After seven months of bargaining with private shuttle operator Transdev, shuttle drivers at Brown, the Rhode Island School of Design and Rhode Island College could go on strike next week if an agreement is not reached by their next bargaining session on Nov. 12.
The 51 shuttle drivers unionized as part of Teamsters Local 251 in November 2023, seeking higher compensation and improved working conditions. They began negotiations in March 2024 with employer Transdev, the multinational private transportation company that operates Brown’s shuttle services.
For months, the two parties have been stuck at an impasse on key contractual issues, Teamsters Local 251 President Matthew Taibi told The Herald. A federal mediator has been present at negotiations since August, he said.
Frustrated with the lack of progress, union members voted in late September to authorize a strike.
According to Racquel Moran, a bargaining committee member and Brown shuttle driver, the union has reached agreements with Transdev on nearly all contract items except compensation and healthcare — the most important parts of the contract for Moran and her colleagues, she said.
If the parties can’t agree on a contract during the Nov. 12 bargaining session, the union is prepared to potentially begin a strike, Taibi said. The union bargaining committee plans to meet this Friday to discuss a potential path forward in case an agreement isn’t reached next week, he added.
“I feel like they’re not taking us seriously,” said Daven Cox, who sits on the union’s bargaining team and drives for RISD Rides. “We’ve compromised a lot for things that we do not even understand why they asked for,” Cox added. “But they don’t seem to be willing to come any closer to us on really key issues.”
“We continue to work closely with the negotiating committee to reach an agreement that is both fair and equitable,” Mitun Seguin, Transdev’s vice president of marketing and communications, wrote in an email to The Herald.
“We are hopeful that we can come to a resolution quickly and without any disruption of service,” Seguin added.
Some drivers feel as though they are not fairly compensated for their work, according to Moran. “Especially the evening drivers, who are working from 6:30 p.m. to three o’clock in the morning,” she said, noting that there is no difference in pay for night shifts.
According to Taibi, the union’s drivers earn an average of just over $20 per hour. Moran compared this wage to increases in a contract with unionized Transdev workers in Buffalo. In the new contract, drivers received a 26% pay raise.
The union has not been in touch with the University as it weighs a strike, Taibi told The Herald.
“We are in touch with Transdev and engaged in contingency planning with a focus on how we could best minimize disruption to operations on our campus in the event of a work stoppage,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.
“While our hope is that shuttle operations continue as normal, we’ll communicate to our campus quickly in the event there are any impacts or if we need to shift operations to prioritize the most critical shuttle services,” Clark added.
The drivers hope to avoid a strike “at all costs,” Moran said.
“But like I said: if we have to, we have to,” Moran added. “What can we do?”
Ethan Schenker is a senior staff writer covering staff and student labor. He is from Bethesda, MD, and plans to study International and Public Affairs and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and clicking on New York Times notifications.
