Contract paratransit drivers demand higher wage, better benefits

Members of a union representing more than 60 paratransit drivers picketed last week in downtown Salem calling for higher wages and better benefits to address what they described as a service struggling due to chronic understaffing. 

On Sept. 25 the group of drivers, represented by Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 757met at the Cherriots Downtown Transit Center at 555 Court St. N.E. for an informational picket. The group displayed signs, one of which read, “We…