Striking CAT drivers to vote on new proposal

Tuesday, June 25, 2002 | 9:05 a.m.

Las Vegas has been down this bumpy road before, but striking bus drivers and the local system's operating company once again have a tentative agreement that could end a five-week labor action that has stranded thousands of local riders.

The offer was hammered out Monday in Chicago, home base of ATC, the company operating the system under contract with the Regional Transportation Commission. Amalgamated Transit Local 1637 President Frank Opdyke met with ATC President Jim Long, with other union and company representatives.

"I think it is going to be a positive thing for all sides," ATC spokeswoman Valerie Michael said cautiously. "We're hopeful that this is it."

Opdyke also sounded upbeat about the prospects for the latest offer, the third that has gone to drivers since the strike began May 20. Drivers rejected the previous two offers by margins over 90 percent.

"I believe they will accept it," Opdyke said.

A vote could be scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, and Citizens Area Transit drivers could be back to work by the weekend if they accept the agreement, he said.

"Once they ratify it, the gears will mesh and we will be back up rapidly," Opdyke said.

The local's vice president, Willie Myles, said Monday afternoon that the drivers are still willing to wait out the company despite a letter distributed last week that threatens to permanently replace striking drivers if they failed to return to work this morning.

The drivers, about 500 of whom are still on strike, would only be hired back if work was available, would lose all accrued benefits and would make starting wages, the company letter warned.

Michael said the letter would not be invoked before drivers vote on the latest offer.

The sticking points on the earlier packages included wage increases retroactive to at least March and a general amnesty for striking drivers, many of whom said they feared retribution from company management.

"Both of those are covered in this," Opdyke said. "That's excellent. That's the best news."

He said company management in Chicago was willing to look at the entire contract package from a new perspective.

"When you talk to the people who are in the top echelon, they are removed from the local issues," he said. "They see the picture from a different perspective. ... They looked at amnesty and said that would not cost us anything."

Myles said the drivers have always been willing to work with the company to bridge the impasse that first affected would-be riders May 20. The latest round of negotiations are the more recent evidence of that willingness, he said.

But the drivers "will not go back to work unless they have something better than what they were being offered," he said.

The last offer rejected by drivers would have provided $3.50 raises over five years and capped worker contributions to the medical plan, a contentious point, at 15 percent.

The bus strike has led to thousands of missed or delayed bus trips, unhappy riders and calls from the area's political leadership to resolve the issue. The company has been hiring replacement workers to join drivers imported from its other operations around the country and local supervisors to keep the system running.

As of Monday afternoon, two routes were not running. The Regional Transportation Commission, the public agency with overall responsibility for the system, said 80 to 100 percent of routes had service.

But the commission also warned riders to expect delays systemwide.