Union leaders tell council Wave Transit drivers off street amid safety, maintenance complaints; management disputes some claims

At the Mobile City Council meeting on March 11, Transit Union President Anthony Maven told the council that Wave Transit drivers had stopped running routes and raised a series of safety and workplace complaints that union members say began in December.

Maven told the council: "Since December of last year, the city transit system has had 11 ULP charges" (unfair labor practice charges) and that drivers have faced assaults, lack of restroom access on several routes and inconsistent rules and discipline. He said drivers are told not to call police after assaults and must instead call dispatch and wait for a supervisor, and that maintenance problems include leaking roofs over maintenance areas and buses without working heat.

The union president added that some Pritchard-area facilities the drivers relied on have been locked, forcing drivers to use limited public restrooms and that lighting and safety at hubs are inadequate.

Preston Johnson, general manager of the Wave Transit…