Bus, Train Drivers OK New MTA Contract

Nearly 700 bus drivers and train operators met Sunday at the Convention Center to overwhelmingly approve a three-year contract agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The vote by members of the United Transportation Union confirmed a tentative deal struck early Tuesday morning that ended marathon talks aimed at averting a strike by the 4,200-member union.

When union officials finished counting, the tally was 589 votes in favor of the agreement, 92 opposed and one voided ballot. The contract was approved by 86% of those voting.

“I’m satisfied,” said Doroteo Garcia, a driver for 23 years. “We got most of what we were fighting for.”

“I think it’s a pretty good deal,” agreed Paula Richardson, a driver for seven years who works in Hollywood.

Before ballots were cast, union officials went through the agreement and answered questions. Most members expressed satisfaction with the deal that negotiators described as being crafted to maintain labor peace by giving something to everyone.

But some complained that they were not being given enough time to digest all the material.

“We had a half-hour to discuss the package, then we were herded like cattle to vote,” said Eloisa Diaz, a 12-year driver who voted against the agreement. “There just wasn’t enough time.”

The last major strike in the nation’s second-largest transit system was in July 1994, when more than half a million riders were left in a desperate search for transportation after a walkout by the MTA’s 1,900 mechanics. The walkout was honored by 5,000 bus and rail drivers and transit clerks. The transit system was also shut down in 1982 when drivers walked off the job for five days.

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The agreement, which still must be approved by the MTA board, guarantees that there will be no layoffs or cuts in wages and benefits and provides an 8% to 10% pay raise over the next three years.

Also, the union’s membership base may expand under the terms of the deal. The MTA will be allowed to reduce its operating costs on certain lines by using newly hired union drivers, who are paid about $10 an hour, instead of the veteran drivers who earn $19 an hour.

Under the agreement, the MTA can seek contracts with private bus companies to operate new lines as long as they don’t replace or duplicate existing lines.

The agreement includes a “me too” clause allowing for additional pay increases to match those of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents the mechanics, and the Transportation Communications Union, the bargaining agent for clerical workers. The transit workers agreement expires June 30, 2000.

In the end, Donnette Burks said, she was pleased.

“This is a good contract compared to where we started,” she said.