There is money to made in BART's garbage.
The Mercury News reports that three BART janitors racked up over one hundred thousand dollars each in overtime pay. Liang Zhao Zhang made $125,573 in overtime pay, Gapo Chan made an extra $125,254, and Yui Fai Ko took in $115,007 for overtime work. That's a combined a combined 7,900 hours of overtime.
Earlier this year, KTVU's investigative unit focused on the notoriously well-compensated Zhang. Secretly following his moves with a camera, the team found that Zhang spent hours at a time sitting in a storage closet.
Interested parties can apply for a BART job here.
"We turned off all overtime for janitors at the beginning of this year," BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost told the Merc. And they're not hiring more janitors anytime soon (a.k.a.: until we stop obsessing about how much they're paid.)
According to Trost, the Bay Area's homeless epidemic has burdened BART's custodial workers with additional challenges. "These workers clean up urine, feces and needles and we are thankful for their hard work and that they take the shifts to help tackle the cleanliness problem. The job isn't for everyone."
We all know how gross BART stations can get. SFist has delved into the dirt here and here. It's certainly no secret that BART escalators are made from metal and poop.
Of BART's 134 janitors, only the aforementioned three made over $100K in overtime last year.
"As is the case here. Overtime is provided based on collective bargaining agreements and others are saying 'no' to these shifts while some take them. When salary data for 2017 is released next year, there will be a drop in overtime pay for janitors," Trost promised the San Francisco Business Times.
Related: Some BART Employees Making Triple Their Salaries In Overtime
