Hard Work Is Not Enough by Katrinell M. Davis

Author:Katrinell M. Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press

Factors Shaping Attendance Trends

The Issue of Occupational Stress

When faced with criticism from the public regarding declines in service, AC Transit’s management and public relations consultants tended to attribute AC’s service disruptions and rampant absenteeism to lack of employee commitment.29 At the same time, most transit operator interviewees attributed these to industrial injuries and a more stressful, less rewarding job experience. Ruth, who handles scheduling and has thirty years of experience with AC Transit, claims this occurred over the last twenty years. In fact, as a transit operator she would say, “I can’t wait until I get my time in so that I can work 3 or 4 hours and then get paid for 10 or 12.” “But,” she goes on, “that doesn’t exist [anymore]. These Black men and women driving these buses right now are earning their money. They are earning every dime.”

Not only do transit operators report being paid less for more work, they also face a time crunch. According to Shirley, a transit operator with AC for eighteen years, “it’s not enough time, and the drivers are not able to do some of the things you need to do. Before you didn’t have to be in such a rush. Now, you have to get from point A to B in X amount of minutes.” Many also noted stressful encounters with patrons and traffic.

According to Georgia,

People have problems with outside stuff and bring it on the bus; they may snap at you; they may mess with somebody else on the bus. Another stress is the traffic out there. People are not driving like they are supposed to. You know, everybody thinks that they have the right a way. They want to jump in front of you, get out on the side, bank on your bus; they want to turn across 2, 3, or 4 lanes to make a turn right in front of you … it’s just a whole lot of stuff that you’ve got to trip on when you are out here. You’ve got to drive the bus, watch the traffic, and answer questions when people get on the bus. They want to know where this is at, and where that is at. They also start breaking down some of their personal problems, and you know, you don’t want to hear all of that, but they do. And that’s just some of the shit we go through.

Due to these pressures, researchers have reported high rates of absenteeism within the urban transit industry in addition to high turnover rates and high rates of early disability retirement that are caused by physical and environmental hazards in the work environment.30 Researchers have also correlated the duration of bus driving with bad health, gastrointestinal disorders, and sleeping problems.31

Despite the increasing prevalence of workplace hazards throughout the 1970s and 1980s, ATU 192 spent a great deal of its time advocating for seniority rights rather than addressing the quality of work itself. However, by the late 1980s, seniority no longer carried the same weight,

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