The union representing drivers on a local bus line between Lewiston and Auburn have reached an agreement over wage increases, according to the union president.

Joe Thomas, president and business agent for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 714, said the union reached the agreement with Western Maine Transportation Services late in the day Friday.

“It’s been a long day,” he said Friday.

The union held a rally outside the company’s Auburn offices on Merrow Road Friday, to protest a working wage of $25.14 per hour for drivers on City Link, a bus line that connects Auburn and Lewiston. 

According to Thomas, Friday’s negotiations led to an agreement to phase in an increase of more than $3 per hour over the next three years. Wages will go up, he said, to $26.65 per hour in the first year, $27.65 per hour in the second year and $28.48 per hour in the third year.

The union has argued that the wage increases will match hourly wages for bus drivers in similarly-sized communities. 

The drivers voted to unionize locally in November 2023, following the firing of a supervisor who was a popular advocate for drivers to management. According to a union statement, management fired a popular driver, Nicole Quick, for speaking out even after the drivers unionized. 

The union has appealed Quick’s firing to the National Labor Relations Board.