DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver metro’s public transit system could have less trouble attracting workers now.

The union representing RTD secured a new contract for its workers that will boost wages by 25% over the next three years. Starting hourly wages for bus and light rail workers will go from $20.58 to $24. General repair mechanics will make $30.25, electromechanics will make $33.77 and signal/traction power maintainers will make $35.65, among other positions.

The transit company has battled with understaffing in the last several years, with low pay and sometimes-dangerous conditions cited as contributors.

In some areas, the wage bumps will bring RTD’s employees up to industry par. Starting wages for the entry-level position of bus or rail operator now match the most recently-available average pay for Colorado’s railroad operators. Artists and sheet metal workers make the same.

Those other wage bumps put some of RTD’s jobs in line with jobs that need more education.

An RTD track maintainer now makes about the same as a dietitian or a nutritionist. General bus mechanics make the same as a paralegal. A journeyman electrician makes what a cardiovascular technician does.

A signal maintainer for RTD makes about what a wellhead pumper does on an oilfield – a job that doesn’t require a degree but does pay higher than the average wages nationwide.

The RTD union wages bump is well ahead of the pace of inflation, set to increase 25% over the course of three years with an immediate 16% raise.

This reflects the wage gains made by low- and middle-wage earners over the last two years. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the lowest 25% of wage earners experienced the greatest wage growth since the economy bounced back from the COVID pandemic’s early lockdowns.