Updated July 30.
As negotiations proceed for a contract for Vineyard Transit Authority (VTA) bus drivers, the union representing these workers is threatening to call a strike to get better pay.
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1548 announced last Friday that its members, which include local VTA drivers, voted to potentially hold a strike if a satisfactory contract isn’t reached with Transit Connection, the private operator contracted to hire, train, and schedule vehicle operators and staff for the Island’s public bus line.
The release also stated that union members voted to turn down a contract offered by Transit Connection on top of the strike.
“It’s always pay when it comes to the Island,” Charles Ryan, the union president, told The Times. “Everything’s so expensive out there.”
But whether a strike will occur isn’t set in stone yet. Ryan said the current contract expires on July 31, after which a strike can happen “legally.” Ryan said the current contract prohibits walkouts and strikes.
Ryan highlighted in the release that drivers have had small wage increases since 2019, roughly equating to $6,240 since that time, or a raise of around $1 an hour per year. Meanwhile Angie Gompert, the VTA administrator, has had higher raises, Ryan stated. According to the VTA payroll documents, Gompert received a pay increase of nearly $30,000 in 2025 from the previous year.
The pay raise the union wants to secure for drivers is a 6 percent annual increase for the next three years, Ryan said. The counteroffer was a 3.5 percent annual increase for the same time period.
Angie Gompert, VTA administrator, pushed back on the union’s claims on drivers’ pay in an email on Thursday. She said that since 2019, the starting wage had increased from $16.50 an hour to $28, which she said “translates to $23,920 more per year for a full-time operator.” Meanwhile, the “most senior operators” saw an increase from $23.50 per hour to $32, which she said is $17,680 more annually.
“In addition, the VTA, through our operating company[,] [initiated] an extra wage increase in 2022 that was not part of our collective bargaining agreement, and the wage progression was shortened significantly,” Gompert wrote in an email.
Ryan said that it is harder to hire drivers on the Island due to high living costs, complex commercial drivers’ license rules, and seasonal demands. He also pointed to the VTA’s recent route cuts. In June, the bus line announced that extended evening services on seven routes would be cut “due to a labor shortage.”
Vineyard drivers also receive lower wages than some other transit authorities, which he said adds to recruitment issues. The starting pay for VTA drivers is $28 an hour, which he said “tops” at $32 an hour after five years. Meanwhile, at the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA), another public bus line Ryan’s union represents, drivers start at $31 an hour, which increases to $38.29 after 90 days.
Gompert noted the Cape Cod bus line benefits from “substantially greater federal support,” highlighting CCRTA received just over $10 million from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration’s grant for bus lines and its Urbanized Area Formula program.
“With that level of funding, CCRTA settled a contract in October 2025 providing wage increases of approximately 15 percent over three years,” Gompert said in a statement. “VTA operators voted down an average increase of 13.34 percent over three years — only modestly below CCRTA’s settlement — despite our significantly smaller federal operating assistance base of just over a million dollars annually. The VTA must balance fair and competitive wages, with our responsibility to maintain reliable and financially sustainable service.”
Wages, while the central issue, aren’t the only issue on negotiators’ minds. Ryan said the union is also attempting to make Memorial Day and the Fourth of July a holiday for drivers, as it is for other workers of the Island’s public bus line.
The last time a bus driver strike occurred on the Island was in 2019, after negotiations collapsed with the VTA and Transit Connection. Union members eventually got higher wages.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the VTA had not reached out regarding negotiations, according to Ryan.
Editor’s note: Updated with comments from Angie Gompert.
What is the annual salary of the VTA administrator and benefits.