Accord Reported in Contract Talks by RTD, Drivers

Negotiators for the RTD and its bus drivers have agreed on an outline for a new labor agreement that would avert a drivers strike and the interruption of service to hundreds of thousands of riders, sources close to the negotiations said Tuesday.

Barring a major breakdown in the talks, which apparently resumed Tuesday after the RTD board was briefed in a three-hour private session, the pact could be approved at a special RTD board meeting this morning, sources indicated. Drivers could vote on the proposed settlement as early as Thursday, one source said, the day the current three-year agreement expires.

If that scenario occurs, it would be welcome news for most RTD riders, who generally have low incomes and no automobiles. The RTD reports about 1.4 million bus boardings a day.

Tentative Accord

Earl Clark, general chairman of the 5,000-member bus drivers union, confirmed to reporters that a tentative agreement had been reached by negotiators.

Clark declined to discuss the details of the tentative accord, as did RTD board member Jan Hall, who spoke for the district.

But other sources familiar with the labor and management positions said the proposed agreement would give RTD management the ability to significantly tighten up on driver absenteeism, a major source of controversy and increased cost for the district in recent years.

Sources said a key change would require drivers to work a 40-hour week before they could earn overtime rates, a provision that could save millions of dollars annually for the financially troubled agency. Under the current contract, drivers may take off one or two days, losing pay at regular rates, then return to work their scheduled days off at time-and-a-half pay rates.

Many Days Missed

Studies have shown RTD drivers’ absenteeism, currently averaging more than 25 days a year, excluding vacations, holidays and extended leaves, is significantly higher than other large transit agencies.

As for wages, the drivers, who currently earn a top hourly rate of $14.53, would continue to receive automatic cost-of-living adjustments, although there may be new limits placed on them, sources said.

No other adjustment would occur the first year, although drivers would receive a cash bonus of $500, sources said. In the second and third years of the contract, the hourly rate would increase 30 cents an hour on top of the cost of living adjustment.

One knowledgeable source said that Tuesday’s last-minute negotiations were focusing on issues related to contracting with private firms for services normally performed by RTD workers, as well as opportunities for selling services now performed by the RTD.

The two sides appear to be racing to make the agreement final before July 1, in part because both sides, weary of two years of adverse publicity about the RTD and its drivers, want to avoid a strike.

But the rush also may be designed to take advantage of what some view as a loophole in the conditions placed on new labor agreements by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

The commission, which controls RTD purse strings and has been pushing the agency to get tough with its unions and control its costs, recently set out guidelines for new labor agreements. Failure to meet the guidelines, which include removal of barriers to contracting out as well as restrictions on wage increases, could cost the RTD millions of dollars in local transit funds controlled by the commission.

However, the wording of guidelines adopted by the commission appears only to affect agreements enacted after July 1. The commission staff, noting the loophole created for contracts signed before July 1, recently issued an administrative correction clarifying that the guidelines are intended to apply to any new agreements.

A source familiar with the negotiations said some provisions of the proposed agreement may not meet the commission guidelines. But if the agreement is adopted before the July 1 deadline, whether the guidelines apply would probably become a matter for the courts, the source said.