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Transit strike ready for launch
Eric Heyl is a Tribune-Review staff writer. He can be reached via e-mail or 412-320-7857.
In contract talks, then they found
Their threats to shut the buses down
Caused frowns through the town."
-- Public transit traditional
Unless a long-standing contract impasse is settled, Port Authority of Allegheny County drivers will hold a strike vote a week from today. The region's first transit work stoppage since 1992 appears to be a distinct possibility.
It's easy to see why. These public employees are grossly underpaid.
Authority bus and light-rail vehicle drivers earn an average of just $47,000 annually -- that's not even $10,000 more than the $38,532 the average Pennsylvania worker makes each year.
Many drivers are forced to accumulate significant overtime just to avoid the social stigma of pulling in less than $50,000 a year. (Several drivers were so intent on not being shamed a few years back that they worked enough overtime to push their salaries over $90,000.)
Authority vehicle operators' top hourly salaries of $21.53 simply aren't commensurate with their duties. Although it's true you don't have to be a rocket scientist to hold many positions in the work force, that trite line certainly doesn't apply to bus drivers.
Don't believe me? Compare the job descriptions of bus drivers and physicists -- they're the people who build rockets -- as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor:
Responsibilities:
Bus Driver: Drive vehicle, collect fares, answer questions about schedules, routes and transfer points, occasionally announce stops.
Physicist: Explore and identify basic principles governing the structure and behavior of matter, the generation and transfer of energy and the interaction of matter and energy.
Qualifications:
Bus driver: Commercial driver's license, 20/40 vision, normal use of arms and legs.
Physicist: Typically a doctoral degree, postdoctoral research, mathematical ability, problem-solving and analytical skills, an inquisitive mind, imagination and initiative.
Bus drivers have more interaction with the public; physicists have more dealings with the principles of gravity and velocity. But in terms of occupational requirements, the jobs certainly seem similar.
The drivers' union hasn't groused that the authority isn't offering anywhere near the median annual salary of American physicists ($85,000, according to the Department of Labor). Nor has it complained about the authority spending revenues from its two fare hikes since 2001 on frivolous items such as a balanced budget.
Au contraire. The union has bargained in good faith, even agreeing that drivers will assume a share of their health care costs for the first time. Name me one other profession where employees contribute to their health plan.
Stumped, aren't you?
Despite the union's reasonable, understated negotiating approach, the authority appears determined to stand firm and provoke a walkout.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that this is one labor dispute that could soon turn ugly.
