By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
More than 50 school bus and van drivers and aides are in line for salary increases, under a contract approved by the Montgomery Township Public School District Board of Education.
Drivers will receive pay increases of 2.5 percent in each year of the three-year contract, which runs from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020. The aides will receive 40-cent per hourly increases each year.
The drivers and aides belong to the Communications Workers of America AFL-CIO Local 1040. It covers all full time and regular part-time drivers and aides who consistently work at least four hours per week.
There are 11 "steps" in the salary guide for the drivers. A driver at Step 1 will be start at $20.16 per hour for 2017-18. A driver at Step 5 will be paid $21.37 per hour, and a driver at the top of the scale will earn $29.47.
By the end of the three-year contract, a driver on Step 1 will earn $21.18 per hour, a driver at Step 5 will be paid $22.45. A driver at the top of the scale will be paid $30.96 per hour.
For bus aides, there are five "steps" in the salary guide. A bus aide at Step 1 will be paid $12.84 per hour for 2017-18. An aide at Step 3 will be paid $13.35. At the top of the scale, an aide will be paid $16.08 for 2017-18.
By the end of the three-year contract, an aide at Step 1 will be paid $13.64 per hour. An aide at Step 3 will be paid $14.15 per hour, and an aide at the top of the scale will earn $16.88 per hour.
None of the drivers or aides will move up from one step to another on the salary guide during the life of the contract. A driver or aide who is on Step 1 will remain at Step 1 for the duration of the contract, for example.
