Town transit operators file complaints

Some town bus drivers say they are just tired of being tired.

Several transit employees — who are also members of the UE Local 150, the public service employees union — petitioned the Chapel Hill Town Council last month to improve work conditions

As a follow-up to the May transit petition, council members appointed a discussion group composed of the Deputy Town Manager Florentine Miller and the Human Resources Director Pam Eastwood, along with other staff to discuss driver pay, work scheduling and bus maintenance.

Transit operators have complained that inefficient management has degraded work conditions.

“The town of Chapel Hill is a good employer, but we need more teamwork between management and the drivers,” said Stanley Norwood, a 17-year Chapel Hill Transit bus driver who presented the concerns to council members in May.

Many say the split-shift schedule, which leaves most drivers idle between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., does not allow for 40-hour work weeks.

“The little time that you do have with your family is spent trying to get overtime work, just to reach 40 hours,” said Horace Sewell El, a Chapel Hill Transit bus driver and Raleigh resident.

Council member Mark Kleinschmidt said drivers should have full-time work if they want it.

“People who want to work a full day should be able to work all day,” Kleinschmidt said. “Lord knows there’s enough work in the (transportation) department.”

Norwood said shortening the break between shifts to two hours would help alleviate the problem.

Drivers also complain that buses lack proper maintenance to make the service safe and reliable.

Sewell said the radios and air conditioning units fail persistently, among other things.

“Last week I had a bus with a fare reader that beeped the entire shift,” he said. “Another bus had a check engine light that came on, and that bus is now out of service.”

Transportation Director Mary Lou Kuschatka said bus maintenance is an ongoing problem.

“We will probably always have something go wrong,” she said.

Kleinschmidt said the demand for fare-free public transit has increased, and that is a factor in many problems mentioned at the May council meeting.

“It is really unfortunate that the workers have to be the ones to deal with these growing pains,” he said.

Drivers say they hope the meetings will stimulate dialogue between transit employees and the managerial side of the transportation department.

Norwood said the meetings might allow other bus drivers to voice their opinions.

“I hope these discussions will help workers to stop sweeping these things under the rug,” he said.

Kleinschmidt said that since grievances typically are addressed by town management, the petition got the council’s attention.

“It puts us in a position to ask the manager, ‘What’s going on?’” he said. “It’s quite unusual for town employees to come straight to council with their problems.”

Norwood said he thinks that by going to council with a union behind the employees, they have more weight in their arguments if only because they are better organized for the task.

“We know we can’t legally bargain, but at least through the union, we can’t be dispersed.”

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