T’s money room woes

The MBTA’s “money room” is a certifiable mess, in need of the kind of clean sweep outsourcing its work will accomplish, and it’s time the Boston Carmen’s Union stopped trying to falsely blame “management” failures.

Sure, the cash-counting operation, which handles about $200 million a year in fares and other transit funds, could use a security equipment upgrade. But there’s no equipment that can overcome the carelessness and outright stupidity of, say, propping open a security door or leaving several thousand copies of keys to fare boxes strewn “haphazardly” around the building.

A consultant hired to audit the operation, Shellie Crandall, told the Herald, “My initial reaction was ‘I can’t believe that a government agency is doing this work.’ ” For example, “You don’t need 1,000 keys. You don’t need 100 keys. You’re talking less than five, 10 people should have those keys.”

And those “Don’t Outsource” T-shirts, shorts or flip-flops aren’t exactly the required uniform.

Already union “managers” — which ought to be a contradiction in terms — have been replaced as have MBTA police by private security. Real money is at stake here. Some $101 million in “variances” over a five-year period were reported.

The security lapses also put workers’ lives at risk in the event of a robbery. Perhaps the Carmen’s Union ought to think about that too.