CAT bus drivers go on strike

Monday, May 20, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

A CAT bus drivers strike this morning caught the bus system and would-be passengers by surprise, sending the system's management company scrambling to find replacement workers and leaving commuters waiting hours for their regular transportation.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1637 walked off the job at 3 a.m. without warning.

"The only notice I got was when I arrived, and there were pickets out," ATC spokeswoman Valerie Michael said. ATC is the contract company that operates the Citizens Area Transit system for the Regional Transportation Commission.

The company has for weeks said it would bring in replacement drivers and mechanics for about 800 regular workers. The company was scrambling to find replacements this morning as few buses were operating.

Michael said the company hopes to have replacement drivers covering all shifts as soon as possible.

"We're getting back quickly," she said.

RTC officials said bus lines throughout the Las Vegas Valley had delays but the situation for passengers improved throughout the morning hours.

Officials from both the RTC and the operating company said they did not know how many buses were working Monday morning. Normally about 250 buses would operate.

Union officials said fewer than 40 buses were actually on the streets.

"There are going to be delays, so we just ask people to be patient," said RTC spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman said.

Gene Smith, a driver, union shop steward and negotiator, said the lack of notice was deliberate to catch the company by surprise.

"The idea is for this to be effective," he said.

Delays or missed route service could cost ATC thousands. Reisman said the company would be charged $300 for each bus that is late more than 20 minutes and $500 for routes that are simply missed altogether.

The RTC would impose the fines and monitor the bus system for late or absent buses throughout today and into the future, Reisman said.

The fines could help get the operating company and the union back to the negotiating table, a process that broke off Thursday.

"The less time on strike, the better it would be for the RTC, the company, the union members and the passengers," Reisman said.

Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, chairman of the RTC board, said the contract with ATC may encourage the hiring of replacement workers, but it also would spur the company to settle.

"Our position is going to be that we've got a contract," he said. "We will enforce that contract and we expect ATC to provide safe and effective bus service for our community."

Smith said the union apologizes to members of the public who are inconvenienced or worse because of the strike.

"It's not to hurt the public or stop them from getting to their destination," he said. "But we have to go to the street because they wouldn't meet us at the table.

"I hope we can come to some understanding. We did what we had to do."

The company and the drivers' union have been in negotiations and loggerheads for eight months. The contract expired at the end of last year.

Two weeks ago, the union members authorized a strike and rejected a "final contract" offer from ATC. Three rounds of follow-up talks guided by a federal mediator failed to solve the impasse.

The issues between the union and company span the gamut of holiday time, benefits and base pay, leaving both sides saying the differences are too great to be reconciled through more talks.

The two sides dispute even the offers proffered by the other, but union and company officials say the company would provide 3 percent to 10 percent annual raises.

The union has asked for 7 percent to 25 percent annual raises, depending on seniority.

And a major division is on the issue of health insurance, now fully covered by the company. The company has asked the drivers and mechanics to begin paying into the system -- up to $120 a month for family coverage -- and split any future insurance premium raises.

But bus drivers said that will leave many of their number without any raise at all, potentially for years.

ATC and union officials said they would not go back to the table unless the other side or the federal mediator asked them.

Pickets were walking at the bus yards this morning on Tompkins Avenue near the Strip and Simmons Street in North Las Vegas.

At the Downtown Transportation Center, usually a hive of activity during morning commuting hours, four or five buses appeared to be operating. Usually about two dozen buses would be pulling in and out of the center.

Malik Wilson was one of many passengers waiting for overdue buses at the center. He was planning to get to the Veterans Administration Hospital for a doctor's appointment.

His bus was already nearly a half-hour late.

Nearby, Edde Johnson was waiting for his bus to the Strip. He said the fact he had a regular bus pass, usually good for a month, was not helping him get around.

"If I don't get a bus right here I'm going to sue 'em," Johnson said. "Are they going to give me extra dollars on my bus pass? I didn't cause this."

Johnson said he relies on the bus system every day to get around since being laid off after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Kirk Rossman sat on a rock at Tropicana Avenue and Maryland Parkway, nervously looking at his watch and rubbing his chin as he waited for Bus 537 on Route 109.

"If I am late today, I'm probably going to be fired," said Rossman, who has lived in Las Vegas for 2 1/2 years and takes care of his wheelchair-bound father.

Stella Slagado, a Las Vegas resident of seven years, was taking the bus this morning to pay a bill.

"I do agree with what they (bus drivers) want," she said. "I talk with them a lot, and some of them are very friendly.

Union officials said there was one incident of violence on the first day of the strike -- a replacement driver who was "beaten up" by passengers at the Downtown Transportation Center, said union member and driver Sally West.

"We have good passengers," West said. "They're like our family. Heck, they are family. I spend more time with them than with my family at home."

But Michael, with the company, said passengers "chased the pickets away" at the downtown center. No pickets were present as of about 7 this morning, although organizers at the main bus yards had been rounding up drivers to go to the center. The pickets were peaceful.

Sun reporter Ed Koch contributed to this story.