Bus drivers soundly reject contract proposal

Launce Rake and Christina Littlefield

Monday, June 17, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

Union bus drivers soundly rejected a proposed contract Saturday, crushing hopes for an imminent end to a four-week strike that has hobbled the region's public transit service.

The drivers' rejection by a 353-41 margin came against support voiced by Amalgamated Transit Union's international leadership and Local 1637 President Frank Opdyke.

Their vote on the issue leaves virtually no hope that the strike can be resolved anytime soon, all sides privately agree. The vote was a sharp disappointment to Regional Transportation Commission officials, who had lobbied for a return to negotiations and settlement of the acrimonious labor action.

A loser in the vote was Opdyke himself, who has come under pointed criticism from the union's rank and file members.

Opdyke has consistently said the final decision on any contract is up to the members.

But some drivers walking the picket lines Sunday called for Opdyke's resignation and said Opdyke should never have brought the deal brokered Friday to the union.

"I felt like he didn't do anything in there but take the proposal from them," driver Stephen W. Smith said.

"The members are the ones that are the union, not the president," driver Barry Stanford said. "They (the company negotiators) are refusing to believe it's the members that make the decisions."

Opdyke, still disappointed Monday over the vote, said he will not resign.

"I'm still the president," he said. "Some of the people are very vocal but they don't know all that goes on. They're upset right now, and everybody looks for someone to blame.

"I've still got a lot of supporters out there."

A website operated by the drivers makes at least two demands that the company has not been willing to grant. The company says it will grant pay raises when and if the employees return to work -- the drivers want retroactive pay raises for their contract that expired at the end of last year.

The drivers also demand amnesty for all workers, but Valerie Michael, spokeswoman for management company ATC, said any drivers who committed crimes against the buses or replacement drivers will not be hired back.

"That's probably the biggest thing they didn't like -- no amnesty," Opdyke said.

But he said the international union would individually represent any workers that would not be hired back -- and the union has never lost a dispute on the issue.

But drivers said that without the general amnesty, many of them will not be hired back -- not just for illegal activity, but for talking to the press.

"This is the type of company that would make us beg and grovel to get back in, and then they would get rid of us as quick as they can," driver David Sauzo said.

The union has denied any threatening or attacking property or replacement drivers during the strike.

Another possible loser in the extended strike could be the union members themselves. ATC, already hiring replacements, will soon be fully staffed without the union drivers, Michael said.

As of Sunday, two routes were without service, although buses throughout the 51-route system were still running minutes to hours late, the Regional Transportation Commission reported. In the days and weeks following the beginning of the strike May 20, a dozen or more routes were without service.

"This weekend we've been up over 90 percent service, so we are almost where we need to be with locally hired workers and replacement workers," Michael said. "We are almost back up to 100 percent."

The company will "very soon" begin taking striking drivers back on only as new hires -- in terms of wages and benefits, "they'll start brand new," Michael said.

The company will announce the date of the new policy within a week or two, she said.

"At that point drivers who are on strike have one last option to return to work before they are permanently replaced," she said.

ATC, the bus system managers, have now had two tentative proposals apparently accepted by the union negotiators but rejected by the members.

"It's just to the point now where nothing surprises us," Michael said.

The latest proposal would have given drivers $3.50 per hour raises over five years, would have required all drivers to contribute a flat 15 percent of the cost of medical insurance and would have provided extra holiday days throughout the life of the contract.

Opdyke said the deal would have given drivers very close to what they asked for last December. Some drivers at the low end of the pay range -- about $10 an hour -- would have gotten 35 percent increases over the five years, he said.

Michael said the company cannot afford more, especially because the RTC -- the financially troubled public agency with overall responsibility for the bus system -- has reduced routes and could do so again this fall.

Drivers said Sunday that they may get new jobs to supplement their $150-a-week strike pay from the union, but they will not go back to work for ATC under the latest offer.

"That's what they are trying to do, break up this union, wait until we have to come back, but we are stronger than that," said picket Marvin Wilkins. "But we're stronger than that."

Striking drivers argue that the new drivers are badly trained and the system is not as safe as it once was. Company and transportation commission officials disagree, however, calling the bus system as safe as it has ever been.

Yet another loser in a continuing strike could be a $2.7 billion tax initiative supported by the RTC board. The tax initiative, including $2 billion in sales taxes over the next two decades, would pay for new roads and increased transit service.

Thousands of union construction jobs could be affected by the road construction projects.

The Clark County Commission is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to put the issue before voters. Last week, the Southern Nevada Labor Council, representing about 120,000 local workers, resolved to oppose the tax initiative until the strike is settled.

Those union voters, including many in the construction trades, would be a core constituency for supporting the tax initiative.

Nevada AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Danny Thompson said Sunday that he does not know where the labor council will go on the issue.

"We haven't sat down and hashed that all out," he said. "We still have that resolution that says we should not support it until the strike is over."

Thompson said he will meet today with transit union and construction union groups before taking the issue back before the labor council's executive board. The union is having a political meeting in Carson City this week where a final decision on support or opposition to the tax initiative would be made.

Drivers said they do not believe the tax initiative, which would provide $2.7 billion overall for road and transit improvements, will benefit them.

"Not one dime is allocated to pay drivers better money," driver Barry Stanford said. "They are going to improve the mechanical part of the system but pay drivers slave wages."

Opdyke said the union leadership is looking for a way to resolve the issue, perhaps by launching an educational effort directed at the drivers. He said he will be flying this week to Washington to discuss the issue with the union's international president.

But for the short term, he and the company agreed, no new talks are scheduled or likely.

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