Full time bus drivers for the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority are voting on whether to unionize. If approved, it would be the first time in more than a decade for drivers to be a part of a union.
Ed Cortez was selected by other bus drivers to lead the union vote. He’s been a full time driver for two and a half years, and describes what it was like getting behind the wheel.
“Well, initially I was very nervous, very intimidated. Slowly but surely I realized that I really loved driving.”
A big reason is getting to know riders from all backgrounds-- from regular folks to politicians.
“And the people that I’ve been driving, they’re all very appreciative of the service that we have, especially the people who are visiting as tourists.”
Feeling a part of something bigger-- something benefitting the Roaring Fork Valley is a key motivator for Cortez and others excited about joining a union. They see it as a way to improve the level of investment RFTA has in its drivers, to a level they see in other aspects of the agency, like adding rapid transit service. Cortez was previously on RFTA’s board of directors.
“I’ve noticed a lot of the apathy, in some cases anger, in some cases they’re just so complacent about their jobs, and a lot of it has to with the wage scale that we’re seeing now.”
“We are investing in the drivers, and we’re investing in other employees at RFTA as well. I believe our wages are competitive with other employers in the region.”
Dan Blankenship is CEO of RFTA. He points to recent wage hikes as an example of RFTA already paying drivers as much as possible. For this winter, starting pay went up nearly a dollar, to $18.00 an hour, and returning drivers get a fifty cent increase, plus a possible 3% merit pay option in 2015. RFTA reviews how its pay compares to similar transit authorities.
“So when you look at the mountain region, there were eleven total unionized systems in the mountain region," says Blankenship, "our pay was the top. The next top highest pay was $24 an hour.”
RFTA’s top wage for full time drivers comes in at $25.86. Drivers voting for unionization say the problem is how long it takes to get up to that pay.
“In RFTA it takes as many as fifteen years. And then I got a call from a driver saying no, Ed, you’re wrong. It’s more like twenty years,” says Cortez.
Blankenship agrees it can take some time to get to the top, but it shouldn’t take as long as that description.
“Because, that would mean they would just be getting three percent per year, for fourteen years, starting with 18 dollars. But this past year, the increase is greater, because of the increase in the entry level pay.”
RFTA is checking to see how many full time drivers now are at, or near, top pay.
Blankenship also maintains driver turnover isn’t as bad as advertised, calculating sixteen percent last year. He says it comes down to balancing both good wages, and RFTA’s public funding.
“We have mechanics [and] people in facilities maintenance, so we have to take all of that into consideration. We have to take [into consideration] our capital needs, our ongoing maintenance needs, our fuel needs, and so forth... We have to make forecasts about the kind of revenue that we’re going to receive, that will be able to support all of the services that we’re providing."
As for Cortez, and other drivers in favor of joining a union, they believe the best way to hash all this out honestly is by having collective bargaining. Both they and RFTA have been carefully diplomatic about the vote, which largely ends Friday, February 27th. Ballots must be received by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment by the end of the day, and can be sent by express services. Ballots were delayed for about a dozen drivers with the wrong address. They get a slight extension to the deadline.
If approved, full time RFTA bus drivers would be one of only a few collection of workers in the Roaring Fork Valley, who are part of a union.