Here's some bad news for anybody who relies on the public transportation in Dutchess County to get around. The bus drivers who work for Dutchess Public Transit are considering going on strike, and they could do it as early as the beginning of next month.

There are one hundred drivers employed as members of a union, and their contract finishes up at the end of January. Right now, negotiations have stalled out, and it seems they can no longer operate under current conditions.

Teamsters Local 445 negotiator Jerry Ebert says the drivers are severely underpaid with a terrible pension. Some people have been driving for thirty years and still make only $600 a month. Ebert says this contract renewal is their opportunity to bring real change to the job.

We'll see how this shakes out, but it seems like Ebert and the drivers are fed up with the conditions as they are now and won't budge until things improve. Whether the county goes along with it remains to be seen.

More From WRRV-WRRB