Georgia State shuttle drivers apply pressure for more pay

NEWS – The Signal Organizing Director for Teamsters 728 Ben Speight believes that President Becker could be the one to grant the requests of the Panther Express operators, however if no change is seen a protest could be the next step.Photo by Tarilyn Johnson | The SignalPanther Express shuttle drivers are requesting higher wages and said they are likely to protest unless negotiations bring the desired increases.
The driver’s union contract – the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) – expires in April and covers wages and benefits. The CBA is under negotiation between MV Transportation, the company subcontracting drivers to Georgia State, and Teamsters 728, the union representing those drivers.
Panther Express operators currently make $12 per hour after training and have a commission cap set at $15.20 an hour.
In his seven years of driving Panther Express shuttles, Raymond Agard has driven every campus route and has gotten to know many of the students on campus. He makes the maximum salary amount, but the 72-year-old said his pay is not a livable wage.
“We would like to have an increase because the cost of living is going up and, as operators, we don’t think that we’re being paid at the right rate,” Agard said. “The cost of living keeps rising, but our salary is stagnant.”
Agard said his co-workers have gradually been leaving the job, because they cannot live on the salary. Many of them, he said, became bus operators for Marta. According to glassdoor.com, Marta bus operators make an average of $16.96 per hour.
“The other bus companies start at much more and you don’t have to go around the route as often,” Agard said. “Our shuttles are constantly going around with only a few minutes break to go to the bathroom. It’s hard. A lot of the drivers here are going to MARTA because they can make $4 more and that’s a lot ...


Read more