ATU “13-Hour Shift” Story is Bogus While “Sick-Out” Continues to Hurt Riders

Press Releases
07/27/2010

Claims by the Amalgamated Transit Union that operators are being forced to drive 13-hour shifts, are false, inflammatory and a disservice to the public, AC Transit charged today. Curiously, the leaders of the operators’ union have misrepresented the facts in hopes of dismissing new work rules related to overtime, employee co-pays for health care, and a revised pension plan for future hires.

The new work rules were adopted by the agency’s Board of Directors as part of a comprehensive plan to cope with a projected deficit of $56 million. The new rules do not impact basic wages or health benefits, but reduces labor cost by $15.7 million.

In response to the plan, the ATU has released a flurry of false and erroneous accusations, including the claim that “bus drivers (must) work 13 hour days for 8 hours pay.”

Nothing could be further from the truth.

First, by law, no bus operators can work more than 10 hours a day, so absolutely no operator ever works 13 hours straight.

Truth is, like most every other transit agency, AC Transit’s service is “peak-oriented” for many lines. That’s because most people use the service going to work, school, etc, in the morning and then again coming home at night.

To cover these peak periods, many operators work part of their day during the morning commute, and then get several hours off before coming back to finish their shift during the afternoon commute. In short, it is a split-shift. It’s standard practice.

During their off hours, drivers can do whatever the want. And not only do they get paid for all the hours they work, but they get paid an additional premium of time and a half for those hours they work that are “spread” out over more than 11.5 hours. For those split-shift operators, the clock starts from the moment when they first hop aboard their buses in the morning.

This is not new. Bus operators have always had these types of split-shifts. So, AC Transit is not doing anything unheard of or unusual, particularly for a public transit agency.

If there is an issue now, it is about how the operators will be paid. Prior to the new work rules, operators started to accrue premium pay if their split-shift spanned more than 10 hours during the day. Under the new procedure, premium pay is accrued only if the split-shift spans more than 11.5 hours a day.

“For the public’s sake, the information needs to be right,” said Interim General Manager Mary King. “Under no circumstances are our operators working 13 hours for eight hours of pay.”

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