Tiger Transit employees deserve better working environment

I am a 1986 graduate of Auburn University. My love for the place is everlasting.

After years of having his own business, my husband became employed with the Auburn Tiger Transit about a year ago. I remember him coming home after the first day and saying how much he loved the work place. It wasn't long until everything began to change. During a Friday morning meeting, they were told they would no longer be paid overtime starting that very day.

During the normal school year, my husband works 50-60 hours a week. He has never driven a van to the Atlanta airport. The drivers have been told that an interstate law allows the company to not pay (their drivers) overtime. My husband has worked without lunch or breaks. The drivers are now being clocked out at Haley Center, even though they are then loaded on a bus and taken back to the office.

The meetings on Fridays are not a time where the employees can express concerns. They are not heard. The school I know and love would not allow people to be threatened with being released from their jobs, bullied or treated as if they are beneath the company management, if the University was aware of the problem.

It is now aware.

By the way, some may be asking why people stay with Tiger Transit.

Many are in the same position we are. After having a family business for 50 years that was in the home construction field, the economic downturn not only put my husband out of work, but also my two children. My husband is 62 years old, and this is his first job working for someone else. He has to work, but he would want everyone to know that he never treated anyone like this that was employed by his company.

All these drivers want is to be treated fairly.

Angie Chappell

wife of Tiger Transit driver