Posted on 02/17/2010 10:15:59 PM PST by UAConservative
Some UA students are showing their support for CrimsonRide bus drivers through call-ins today, a day before the bus drivers try to negotiate a new contract with their parent company. First Transit.
Currently the 50 to 60 drivers who work for CrimsonRide are demanding fair wages from First Transit, which provides bus drivers for the UA campus bus system.
CrimsonRide bus drivers are not UA employees. They work under contract with First Transit, a transportation company. The University pays First Transit $55 an hour per driver, and each driver receives only $9.50 of that amount.
In May 2009, the drivers voted to unionize under the Amalgamated Transit Union, but First Transit has stalled contract negotiations, according to union officials.
Kenneth Kirk, international vice president for the union, said it is important that students realize what the bus drivers are fighting for. “All we want is what’s fair,” Kirk said.
According to a news release sent out by ATU, it was reported last November that FirstGroup PLC, the parent company of First Transit, had earnings of more than $200 million over the previous six months.
In addition, Kirk said First Transit has not handled the situation fairly.
“They want us to go on strike,” Kirk said. “We don’t want to strike. People have to pay their bills, so we can’t afford to strike.”
An ATU representative will meet with First Transit Thursday in Tuscaloosa to negotiate fairer contracts for the drivers. Kirk said no proposals have been announced yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at cw.ua.edu ...
I’ll learn to work the saxophone
I’ll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blue
Ummm... the company still has to pay for the bus, insurance, overhead, as well as employment taxes for the employee.
I recommended to the local university that they needed charge a ‘carbon fee’ of $2,000 per year for the privilege of parking at the university. Charged to students and faculty alike, the funds would go to help fund building off-site parking facilities and a new shuttle system to get people to and from the campus. Oh. I also told the county school system they needed to do the same thing.
Remarkably, these self-proclaimed defenders of the environment weren’t impressed with the idea.
Should have gone to AUBURN! War Eagle!!! Class of 89!
You have a Law School, that attracts the moonbats. We own Engineering.
Pay them $55 an hour, but make them bring their own bus.
Sorry, I could not help myself. Primal instinct.
Defund ACRON,
Sign an executive order doing away with SEIU,
Eliminate the minimum wage,
Mandate "right to work" laws for all 50 states (you don't have to belong to a union to get a job),
?????
>> Ummm... the company still has to pay for the bus, insurance, overhead, as well as employment taxes for the employee.
Exactly. The bus, driver, and route are no doubt interchangeable in terms of the service being provided.
You forgot to mention fuel and maintenance.
That’s pretty close to what bus drivers are paid by the hour around here in Tennessee.
I looked up First Group PLC’s numbers from last year and their margins were pretty sad at 0.93%. I sent in a letter to the editor last night explaining that if the wage plan goes through, some of the workers will be greeted with pink slips.
That’s why I applied to graduate school at Auburn. The parents are ardent Auburn fans and tried to get me to go there for undergraduate, but the money talked.
Enough said. I will be in Auburn tomorrow night for a lacrosse game. WDE!
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