City bus drivers
earn in top 25 for
nation’s transit salaries
After five years on the job, city bus drivers in Honolulu earn more than police officers, firefighters and public school teachers, according to salary information gathered by the company that runs TheBus for the city.
Honolulu's bus drivers are also among the top 25 wage earners of public transit systems across the country, according to an industry survey of more then 200 bus systems.
Pay is one of the hot-button topics as the union representing 1,400 bus system employees, Teamsters Local 996, goes back to the bargaining table today with Oahu Transit Services, the private company that operates TheBus under contract with the city.
The negotiating session is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Pikake Room of the Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall. Bus workers are set to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow if a settlement is not reached. Federal mediator Carol Catanzariti will be at the bargaining session.
The union is expected to present a new proposal that includes a lower wage request than was originally sought.
The union is asking for a 40- to 60-cent-per-hour wage increase with a pension contribution of 50 cents per hour each year for the next three years. The union originally wanted a $2-an-hour wage hike and a $1-an-hour pension increase each year for three years.
OTS's proposal includes a wage freeze for the next two years along with a reduction in vacation and sick-leave benefits for new employees.
Survival is the theme for both sides.
For unionized workers it's a matter of job security and making ends meet.
"We are underpaid only because we live in one of the highest cost-of-living states," said Teamsters President Mel Kahele.
For the company it's about operating a viable public bus system for the long haul.
"All of us would like to have a growing transit system, but a major barrier for growth is affordability and cost of the service," said Roger Morton, OTS senior vice president.
On its Web site, www.thebus.org, OTS has a comparison of what bus drivers make vs. what some public-sector groups make. Bus drivers are not city employees.
Bus drivers make their top hourly wage -- or $44,000 a year -- after five years of service. Their annual salary is compared with police officers, firefighters and public school teachers at the same level of years of service. At that level, police officers make annual salaries of $37,500; firefighters, $37,400; and teachers, $35,373.
"Some of those comparisons speak for themselves, and I think most people can buy into the comparison," Morton said.
"Certainly it's not to try to say one job is more complicated or harder than another job, but that there's a limit that people can internally feel is a fair amount."
But Kahele reads the numbers differently and says the comparison should not be about how much money bus drivers make over police officers, firefighters and teachers.
"The issue is about understanding the fact and accepting the fact that they (public workers) are underpaid," Kahele said. "Everybody is focusing on the bus drivers making $20 an hour. This is not about us making money or $20 to support our family. The issue is, we all understand and agree that police officers, firefighters are making so much less. Why don't we focus on getting them a raise?"
The national wage survey by John A. Dash & Associates, a service to which OTS subscribes, compares the top hourly wage rates for full-time bus operators of public transit systems throughout the United States.
Honolulu bus drivers, at $21.17 per hour, fall just within the top 25 cities. San Jose, Calif., has the highest pay at $24.84. Philadelphia is No. 25 at $20.66.
The national median wage rate for transit system bus operators is $16.80 per hour, which is what drivers in Green Bay, Wis., are paid.
Drivers in Utica, N.Y., earn the lowest wage at $10.90 per hour.
Kahele said he believes the national wage survey shows that compared with other places, Honolulu drivers are underpaid because of the high price of isle living and conditions they encounter while driving here.
"We should be making $30 an hour here, considering the economy here and how costly it is to survive here," he said.
OTS's Morton countered, "I think there has to be a balance in wages, and the balances to be partly the responsibility of the job and partly the comparison of the job to other jobs in the industry and other jobs in the community."
Wage comparisons
Below is a list of what city bus drivers and some public-sector employees make after five years on the job. Bus drivers are not public employees.
Source: Star-Bulletin
Bus drivers $44,000 Police officers $37,500 Firefighters $37,400 Public school teachers $35,373
