Fund RIPTA Drivers Now: Give RIPTA Bus Drivers what they need to provide adequate services
We need the Governor to put money where his mouth is!
During the pandemic many politicians pandered to front line workers by calling us essential. But what turns such sentiments from being hot air is whether politicians back up such words with action. We call on Governor McKee to turn rhetoric into reality by encouraging a 10% pay increase for RIPTA Bus Drivers.
It is time for Bus Drivers to be given decent starting wages that treat workers with respect and dignity. The starting wage of $17 isn’t enough to recruit drivers to provide the services our communities need. Drivers and the public deserve better to keep buses running, buses that help us go to doctors’ appointments, get to work, go to school and stay socially and civically involved.
Bus drivers have risked their lives during the pandemic to get us to where we need to go. It is their low-pay that is not only harming to them but is also impacting our communities with related service cuts. Bus drivers and transit riders don’t need more lip service; we need the Governor to put money where his mouth is. The Governor needs to support meaningful increases in pay for RIPTA Bus Drivers to address the staffing shortage.
During the pandemic many bus drivers risked (and lost) their lives and they still sacrifice to get us to where we need to go. Recent research has shown that it isn’t an exaggeration to state that Bus Drivers have lost lives to serve our communities. A recent CA Dept. of Public Health study determined
that “workers in public tran
sportation industries are at higher risk for COVID-19 workplace outbreaks and mortality than the general worker population.
Mortality was a1.8 times higher in the bus and urban transit industries than in all industries combined.”
We have no such comparable data for Rhode Island but there is reason to suspect that the same risk profile prevails.
It is time to back up pleasant sounding words said about essential workers with real resources that show that we really value their work.
It is essential that the Governor supports a 10% pay increase for Bus Drivers to keep up with inflation and to catch up with paying workers what they deserve to provide important services to our communities while helping to offer alternatives to address climate change.
Camilo Viveiros, George Wiley Center and the Rhode Island Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
Camilo Viveiros is the Executive Director of the George Wiley Center, the longest running statewide anti-poverty community organizing group in RI.
Camilo Viveiros
George Wiley Center
organize@georgewileycenter.org
cell: 401-338-1665