact me at the above e-mail address, my name is Ben Carrick and I will continue to represent our members and be proud of it, despite the orchestrated and inaccurate propaganda generated by EMTA and its media puppets.
Another thing, there are some people looking to run for office next year in Erie, despite countless e-mails to them and actually going to city council meetings to complain about numerous safety problems at EMTA they simply ignored everything. Most upsetting was the fact that I complained about buses losing their brakes completely for more than a year and two weeks later 0105 lost its brakes and crashed into a tree. Not a word was said to any of the employees and not a question was asked about the ongoing problem by any elected officials. Remember this come election time. We need unobstructed leaders, not puppets.
Ben,
Aren't the facts pretty objective? The guy can't drive well, as you admit. Whatever EMTA management said, he has a record of driving violations, and has killed someoen with a bus.
Why should he be entitled to a garage job, just because he can't do the job he was hired to do?
If you fight to get him a garage job, doesn't that take the job away from another person? Does he have the skills necessary to do the “garage job”, or are you just putting him there to collect a paycheck?
Ben,
Are you able to elaborate on your comment regarding the people looking to run for office? As a concerned voter I'd like more info prior to the elections.
And again kudos to Erieblogs.com for being the only outlet for these types of discussions.
Good workers do not need a union to protect them anymore. Unqualified, lazy, unprofitable workers do. Thus we have poor teachers, killer bus drivers, and auto manufacturers trying for a multi-million dollar handout from the taxpayers to help pay for the union members' perks.
Mr. Carrick is the worst kind of union hack…why would anyone fight so for someone so clearly unskilled and dangerous? How many more people will this guy have to injure, maim or kill before this hack says enough is enough?!
Ray,
I never said he can't drive well, and nothing you've read in the times news or seen on 24 has been objective. Again this misinformation is “by design”
from the actual transcript: questioning Brad Foulk
ATTORNEY- would you agree that some things just simply happen where there's no fault necessarily to be assigned? Just things happen?
DA Foulk- “There's no question about that. I would agree I, was a public defender for a short period of time as well.”
and the information produced by the times and emta don't include your “objectivity” we had a girl involved in three accidents with charges and police charges, she was given one day off. Should I tell Mr Justka that because she was a company lackey she is entitled to the better treatment and media gag? Again I don't fault anyone for being incensed, that's what EMTA and subjective media buddies had designed. I myself do not believe Mr Justka intentionally aims to strike pedestrians, If so I would think it would be a bit more commonplace over his fifteen year employment. I do see terrible luck as it is, and again we attempted to remedy this with the request to place Dave in Maintenance, rather than gambling on arbitration this would have guaranteed a reasonable connon-sense solution for all parties including the public.The maintenance department is extremely short handed and could use the manpower. This would be mutually beneficial as it would keep our member employed and provide help where maintenance is extremely short-handed. It is not a gift as this work can be demanding, especially this time of year.
Again while not computer saavy, I will try to load the actual transcript from the previous arbitration somehow, so people can get a truly objective viewpoint.
OK Ben, so are you saying that Mr. Justka's problems are just a matter of “bad luck?” And are you also saying that you offered to put him in a maintenance position, not because he doesn't drive well, but because with his run of bad luck it is perhaps better for all concerned?
You say that the maintenance department is extremely short-handed. Is that your opinion as a manager or as someone who wants to give people jobs? What are the qualifications for a maintenance position, and does Mr. Justka meet them in a way that would make him more deserving than other qualified applicants?
I find your statements about “a girl” who “was a company lackey” to be a bit sexist..