OCTD Fires 2, Suspends 6 in Wake of Walkout

Two bus drivers were fired Wednesday by the Orange County Transit District for alleged vandalism during their union’s recent strike, and six others were temporarily suspended.

Joanne Curran, a spokeswoman for the transit district, said the firings followed two days of hearings. She would not name the drivers nor specify what they were accused of.

“It is not our policy to reveal that information,” she said. “However, the charges against the two drivers discharged were very serious. It violated the safety of passengers and also centered on vandalism. It was intolerable behavior.”

Curran added that the firings were not “in retaliation” for the strike.

‘Final Warning’

Three drivers were suspended for 60 days, two for 30 days and one for 15 days. The suspensions were accompanied by a “final warning” to the workers that any further discipline problem would result in firing.

The firings and suspensions drew immediate criticism from Juliene Smith, the general chairperson of United Transportation Union Local 19, which represents the district’s 730 bus drivers who went on strike Dec. 8. The drivers returned to work 13 days later without a final contract. It was when they returned to work that the eight drivers were initially suspended pending the hearings.

“They alleged various things, but none of them amount to gross misconduct,” Smith said. The union, she added, intends to file grievances which would seek to have the firings and suspensions rescinded.

Smith would not reveal the names of the two drivers fired because she had not yet notified them of the OCTD’s action. But she continued to insist that the firings are unjustified.

“Safety of the passengers? There were no passengers around. Those charges came from the incident (at OCTD headquarters) the day the drivers returned to work,” she declared.

Smith was referring to the afternoon of Dec. 20, when about 500 drivers arrived at OCTD offices in Garden Grove to reclaim their jobs and scuffles erupted between some of the bus drivers and security personnel.

Allegedly Scratched Car

Donna Pickering, an OCTD driver for seven years, was one of the six suspended drivers. She drew a 30-day suspension for allegedly scratching the automobile of a security officer who was hired to patrol one of OCTD’s bus barns in Garden Grove.

But Pickering maintained that she was being pushed and shoved by other picketing drivers gathered at the entrance of the facility on the first morning of the strike, and she had accidentally scratched the car with her keys.

“It was an accident. I told the police that,” she said.

Curran also said that a decision on whether to discipline a ninth driver will be made on Monday. A hearing also is scheduled next week for the 10th driver who was suspended when the walkout was called off.