Wow! The Loudoun Times headlines really caught my eye… “LCPS bus drivers consider walkout over benefit changes”.

The article starts off “on a cold winter morning a bus driver starts 50 minutes early to pick up a homeless boy.” Hats off to that bus driver, that is what community involvement is all about. But wait, is the article implying that because of this person’s good deeds that she deserves benefits for that? If that’s the case (and I don’t think it is in the eyes of that particular bus driver) then maybe it’s not such a good deed after all. We all do volunteer work but don’t expect compensation for it.

Next I read,“Most had taken the bus driver jobs 3.5 to 7.0 hours per day for the benefits.” I totally understand that. Where else can you get a part time job with any benefits at all, let alone Virginia Retirement system, group life insurance, healthcare, dental, vision or short-term disability and Leave. And retirement, who gets that anymore even on a full time job? No wonder we’re broke. My wife and I have worked many jobs all of our lives and I don’t think either one of us has ever enjoyed benefits at a full time job equal to those of the bus drivers talk about here for part time work. For comparison, I work full time for a salary (50 hours per week) and my share of employer health insurance is $6,682 per year and no retirement plan. Those kinds of benefits the article talks about are great if you can get them, but who is going to pay for them? There’s just no money.

The article also says that one of the bus drivers had to move to Maryland because she couldn’t afford Loudoun County, but she kept her job here for the benefits. I think this says it all. People are moving out of Loudoun County because of the school taxes. She can’t afford the school taxes to live here but drives all the way back for the benefits of the bus driver. What does that tell you? We just can’t afford it, we may move too.

One comment that seemed to make the most sense from one of the drivers “If you need to cut, cut it across the board from the top of the crop to the bottom of the basket.” Well, that seems fair, so let’s do it. I’ve been working for 45 years at many jobs. I’ve been laid off, had salary reductions, reduced benefits too so I’ve felt your pain. Had I walked out they would simply have hired someone else. They say the cemeteries are full of indispensable people. I never met a bus driver I didn’t like. And I don’t blame them for wanting to keep their benefits, but it’s time to come to the hard reality that there’s just no money.

Tom & Linda Dudenhoefer
Leesburg, VA

Tom & Linda Dudenhoefer

Leesburg, Va