RTD Drivers Vote Overwhelmingly in Favor of Strike

A week before their contract is due to expire, RTD bus drivers voted overwhelmingly Thursday to authorize a strike that could leave hundreds of thousands of commuters scrambling for transportation as early as July 1.

About 91% of the 3,819 drivers who cast ballots in the daylong voting at bus depots throughout the county endorsed the union leadership’s request for authority to call a strike. But it was not clear if or when a walkout might occur.

“This is not an indication that we want to strike,” said Earl Clark, general chairman of the driver’s 5,000-member United Transportation Union, immediately after the count was announced. “That is not the message. . . . Hopefully, this is going to be a catalyst to get (RTD officials) to the table to settle this thing.”

However, Clark also repeated a warning that he is prepared to call a strike next Friday if significant progress is not made in talks before then. Clark said both sides have agreed to hold intense bargaining sessions this weekend to try and come to an agreement.

Neil Silver, head of the 2,000-member bus mechanics union, which is expected to take a strike vote Tuesday, said earlier Thursday that the talks are going “very slowly.”

However, RTD’s acting general manager, Alan Pegg, insisted that the talks are “progressing well” and described the drivers’ strike vote as a “relatively standard action.”

If a strike appears imminent, Gov. George Deukmejian could intervene to protect the public welfare by obtaining a court order to halt a walkout for 60 days.

The RTD, the nation’s largest all-bus transit system, carries 1.4 million passengers a day in a 2,200-square-mile area that includes most of Los Angeles County, as well as routes into San Bernardino, Orange and Ventura counties. The district’s riders are largely minorities with low incomes, about 70% of whom do not have automobiles, according to recent surveys.

There have been five RTD driver strikes in the last 15 years, including a 68-day walkout in 1974. Drivers authorized a strike in 1985, but it never occurred.

If there is a walkout, some RTD buses are expected to continue rolling. For the first time in the district’s 24-year history, a plan has been quietly developed to put about 15% of the 2,000 rush-hour buses on the road using supervisors.

Which routes would be served has been a closely guarded secret. But RTD spokesman Jim Smart said details could be publicized for commuters next week if a walkout appears likely July 1.

In addition, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission has voted to make additional funds available to other smaller public transit systems in the county if they wish to increase service on their routes during a strike.

This year’s negotiations, which began in late April, are seen as particularly crucial for both sides. They come in the wake of two years of reports of alleged wasteful mismanagement, poor service, driver drug use and high employee absenteeism.

For riders, many of whom already are highly critical of the service, the strike threat follows the RTD board decision to raise fares July 1. The basic cash fare will go from 85 cents to $1.10.

“It’s bad for the people who are not going to have any way of getting around,” said Vicky Ramirez, who relies on the bus to get from Compton to her cafeteria job at County-USC Medical Center in Lincoln Heights.

RTD officials, who opened the negotiations by asking for a 10% wage cut, have said they intend to take a tough stand and win cost-cutting concessions in this agreement.

But the drivers say RTD officials are asking for too much, including elimination of automatic pay increases tied to inflation, rule changes clamping down on absences and overtime, contracting out of services and changes in health and pension benefits.

Many of the key issues, including wage increases, remain unresolved. A recent county Transportation Commission study found that RTD drivers are among the top-paid in the country and the highest-paid among “their immediate peers,” including the nation’s four largest bus systems and large Southern California systems. The RTD drivers’ top hourly rate is $14.32 and the typical driver, with overtime, earns between $32,000 and $35,000 per year, a district spokesman said.

District officials have declined to comment on details of the negotiations. But Clark said Thursday that the district has withdrawn its proposed 10% pay cut and the union may be willing to “come off” its demand for a 4% annual pay hike on top of the cost-of-living increase.

However, the key issue, Clark said, is “work rules and the district’s firm position that they are going to make it so difficult for an operator to take a day off that he is going to be penalized whether he is sick or not.”

Drivers at the RTD’s East Los Angeles division expressed reluctance at striking, but said they would to protect their current rights. Some drivers said they will not give up their automatic cost-of-living increases because these have raised incomes more than negotiated wage hikes.