First Transit review: Company Policies 1

Just what are the company policies and work rules? Does each and every employee have his or her own copy of each and every work rule and policy? If not, why not? You can be disciplined or worse yet, terminated, (First Transit is real fond of termination’s), for failure to abide by these things, right? How does the employer expect anyone to comply with these regulations if the employees are unaware of them in the first place or if they have changed and the employees are not appraised of these changes? Here's a case and point.

A driver was recently terminated recently for a variety of reasons which seemed to change daily, confusing not only the individual involved, but apparently the local teamster union as well. A passenger in a wheelchair tipped over and fell while boarding one of the new “Cut-Away” vans. The driver called dispatch and reported the incident. The would be passenger was transported to a nearby medical facility, examined, and ultimately released.

So, initially the driver is told that they will be disciplined for failure to operate the lift / ramp properly, according to prescribed policy. This allegation continued for a time until a new allegation was brought forward stating that: “the driver was going to be terminated for failure to provide aid to the “would be passenger” who had tipped over”.

So, are you a trained emergency medical technician? Are you a trained paramedic? Better still, are you a medical doctor? If you answered yes to any of the previous questions then why are you driving a bus? Levity aside, if you cannot answer yes to any of the above you have no business attempting to aid anyone on your bus unless you are prepared to accept the financial liability that could be the result of such an action.

First Transit claims to be a company that operates their buses and other transit vehicles in a safe manner. They're unable to keep their own house clean, as they're unable to retain or keep drivers primarily because of the low wages of $12.50/hr. No driver is able to support their family on that puny amount, so they end up having to work massive overtime just to make ends meet. For a company trying to save money every which way but loose, First Transit is loosing money with their foolish pay structures, and outlandish company policies that seem to change every 24 hrs just to suit management.