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Transit workers voice complaints
BY MICHAEL TODD
STAFF WRITER
Some town bus drivers have said
they are just tired of being tired.
Several transit employees who
are also members of the UE Local
150, the public service employees
union petitioned the Chapel Hill
Town Council in May to improve
work conditions.
Asa follow-up to the May transit
petition, council members appoint
ed a discussion group composed of
Deputy Town Manager Florentine
Miller. Human Resources Director
Pam Eastwood and other staff to
discuss driver pay, work scheduling
and bus maintenance.
Transit operators have com
plained that inefficient management
has degraded work conditions.
“The town of Chapel Hill is a good
employer, but we need more team
work between management and the
drivers,” said Stanley Norwood, a 17-
year Chapel Hill Transit bus driver
who presented the concerns to coun
cil members in May.
Many say the split-shift sched
ule, which leaves most drivers idle
between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., does not
allow for 40-hour work weeks.
“The little time that you do have
with your family is spent trying to
get overtime work, just to reach
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I greatbites great bites’
40 hours,” said Horace Sewell El, a
Chapel Hill Transit bus driver.
Council member Mark
Kleinschmidt said drivers should
have full-time work if they want
it. “People who want to work a full
day should be able to work all day”
Kleinschmidt said. “Lord knows
there’s enough work in the (trans
portation) department”
Norwood said shortening the
break between shifts to two hours
would help alleviate the problem.
Drivers also complain that buses
lack proper maintenance to make
the service safe and reliable. Sewell
said the radios and air conditioning
units fail persistently, among other
things.
“Last week I had a bus with a fare
reader that beeped the entire shift,”
he said. “Another bus had a check
engine light that came on, and that
bus is now out of service.”
Transportation Director Mary
Lou Kuschatka said bus mainte
nance is an ongoing problem. “We
will probably always have some
thing go wrong,” she said.
Kleinschmidt said the demand
for fare-free public transit has
increased, and that is a factor in
many problems mentioned in May.
“It is really unfortunate that the
workers have to be the ones to deal
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Veteran driver Stanley Norwood sits behind the wheel of a Chapel Hill
Transit bus. Drivers have presented grievances to the Town Council.
with these growing pains,” he said.
Drivers say they hope the meetings
will stimulate dialogue between
transit employees and the mana
gerial side of the transportation
department.
Kleinschmidt said that since
grievances typically are addressed
by town management, the petition
got the council’s attention. “It puts
us in a position to ask the manager,
‘What’s going on?’” he said. “It’s
quite unusual for town employees
to come straight to council with
their problems.”
Norwood said he thinks that by
going to council with union support,
they have more weight in their argu
ments if only because they are better
organized for the task.
“We know we can’t legally bar
gain, but at least through the union,
we can’t be dispersed.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2005
Renovations hit
Student Stores
BY JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
On June 23, University planners
took the next step in revitalizing
Student Stores.
At least six contractors were
expected to submit bids to renovate
the facility, a project with about a $7
million budget. What started as an
update to infrastructure and utilities
soon became a large-scale upgrade.
“We decided we might as well go
ahead and see what we can do to
make the sales area nicer and the
shopping experiences better,” said
John Jones, director of Student
Stores.
Once completed, the building
will feature a South Road entrance,
increased floor space and anew glass
viewing area. Jones said the project,
scheduled to begin in August, will
have a huge impact. “I think we’ll
see significant growth in textbook
sales and school-supplies sales and
in clothing and gift sales.”
He estimated that the renovated
facility could yield an additional
$1 million a year in revenue, all of
which will fund student scholar
ships and aid.
But while Jones is excited about
the construction, he stressed the
importance of the bid process.
“We need a contractor who will be
able to follow the schedule who
will stay on target because we’ve
designed the remodel around our
major book rush periods,” he said.
Operating the store efficiently
in the midst of a 16-month project
could prove challenging.
That obstacle separates the
renovation from other campus
construction efforts, said Carole
Acquesta, who as project manager
will analyze the bids. “The proj
ect is very thoroughly phased to
accommodate that, and it’s quite
elaborately detailed,” she said.
The interior of the store won’t
be affected until September when
the operation will have to aban
don about 75 percent of the first
floor, located on South Road, until
February, Jones said.
The Pit level won’t be disturbed
until next summer, but even then
shoppers won’t be inconvenienced,
Jones said. “You’ll always be able to
buy the full range of goods.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
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