Bangor & Biddeford/Saco/OOB Transit Operators Win Wage Increases

Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 714 recently negotiated contracts with substantial wage increases. Local 714 members who work for the Bangor Community Connector in Bangor won an historic 19-percent increase over the life of their three-year contract, including 13 percent in the first year and 3 percent in each of the following two years.

Previously the city considered all of the drivers to be part-time employees even though the majority of them work full-time hours and longer. For years, Local 714 has been pushing hard to be reclassified as full-time employees so they could be eligible for more benefits like vacations and sick time.

“Our members were just shocked when we came back with our new designation as full-time employees for the ratification vote,” said Local 714 transit operator Tiffany Lister. “I think it will be a major incentive to recruit younger drivers and retain older drivers who are a year or two away from retirement.”

ATU President/Business Agent Joe Thomas said it made sense for management to put transit operators on a career path because Bangor has a population that needs public transit.

“We worked really hard to get where we achieved our goals,” said Thomas. “The members all stuck together during this whole process.”

In addition, the Bangor Connector transit operators negotiated time-and-a-half pay for holidays in the new contract. It had long been past practice that they receive the extra compensation for working on holidays, but a couple months ago the drivers weren’t paid time and half for working on a holiday and the new manager informed them that it wasn’t in the contract.

“And so, we brought it to the negotiations and they sided with us,” said Lister. “They put that right into the contract that anytime we work a working holiday, we'll be paid at time and a half.”

Biddeford/Saco/Old Orchard Beach Transit operators will be receiving a 29 percent wage increase over the next three years after negotiating a one-year contract extension beyond its expiration date of June 30, 2027. The union negotiated an additional 15 percent wage increase on top of the 4 percent guarantee increase in 2026, 5 percent in 2027 and 5 percent in 2028. The director had come to the union seeking a one-year contract extension and agreed with the drivers that they needed a raise to compete with other companies in hiring and retaining qualified operators.