Local News in Brief : RTD Drivers Lose in Court
RTD bus drivers on Wednesday lost a legal challenge to the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission’s efforts to force major changes in their labor agreement, which is being renegotiated.
Superior Court Judge Edward Hinz refused to grant an injunction against the commission, saying there was no legal justification for his intervention.
Union officials, who said they may appeal the ruling, argued that strings the commission recently attached to the transit district’s operating funds have illegally tied the hands of RTD’s labor negotiators. Earl Clarke, head of the drivers’ union, said Hinz’s decision “certainly is not going to help” avoid a strike later this year.
The controversy centers on a new commission policy, inspired by the panel’s conservative chairman, Supervisor Pete Schabarum, that requires local transit agencies to remove barriers to contracting out services to private firms and link employee pay increases to improved performance. The RTD could lose up to $84 million in operating funds next year if it fails to win those concessions.
Commission attorneys argued that their agency is merely trying to meet its obligation to make transit more efficient.
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