Cost-of-Living Issue Stalling OCTA Talks

Unusually contentious labor talks involving Orange County’s 1,200 bus drivers headed toward the end of the eighth month Friday as transit officials and union leaders continued to disagree on cost-of-living raises.

Coach operators for the Orange County Transportation Authority have authorized a strike if talks aren’t fruitful and union representatives said there could be a walkout this month.

Bus drivers seek pay increases of at least 3.7% each year for the next three years. The top hourly wage is now $20.02.

Union officials say that OCTA is offering about 3% a year, a figure drivers consider unrealistic given the high cost of living in Southern California.

The OCTA recently gave its staff members, who are not unionized, a 2.5% cost-of-living raise.

OCTA “has not put enough money on the table to protect our people from inflation,” said Patrick D. Kelly, secretary-treasurer of Teamster Local 952.

“They have not hesitated to raise bus fares and tolls on the 91 Express Lanes. So it is only fair that the authority recognize the burden their employees face.”

OCTA owns the 91 Express Lanes, a 10-mile-long tollway down the median of the often-congested Riverside Freeway.

To satisfy union demands, Kelly said that OCTA needs to come up with an additional $1.7 million over the three-year life of the contract, not a large amount in his estimation.

More than 500 operators who belong to Local 952 voted in July to authorize a strike if negotiations broke down.

The last strike by transit drivers in Orange County was in 1986.

About 60,000 people a day ride OCTA buses.

Michael Litschi, an OCTA spokesman, said the cost-of-living raise is the main issue, but he hoped the matter would be resolved without a strike.

He declined to say how much OCTA is offering.

This year’s contract talks, which began in mid-March, have been among the agency’s longest and most difficult.

More than a month ago, a federal mediator was called in.

In September, dozens of bus drivers rallied outside OCTA’s headquarters in Orange to press their demands for a pay increase and improvements to the citizen complaint process.

They also have sent a petition signed by 900 drivers to the OCTA board of directors and appeared at board meetings to air their complaints.

In 2001, negotiations lasted from late February to August and ended with a 12.5% pay increase for bus drivers over the life of the contract.

A federal mediator also participated in those talks.