On Jan. 31, representatives of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents Regional Transit System bus drivers, mechanics, maintenance workers and administrative staff, sat down with the City of Gainesville to renegotiate their pension.
However, the ATU representatives were forced to leave the meeting after the city refused to discuss in good faith the cost impacts of their own proposal and instead stubbornly reiterated cuts to bus driver pensions.
RTS buses are the veins and arteries of Gainesville. Students and working people rely heavily on bus services to get to and from class and work.
Without RTS bus drivers, Gainesville would be unable to function in the manner it does today. Yet despite the central role they play in education and commerce in Gainesville, these hard-working drivers are subjected to forced overtime, stagnant wages, looming cuts to their pensions and an ineffective grievance procedure.
More than any other single issue on campus, students overwhelmingly want more efficient bus routes and public transportation.
Student Government elections, which are right around the corner, almost always feature platform promises from parties to improve RTS services.
If they are serious about fulfilling those promises, they should stand with the ATU and resolutely support their demands for a fair contract.
Instead of hiring more drivers for under-staffed routes, RTS requires its drivers to work overtime, sometimes up to 60 hours a week. As a result, drivers are more tired when they go to work, which increases the risk of accidents.
Although hiring more drivers would improve bus routes and efficiency, it would cost RTS more in wage and pension payments.
So, in order to avoid paying salaries for new drivers and staff, RTS simply forces its small workforce to work overtime and passes the bill onto the university, which is responsible for covering the vast majority of time-and-a-half wages from overtime.
In essence, forced overtime means students pay more for a less-efficient and less-safe bus service, and bus drivers are placed in the uncomfortable position of working longer hours than they should.
Despite their long work hours, RTS drivers have not seen a raise since 2009 when the city increased wages by a meager 1 percent. More disturbingly, Gainesville bus drivers saw their pensions attacked in the last year by both the state legislature and the city.
Last year, the state placed draconian restrictions on pension contributions, which limited the amount of overtime earnings that can go toward employee pensions to 300 hours annually.
Now, the city wants to further raid the bus drivers' hard-earned pensions by limiting the overtime earning contribution to 80 hours per year.
The city also upholds an extremely unfair grievance arbitration policy for bus drivers who have legitimate concerns at work.
When drivers have a dispute with management, they can have the city arbitrate and resolve the conflict. However, even if the city rules in favor of the driver, both sides have to pay 50 percent of the cost of arbitration, which creates a financial disincentive for drivers to bring up controversial grievances.
These legal costs can range anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000 depending on the complexity of the case, but even when the city rules in favor of the driver, the ATU is still on the hook for 50 percent of the arbitration costs.
As the primary provider of transportation operating costs and with UF students comprising 75 percent of RTS's ridership, UF is in a unique position to play a decisive role in the ATU's struggle to ensure justice for Gainesville bus drivers.
UF pays for 51 percent of RTS's transportation services, largely with students' activity and service fees.
With enough pressure from students and the UF administration, the City of Gainesville will have no choice but to pursue a dignified and fair contract for RTS drivers.
RTS is an invaluable service to our campus and community that doesn't operate as well as it could if the city was more attentive to the needs of its drivers.
The entire Gator Nation should stand in solidarity with the ATU in demanding an end to the policy of forced overtime, stagnant wages and pension cuts, and it should support the ATU's demand for a fair grievance arbitration procedure.
If you're interested in getting involved in the struggle for a fair contract for Gainesville's bus drivers and a better RTS system, come out to the weekly Students for a Democratic Society meeting on Monday at 6:30 p.m. in Anderson 32. You can get more information regarding the campaign on the Gainesville Area SDS Facebook group.
Dave Schneider is a Zone 1 Coordinator and Florida AFL-CIO. Cassia Laham is a Gainesville Area Students for a Democratic Society Organizer
