Making CTA ‘an Even More Attractive Employer’

(CTA Photograph)

The Chicago Transit Board on Dec. 14 reported approving plans for Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to offer financial incentives to attract and retain employees. The incentives carry a budget of around $80 million for two years, according to the agency.

“Like transit agencies throughout the country, the CTA is seeing the effects of not having enough employees to provide full service—including long gaps between buses and trains, and trips that have to be canceled at the last moment because not enough operators are available to drive trains and buses,” the agency reported. “The impacts of the pandemic, including time off because of illness or taking care of a family member, has led to historically high absenteeism. Additionally, CTA has seen the effects of the ‘Great Resignation,’ in which workers opt for different career paths.”

Effective immediately, CTA said it is offering the following incentives to attract and retain newly hired union employees in certain job titles:

• Hiring Bonus. All new railcar repairers, bus operators and bus mechanics hired in 2022 and 2023 will receive a $1,000 hiring bonus. The bonus will appear on the new hire’s first paycheck, and employees must remain with CTA for one year, or would be required to return the bonus.
• Retention Incentive. Eligible employees represented by the ATU Locals will receive a retention incentive payment after every six-month period worked, starting July 1, 2022 through December 2023. The incentive is equal to 3% of their hourly rate for actual hours worked, up to a maximum of 1,250 hours per six-month period. CTA said the retention incentive will be paid to all eligible ATU-represented employees (except employees newly hired as bus mechanics and railcar repairers in 2022 and 2023) on the payroll at the time the payments are issued. Payments will be approximately $1,500 for operators, about $1,200 for other employees.
• Increased Starting Rate for Bus and Rail Operators, Mechanics and Car Repairers. Under the current system, railcar repairers and bus mechanics begin at 80% of hourly rate, and move up to 100% after two years, according to CTA. Starting in 2023 through 2024, salaries will begin at 100%—between $39 and $40 per hour.

CTA reported that bus and rail operators will also see a jump, with starting hourly rates increasing to more than $28, up from $24. In January 2023, as part of contractual wage increases, the starting rate will increase to just under $30, according to the agency; through 2024, their time to reach 100% of the top rate will be shortened by 12 months, from 45 months to 33 months.

The new employee incentives “are in line with recommendations made in a recent report by the American Public Transportation Association,” according to CTA. “The Transit Workforce Shortage Study notes that financial incentives are among many strategies U.S. transit agencies can address unprecedented worker shortages.”

“These new incentives are a much-needed boost that will further propel the efforts the CTA has already put forth to address the biggest issue facing the agency—recruiting enough workers to help fulfill the services Chicagoans need and deserve,” Chicago Transit Board Chairman Lester L. Barclay said.

“Every industry has faced the challenges of attracting new employees and retaining current ones, and it’s an issue that has especially impacted the transit industry,” CTA President Dorval R. Carter Jr. said. “In order for CTA to hire and retain the best employees, we have to do everything we can to make CTA an even more attractive employer.”

CTA reported that it continues “aggressive recruitment efforts” to attract new workers via virtual and in-person job fairs. Year-to-date, it has held 13 in-person and virtual career fairs, with the most recent events averaging several hundred applicants.

For more on CTA, read “Hub of the Midwest” and “Happy 75th, CTA!” by Railway Age Contributing Editor David Peter Alan.