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MTA Drivers Ratify Contract

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Times Staff Writer

Bus drivers on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a labor contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority that gives them a 10.5% pay raise over the next three years.

“This represents the best labor contract that we’ve had since the ‘80s,” said James A. Williams, general chairman of the United Transportation Union, which represents 4,800 bus drivers.

Under the deal, the top hourly rate for those hired before July 1, 1997, goes up to $24.30, effective immediately. Drivers hired after that date will earn as much as $20.55 an hour.

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With three of the last four negotiations ending in rancorous strikes, this year’s talks stood out, buoying many drivers with the ease and promptness of the settlement.

Most of the drivers casting votes at the Los Angeles Convention Center were happy their union avoided a walkout this year. The membership voted 386 to 46 to ratify the contract.

“It feels good,” said Frank Munoz, 26, who has been through two strikes since he began driving an MTA bus in 2000.

Jacqueline Jones, 39, called the contract “the best since 1999,” when she joined the MTA as a driver.

Others noted that the contract did not offer relief on a few labor issues that they had hoped would be addressed this year, such as the two-tier pay scale and the MTA’s requirement that workers use sick time or vacation time to pay for jury duty. A few female drivers also complained about the lack of clean bathrooms at the end of many bus routes, an issue that union leaders say they are still trying to resolve with MTA officials.

The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 2,000 maintenance and service workers, approved a separate deal Thursday. It also included a 10.5% pay raise over three years.

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ATU President Neil Silver said that unlike previous years, the MTA did not seek to reduce benefits or pay. “Definitely, this is one of the better contracts we’ve had in a long time,” he said.

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