RTD Drivers OK Strike

Southern California Rapid Transit District bus drivers voted 4,214 to 391 to authorize the sixth strike against the district in 15 years. The United Transportation Union is asking for pay raises of 4% this year and another 4% next year, while management has demanded a pay freeze and some “give-backs,” such as the elimination of the union’s cost-of-living contract clause. Full-time drivers now earn $12.72 an hour. Gov. George Deukmejian is expected to name a special state fact-finding panel soon to help district and United Transportation Union negotiators break the deadlock in their negotiations. The governor has the authority to ask the attorney general to seek a court order delaying the threatened strike for a 60-day “cooling-off” period.