PITTSBURGH — 11 Investigates has learned exclusively that the City of Pittsburgh, for the first time, is now paying salt truck drivers to be on call over the weekend this winter.
It’s a new effort to try to get more truck drivers on stand-by in case of winter weather.
The city and the truck drivers union agreed to the on call list in the latest contract.
For the first time, the city is offering to pay drivers who agree to be on call on Saturday and Sunday during 13 winter weekends.
“We tried to create a system that would reward those guys for putting their life on pause a little bit,” said Public Works Director Chris Hornstein.
DPW Director Chris Hornstein is talking about the city’s new on call system that pays salt truck drivers to be on call, even if they don’t work.
“If they do sign up for it, they are required to come in. It’s a way for them to signal to us that, hey I’m here, I’m ready to work. They get $50 a day for each day, " said Hornstein.
And drivers who sign up and don’t come in and don’t have a legitimate excuse face disciplinary action.
“It’s progressive so it starts out with a verbal warning, goes written from there, escalates from there,” said Hornstein.
The city first used it a couple weeks ago, but there were some hiccups because some drivers thought they would be called to work their normal shifts.
When the city called four hours into the shift, some said they had already made plans, and couldn’t come in.
Hornstein admitted it’s a work in progress.
“We’re still working out the kinks, we monitor how people respond to it. We’ve had some good response and some not so good response,” said Hornstein.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” said Pittsburgh City Councilman Anthony Coghill.
Councilman Coghill hadn’t heard about it until we told him Friday afternoon.
During a tight budget, Coghill expressed some concerns about the on call pay which could be more than $70,000 for this winter, depending on how many drivers sign up.
The city said it has about 60 trucks on the road during snowstorms, so if all 60 drivers signed up for the overtime for 13 weeks it would come to $78,000.
Under the agreement, drivers are only allowed to sign up for nine out of the 13 weekends.
Earle asked Coghill if it’s worth the money to have the drivers on standby?
“I’d have to wait and see the results. I’m not quite sure. I know one thing, we have serious issues in other overtime departments as you know, the fire department, the police department, public works. We have to curb our overtime cost and I don’t think this helps do that,” said Coghill.
Earle reached out to the truck drivers’ union but hasn’t heard back.
Earle has learned that drivers who are called in won’t get the $50, but they will get overtime pay.
The on call list will run for 13 weekends only during the winter months.
At the end of the winter season, both the city and the union will reevaluate the program to see if any changes need to be made.
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