RTD Board Approves Pact With Drivers

Directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District, with only one board member dissenting, formally approved Thursday a 41-month labor contract with the 5,000-member United Transportation Union.

The pact between the RTD and its bus drivers is the longest contract in the transit district’s history. The board’s approval of the contract, by a vote of 10 to 1, follows an overwhelming ratification vote by union members earlier this week.

RTD Director Charles Storing, who cast the lone negative vote, warned that the cost of the contract, which will add $8.1 million to the $160 million the district currently pays in wages and benefits to drivers, will exacerbate the district’s financial troubles.

The RTD is scheduled to lose $43 million in local transit subsidies and could face another loss of $48 million in federal operating aid.

‘Generous Contract’

“That loss, coupled with this generous contract, just as assuredly as night follows day, is going to call for another round of fare increases and service cuts,” Storing said.

RTD President Nikolas Patsaouras denied, however, that any fare increase or service reductions will take place because of the labor pact, which raises top pay for drivers from $12.79 to $13 an hour. He said the settlement was “well within the budget guidelines” set forth by the board.

Patsaouras added that the ratification vote means that the RTD is now close to settling its contracts with all three labor unions without a strike.

The Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, which represents 740 RTD clerks, voted 286 to 81 to ratify an agreement reached last weekend.

The Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 1,800 bus mechanics and maintenance workers, is expected to resume talks next month. Its earlier settlement with the district fell apart over a dispute involving interpretation of a cost-of-living clause, but both sides say they are hopeful that a new agreement can be reached without a walkout.