Bus driver overtime increases in Twin Cities
Metro Transit bus driver overtime in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area rose by more than 50 percent between 2008 and 2010, according to recent analysis by the Pioneer Press.
The main cause of the extra employee attendance is thought to be staffing cutbacks of 100 members of the workforce over the two-year time period. Consequently, remaining employees had to step up to the plate, with approximately 5 percent of drivers averaging between 50 and 70 hours of work per week.
Typically, Metro Transit drivers take home a base salary of about $50,000. Thanks to all the extra hours logged on the timeclock, 16 earned more than $90,000, with top earner Glenn Vierling boosting his pay to $120,000, the news source reports. Vierling would have had to work an average of 74 hours a week to accrue that level of compensation.
According to officials, the agency is actually saving money with the reduced staffing. Spokesman John Siqveland said paying a driver time-and-a-half saves Metro Transit an average of $4 an hour.
Elsewhere in the country, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently came under fire for what critics called excessive overtime payouts, according to the New York Daily News.
The main cause of the extra employee attendance is thought to be staffing cutbacks of 100 members of the workforce over the two-year time period. Consequently, remaining employees had to step up to the plate, with approximately 5 percent of drivers averaging between 50 and 70 hours of work per week.
Typically, Metro Transit drivers take home a base salary of about $50,000. Thanks to all the extra hours logged on the timeclock, 16 earned more than $90,000, with top earner Glenn Vierling boosting his pay to $120,000, the news source reports. Vierling would have had to work an average of 74 hours a week to accrue that level of compensation.
According to officials, the agency is actually saving money with the reduced staffing. Spokesman John Siqveland said paying a driver time-and-a-half saves Metro Transit an average of $4 an hour.
Elsewhere in the country, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently came under fire for what critics called excessive overtime payouts, according to the New York Daily News.
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