Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

State snowplow drivers: Give us hazard pay

Delaware Public Media

A team of DelDOT snowplow drivers packed into the agency’s budget hearing Thursday, calling on state lawmakers to award them hazard pay during extreme weather events.

 

 

A bill from Sen. Bryan Townsend (D-Newark) and others would do just that, boosting yearly pay by an estimated $1,100 to $2,300, depending on the workers’ duties. Those spending the most time out in hazardous weather would earn more money.

"I ain't seen a raise in nine years. It's really, really bad," said Paul Lee, an 18-year veteran plower. "I'm living paycheck to paycheck."

During more extreme weather, those DelDOT workers sleep on cots at the maintenance yards, "looking like homeless people," according to Lee.
 

Another plow driver, Henry Satterfield, says the snow can be dangerous at times, but other drivers on the road are threats as well.

“We have people flying around us 50, 60, 70 miles per hour because they’re in a hurry to be where they’ve got to be, but they want us to clear the roads, but they’re not giving us the right respect and making it safe on us to clear the roads,” Satterfield said.

Two I-95 tollbooth operators asked for pay raises as well, as they have to breathe in vehicle fumes and contend with drivers speeding through E-Z Pass lanes past their booths.

“The men and women working at DelDOT who put their lives on the line each and every day, whether it’s in busy traffic or whether it’s collecting tolls or plowing roads, it is hazard duty and I think they should be compensated for it," said Transportation Secretary Jennifer Cohan, though there's some disagreement as to how best to foot the nearly $2.5 million bill.

Townsend says the agency has the money in its existing budget due to vacant positions and turnover, though Cohan wants to discuss alternatives in the coming weeks.

The bill is currently awaiting a hearing by the Senate Finance Committee.