Next Stop: Fair Wages for Bus Drivers

Poverty wages are striking again -- and so are the workers earning them. Crimson Ride bus drivers at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa are demanding fair wages and benefits comparable to those of bus drivers in similarly-sized cities across the country. Their target? Parent company First Transit, a North American transportation provider headquartered in Scotland.

In a victory for low-wage workers everywhere, the bus drivers won! (Sort of.) More than 30 drivers refused to work on Monday and by Tuesday they had a raise. Below, the chronology of a semi-successful strike.

According to a recent Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) press release, Crimson Ride bus drivers were making $9.00-$9.50 an hour. While that's above the minimum wage, it's well below the amount needed to bring drivers above the poverty line. Tuscaloosa's living wage calculator puts the living wage for one adult supporting one child at $16.59.

First Transit blamed its shamefully low wages on everyone's favorite scapegoat: the recession. Yet ATU officials report that First Transit's UA earnings are approximately $114,000 per 2,080 hours of bus service; only a small percentage of this income -- about $18,000 -- is paid in bus driver wages.

University of Alabama students took the side of the bus drivers. In mid-February, students organized a call-in day for the drivers, asking UA president Robert Witt to support the campaign for higher wages. One began filming a documentary; another created a Facebook group and an online petition.

In a recent letter to the editor in The Crimson White, UA's school paper, graduate student Jim Toweill explained why students should support the Crimson Ride drivers' struggle: "We should care because the drivers are part of our community. We should care because we depend on them to get to class safely and efficiently. We should also care because struggles for economic justice have greater ramifications."

The attention and activism paid off. After meeting for nine hours to hammer out a proposal that both sides could agree on, ATU representatives and First Transit officials finally concluded their most recent round of negotiations at 3 a.m. Monday morning. The drivers voted in favor of it 23 to one.

Kenneth Kirk, ATU's international vice president, called the newly proposed contract "a vast improvement," as it guarantees drivers a pay raise of $1.50/hour. Still, Kirk warned, "I wouldn't call it a good contract because it doesn't include sick leave and adequate health care." The fight continues.

Photo credit: didbygraham