O.C. Bus Drivers Ratify Contract, Halting Standoff

After nearly nine months of contentious labor negotiations, Orange County’s bus drivers have ratified a new contract, union officials said Sunday.

It was the second time union members voted on an agreement in two months. The Orange County Transportation Authority and the union had reached a tentative agreement in late October, but members defeated it because drivers wanted a higher cost-of-living raise.

Union officials said that in the new accord, OCTA offered more for top drivers, but both sides compromised on an increase for cost of living.

Patrick D. Kelly, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 952, said drivers voted 613 to 258, or 70% to 30%, to ratify the contract. There are 1,200 drivers in all.

“We were short of where we wanted to be,” Kelly said, “but we were able to work out some ways to improve our last agreement. We believe it’s a fair contract.”

OCTA’s Board of Directors are scheduled to meet in closed session today to vote on the contract.

If approved, the contract will take effect immediately.

“We’re pleased that union members overwhelmingly ratified the contract,” said Ted Nguyen, an OCTA spokesman. “It’s definitely a win-win-win situation for our bus drivers, for the OCTA and for our 60,000 customers, who rely on our service every day.”

Drivers, whose top hourly wage is $20.02, were demanding cost-of-living raises of up to 3.7% for each year of the three-year contract. OCTA had offered about 3%.

Top drivers will now get $21.42 an hour, a 7% increase, starting May 2006, Kelly said.

Drivers had been working under the old contract, which expired in March.

The negotiations, which began in mid-March, have been among OCTA’s longest and most difficult.

In July, the drivers authorized a strike if negotiations were to break down.

Both sides had said the poor performance of the stock market over the last several years had resulted in losses for pension funds.

Kelly and Art Leahy, OCTA’s chief executive, had said OCTA funds that could have improved wages were used to shore up the bus drivers’ pension funds.

More than a dozen union and OCTA officials monitored the counting of the ballots Sunday afternoon in the offices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Santa Ana.

The election, which proceeded smoothly, was in marked contrast to the vote Nov. 5, when the drivers rejected OCTA’s contract offer by nine votes.

Union officials attributed the rejection to younger drivers who believed they deserved a larger wage increase over the life of the three-year contract.

Seeking a wider cross-section of drivers, union officials accepted mail-in ballots.

Union officials praised riders for expressing their concern to drivers.

Many riders also had sent letters to the OCTA board urging an agreement. A strike would have hurt all parties, both sides said.

In September, dozens of drivers rallied outside OCTA headquarters in Orange.

The union also sent petitions signed by 900 drivers to the Board of Directors to press their demands.