Prince George’s County bus drivers continued a strike for the second day on Tuesday, severely limiting transportation for the county’s roughly 14,000 daily riders.
The contracted drivers, employed by Veolia Transportation, say they want more job security, better health insurance, higher wages and lunch breaks. Veolia is scheduled to meet Tuesday with leaders of the drivers’ union to discuss a compromise.
Veolia is contracted by Prince George’s County to operate TheBus, the county’s public transportation system. The company has managed to restore half of its 65-bus fleet — with temporary driver replacements — but many of the routes being serviced are severely limited.
As of noon on Tuesday, only four of 26 routes were operating full service. The rest were scheduled for limited service or no service. Fare is free during the strike and riders can check on the status of service on the the county Website or by calling (301) 324-2877.
Drivers boycotted their routes early Monday morning in an unannounced strike outside the Veolia headquarters in Forestville.
“The key issue for us is job security because we are being so mistreated by them,” said Kathleen LaFortune, who has worked for Veolia for the past year. “We are just tired.”
But Veolia officials say much of the drivers’ concerns are centered around dashboard cameras installed roughly one year ago to monitor driver behavior. Company spokeswoman Ruth Otte said safety performance has “improved dramatically” since installing the cameras. She said Veolia has seen a reduction in accidents and worker injuries, as well as a lower rate of turnover.
Veolia brought in a federal official to monitor negotiations after four months of talks brought little progress, Otte said.
