Liang Zhao Zhang, a janitor for Bay Area Rapid Transit in downtown San Francisco, promised to clean up and he did just that. Transparent California, a nonprofit organization, released records that show that the janitor earned four times more than his base pay last year in overtime — bringing his earnings to $235,000 in 2015.
With benefits, the total cost of employment was more than $270,000. Over three years, Zhang received a combined $682,000 in pay and benefits. In just three years.
Cecille Isidro, a spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union, insists that people should not forget that the work backbreaking and “involves cleaning up after the hundreds of thousands of riders that rely on BART to get to and from work every day.”
Ok, I get that. But that still does not justify this salary. I do not blame this worker who clearly worked hard to earn as much money as possible. Someone however at Bart management needs to be looking for a new job.
Nobody here knows what this man did for work. The underlying sentiment is that “no janitor should be paid that amount.” It may well be that something was amiss here but what if, just what if the man worked the hours claimed and was paid according to the contract he works under? Is that any worse than a lawyer getting paid an outrageous sum for a case? Is it any more outrageous than the commonplace overpaying of executives in the public and private sector who are paid sums that nobody could every justify in any job? I think not. Middle class people particularly love to disapprove whenever some blue collar person makes decent money. Again, this may be a ridiculous overpayment but given the paucity of actual facts other than the total amount paid, let’s not jump the gun by assuming that nobody who does janitorial work is worth this amount of money.
Well maybe now he can pay off his student loans…