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Here we go again! Two bus drivers out of 270 making so much overtime, and only drivers who have been working for years make $26 an hour. The starting pay is around $15 an hour.
And we deserve that pay. We drive a 40-foot bus through bad weather, with unrealistic schedules, rush-hour traffic, packed conditions with unruly passengers and disruptive juveniles. I’m one of many drivers who are fed up with the absenteeism and abuse of medical leave. The same small percentage of drivers will eventually put the last nails in their own coffins, allowing patient part-timers to go full-time. On the other hand, Metro’s shop employees have eight slots out of 45 workers to request a day off. Drivers have 10 slots for 270 drivers, with first choice to senior drivers. Lower seniority drivers end up calling in sick for time off. Also, workers’ compensation was changed for us. When we’re hurt on the job, we have to use accumulated sick time to pay for being hurt on duty, so drivers will stay off work longer so workers’ compensation pays them back for time they’ll need if they or a child becomes sick. Hopefully the city and Teamsters Local 695 will come up with good ideas to benefit the majority of good Metro drivers. That’s good negotiating — to benefit the good and weed out the few abusers who play the system.
— Sharon Williams, Metro driver, Madison
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