Greater Portland Metro Workers Win 14 Percent Wage Increases in New Contract

Bus drivers and other workers at Greater Portland Metro have ratified a new contract with 14 percent wage increases over three years. The workers were aiming for 5 percent pay raises in the first year, but the Metro ran out of federal covid relief money, so wage increases are staggered out every six months instead of annually.

Under the new contract, transit workers are receiving an initial wage increase of 3 percent retroactive to January 1, effective July 1, 2024, followed by 2 percent, 2 percent 3 percent, 2 percent and 2 percent in six-month increments until June 30th, 2027.

“I’m proud of  the Metro bargaining team and  Mike Frager, Jon Cail, and Bill Jackson who assisted with the contract. We all worked hard to achieve our goal, which is never easy when you have no right to strike or no binding arbitration in the State of Maine Public Sector," said ATU 714 President and Business Agent Joe Thomas. “What I try to remind our members is that on the Bus Operator side, we secured an extra 3 percent increase on our contract extension on September 1, 2022 , which was compounded to 6.09 percent on Jan 1, 2023, marking significant progress towards our current position."

The contract raises pay to $35.16 per hour for drivers, $39.91 per hour for dispatchers and $45 an hour for maintenance technicians by Jan 1, 2027. There were no concessions in the contract and the workers successfully defeated a company proposal to implement higher deductibles in the health care plan.