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Overtime pays off for Port Authority bus drivers Highest paid worker made $103,318 Sunday, January 27, 2002 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
When the Port Authority introduced the "gold standard" as its marketing theme several years ago, who knew hundreds of drivers were fattening their wallets?
Four bus drivers who took advantage of overtime opportunities last year not only grossed higher salaries than either Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy or Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey but also set pay records for hourly employees at the transit agency.
The No. 1 driver on the list was paid a total of $103,318 -- about $41,000 based on regular work hours and about $62,000 as the result of 1,896 hours of overtime.
The man, an eight-year employee now assigned to the Ross bus garage but who worked most of last year out of the East Liberty garage, averaged around 80 hours of duty a week.
Port Authority was reluctant to identify the top-paid people, saying it would be unfair to single out anyone.
In all, more than a quarter of the bus-trolley operators on the Port Authority roster pulled in more than $50,000 in wages and overtime last year. The highest paid maintenance employee, a mechanic, grossed $83,578 with overtime.
The practice of offering (and accepting) virtually unlimited overtime was defended by both Port Authority management and Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 2,800 drivers, maintenance workers and other hourly employees.
"Is it fair? The system encourages it, and our members participate in it, according to provisions of the contract," Local 85 president-business agent Joe Hutzler said. "Overtime works for both sides. The ones who put in most of the overtime are our shining lights ... some of the most dedicated employees."
"Would I want to do that?" remarked Don Bell, a former bus driver who's now the authority's director of operations. "No way."
Like Hutzler, he said the people who work so much overtime are the best employees.
"That person [No. 1] virtually lived at the Port Authority," Bell said. "That goes for everyone in the Top 10, who are the employees we rely on most. Generally, they're the ones who get the most commendations, have the least number of accidents and enjoy their jobs."
He characterized the authority policy of offering so many extra hours "a balancing act" between paying higher hourly rates for overtime and hiring more people than it needs, especially since health, pension and other fringe benefits constitute 53 percent of payroll costs.
The last four-year contract between the Port Authority and Local 85 expired at midnight Nov. 30. After two contract extensions, and after failing to come to terms, both parties agreed recently to enter into fact-finding, the next step in a negotiations process guided by state law.
The top bus-trolley operator's wage is $20.14 an hour.
Questions about overtime arose two weeks ago in the aftermath of a situation at the East Liberty bus garage. Half of the drivers who signed a list for voluntary overtime paying $30.21 an hour removed their names at the last minute as a protest against managers enforcing rules "by the book."
The action left the authority with a shortage of drivers and caused the cancellation of about 300 trips over a two-day period. Thousands of riders in the East End, eastern suburbs and part of the Mon Valley were delayed, overcrowded or forced to seek other transportation.
The situation showed just how heavily the transit system relies on its drivers to volunteer for overtime and showed just how lucrative the system can be.
During a review of 2001 payroll records, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also found:
In the last fiscal year, the Port Authority paid out a total of $4.7 million in overtime to union employees. Almost all overtime is voluntary and assigned based on seniority, availability, elapsed time between shifts and other contractual stipulations.
The top four operators -- who grossed $103,318, $95,552, $91,824 and $90,048 respectively -- surpassed Roddey's $90,000 annual salary and Mayor Murphy's $88,752 last year. They did not, however, surpass Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Paul Skoutelas, whose base salary is $185,000.
Bell said there had not been increased occurrences of fatigue, safety problems or rudeness because of all the overtime.
Transit drivers are required to have commercial drivers licenses, commonly known as "CDLs," which carry federal requirements in such areas as physical fitness and drug testing. But, unlike tractor-trailer drivers, who also have CDLs, bus drivers' working hours are not limited.
While a Port Authority bus driver might "double out" and work 16 hours, the authority has an informal policy that recommends at least eight hours of off-duty time between shifts. Bell also pointed out transit operators have breaks built into duty, including lunch, dinner, "recovery time" at the end of trips and "relief" to use restroom facilities.
Since the Port Authority began operating in March 1964, after consolidating 32 private bus companies and the old Pittsburgh Railway Co. into a public entity, it has relied on some amount of overtime for operators and other hourly personnel.
Bell said management evaluates overtime and service needs every three months to determine whether hiring and training more drivers is cost-effective.
"We'd have to bring in hundreds of new employees to eliminate overtime," he said. "Because our product is not static, many of them would end up just sitting around a lot of the time."
Bell offered today's Steelers-New England football game at Heinz Field as an example.
Nearly 100 extra employees, including supervisors and other support personnel, have been called out on overtime to handle special suburban express buses, shuttle buses and beefed-up light-rail service.
"It's cheaper to pay them overtime than add a hundred new drivers," Bell said.
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Although the base annual operator's wage after three years of service was $41,000, the majority of bus and trolley operators grossed between $44,000 and $46,000 as a result of split shifts, overtime, premium and other extra pay.