Editorial: Timing of CAT strike a low blow

Tuesday, May 21, 2002 | 8:48 a.m.

The Citizens Area Transit bus system provides more than 150,000 rides a day along its more than 300 routes. The public Regional Transportation Commission, which contracts management of the system out to a private company, depends on bus riders to meet its goals of less highway congestion and cleaner air. And riders have grown to depend on the system to get to work, to get to appointments and to get to leisure destinations.

This symbiotic relationship between riders and the RTC came to a sudden and surprising crawl Monday at 3 a.m., the moment that the system's first-ever drivers' strike began. As commuters and others began gathering at their bus stops as the sun rose, fewer than 40 buses were still rolling. Normally, 250 or more buses would have been plying their routes. All over the Las Vegas Valley, people were left wondering how they were going to get to work or make their doctors' appointments.

Striking as they did with no notice to their loyal riders, the very people whose fares pay their salaries, the drivers showed an appalling lack of concern for the public they are committed to serving. After eight months of negotiations and more than five months of working without a contract, the drivers and their union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1637, could have at least given 48 hours notice to the riding public of their intentions to strike.

The RTC might now want to reconsider how the CAT system is managed. State law prohibits public employees from striking. Because the RTC contracts with a private company to manage the system, the drivers are considered private employees. Nevertheless, CAT drivers provide an essential public service and there should be rules preventing them from treating their riders as bargaining chips.