Ending a stalemate, GRTC and its union have reached an agreement that will boost pay for drivers of regular and Pulse buses by 12.5 percent over three years. The contract also will upgrade pay for other blue collar employees and improve benefits.

The union already has voted its approval, and the GRTC board is expected to do so at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 16, according to company officials.

“I think we have an agreement that is a win-win for everyone,” said Maurice Carter, president and business agent for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1220 that represents about 400 GRTC drivers, maintenance employees and bus cleaners.

The agreement comes as the company struggles to keep transit operations on track during the COVID-19 pandemic. At least 12 employees reportedly are still in quarantine due to infection or contact with an infected person.

GRTC management has been frustrated that bus drivers, like mail carriers, rank further down on the state Health

Department’s priority list for COVID-19 vaccination despite the critical role public transit plays in ensuring people can get to work, see doctors and travel to other appointments.

City Councilman Michael J. Jones, 9th District, raised concern Monday about the failure to make GRTC employees a priority. But officials of the Richmond and Henrico health districts said they have no ability to override the priority list and move more quickly to get bus drivers vaccinated. The goal is to have drivers and others on the 1b priority list completed sometime in March.

GRTC’s management and union had been at odds over the company’s proposed change in language that would have allowed management, without union consent, to modify or eliminate policies and practices that are not codified in the contract but have become accepted through long use.

Mr. Carter said the agreement, on which negotiations began during the summer, came together quickly after Julie Timm, GRTC’s chief executive officer, dropped that proposal, ending the disagreement.

Once the three-year contract is approved, the pay increases will be retroactive to Oct. 1, 2020, the contract’s official starting date, Mr. Carter said.

Under the old contract, the pay ranged from around $15.90 an hour for new drivers to $23.84 an hour for veterans. When the new contract goes into effect, pay will range from about $16.53 an hour for novice drivers to $24.79 for veterans. In 2022, the final year of the contract, new drivers would earn about $17.88 an hour and top pay would hit $26.81 an hour.

Under the agreement, bus cleaners’ pay would rise from 50 percent of top pay to 57 percent of top pay, while maintenance employees’ pay is to increase from 50 percent of top pay to 65 percent of top pay. Drivers also must get 10 hours of time off before driving again, up from the current eight hours.

The company also agreed to increase its allowances for tools and uniforms. The local union also gained a 1 percent increase in each of the three years in the contributions from its members and the company.