Tiger Transit drivers and First Transit, their employer, may come to an agreement on a union-backed contract on Saturday, Oct. 10, according to Transit driver Cassandra Young.
Tiger Transit drivers, Young, LaTwanika Rhodes and Nettie Chambers, said they have been fighting for better working conditions for three years. They said they have appealed to University management, First Transit management, the University vice president and president Gouge. Each time they said they were told to wait and that someone would “look into it.”
“We can’t take it anymore,” Young said. “We’ve been trying to get justice for too long.”
In July of 2013, Auburn University switched transit companies from Groome Transportation to First Transit after workers claimed in 2012 that Groome Transportation did not pay workers overtime (video). The drivers hoped their conditions would improve with the switch, but Young said they only got worse.
The drivers, their employer First Transit and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union have been in negotiations since last April when drivers voted to unionize.
Representatives for First Transit did not return calls for comment.
This story will be updated when the results of the contract vote are known.
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