University bus drivers are fighting to increase their wages and incentives to be drivers and remain drivers.
Currently, student and wage drivers are allowed to work no more than 1500 hours per year, which eliminates the possibility of benefits. As a result, they receive pay of $7.61 an hour and they receive no bonuses.
"A month ago, about one fourth of the student drivers went to a meeting about wages," said driver Chris Andino, a fourth-year College student.
The drivers said they doubt that a union will be organized because of legal complications.
"I don't think we have any right to unionize," student supervisor James Graham said. "$7.61 was what was advertised when we started working."
In a "right-to-work" state such as Virginia, state employees are not allowed to strike or to use a union to collectively bargain.
All students are eligible to be a part of the Staff Union at U.Va., but other than that the student drivers will not form a union of their own.
Many students said they are dependent on their jobs as drivers.
"Student bus drivers drive a bus because they have to," Andino said. "Many pay their entire way to school, or a significant amount."
Andino said he thinks University Transportation Services would ultimately benefit from paying higher wages.
"Higher wages will allow for better employees and will cost less in the future," he said. "We want across the board increases. We want to have a base pay of $9 per hour."
Many drivers said they want to maintain the hierarchy that currently exists in which student drivers are paid the least, trainers make a little more, and supervisors make the most money.
Some drivers said they believe this will cause an increase in morale. A few drivers quit last year making it more difficult on the drivers who stayed.
"We want permanent raises," Andino said."When a driver is promoted to a trainer, the driver receives a $1 pay raise, but when training is over, the driver gets demoted and then receives a wage cut," Andino said.
Some student bus drivers said they feel that increasing pay and incentives will make it easier to recruit other drivers.
"Driving the bus is a fairly difficult job," Andino said. "You have to get a professional license."
The drivers introduced the idea of incentive-based bonuses.
University bus drivers receive what they call "safety bars" for driving 350 consecutive hours without getting into an accident. Andino said he believes the bars are not enough motivation to effectively prevent accidents and increase caution while driving. Instead of only receiving the bars for recognition, the drivers suggest that they be rewarded monetarily, since the decrease in accidents would save a large amount of money for the University Transit Service.
"Accidents cause a destruction of service because a bus can't move until cops get there," Andino said. "Insurance cost would go down, repair cost would decrease, and service interruptions would be minimized. All three cost money."
In order to inspire drivers to return to work for following terms, the drivers encourage seniority based wage increases with obligatory employee reviews.
Some drivers said they feel that if there were a 50-cent increase after the reviews, more drivers would return to work each semester.
Some drivers said the requirements for the review should be that the driver has had no more than one accident per 500 hours and two disciplinary actions taken in the same time frame.They said this would provide an incentive to work more than just the minimum hours.
"Those drivers who are pulling their weight are rewarded," Andino said. "Bad drivers with no customer service are fired."
The student drivers are not exactly sure how everything they ask for can be made possible, and have hesitated slightly as a result. They will, however, present their wants to David Kloss, transportation manager, and Becca White, director of parking and transportation, this week.
Neither Kloss nor White returned calls seeking comment last night.
The students are prepared to offer their employers a voluntary cap so the costs will not exceed what UTS can afford.
Many students said they feel they are underpaid, especially since they have professional licenses.
Student bus drivers also have complaints about differences in treatment between themselves and non-student drivers.
Classified employees, who are bus drivers who are not students, include permanent employees with fixed schedules and salaries and wage employees who are usually about the same age as the students and are paid on an hourly basis.
"Student employees are supposed to get direct deposit, but trainers get paper checks and we think it is because we are students and not classified employees," Andino said.
Since the initial meeting of the student drivers, more student drivers have joined the effort.
"Any disagreement is about what we are asking for, not that we are asking for it," Andino said.
Some bus drivers, such as Andino, are graduating this year. Still, they continue to try to improve the University's bus system.
"We know that most people will never see this increase because the budget has already been submitted for this fiscal year," Andino said.
The hourly pay for student drivers has been $7.61 per hour for the past two-and-a-half years.Before, the pay was $7.37.In recent years, the training class has decreased from 21 trainees to 12 or 13.
The bus-driving students of the University are organizing in order to use the concept of student self-governance to take control of their job situation.
Some areas of inspiration and reference for the student drivers are a Georgia University student strike and the fact that part-time CTS drivers receive $11.60 per hour.
"We do deserve" better benefits, fourth-year College student and driver Gizachew Andargeh said. "This has been a long time coming."
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