Brandon Rittiman Channel 2 News A union representing 200 public bus drivers and dispatchers in the Truckee Meadows is prepared to strike if they can't reach an agreement with the company that operates the buses.
"You never want a strike. It's a lose-lose proposition," says Mark Tracy, who's at the bargaining table for the Teamsters Local 533, "[but] we're fully prepared to strike. We've lined up strike benefits with Washington, we've already had the strike approved by our regional council. We're ready to go if we have to."
The current contract between the drivers and Transit Management of Washoe, Inc. expires on June 12.
Teamsters Local 533 is representing about 200 drivers and dispatchers in the dispute.
Transit Management of Washoe is a subsidiary of Cincinnati-based First Transit, which is owned by FirstGroup of Great Britain.
The company hired by the Regional Transportation Commission to operate buses, said negotiations have been under way for about two months, but the two sides just started discussing wages.
Bus drivers are paid $13.62 to $18.05 per hour and under the union’s initial proposal, wages for upper-tier drivers would increase to $21.90 an hour in the first year, to $22.90 the second year and $23.90 the third year, for an overall increase of 32 percent.
The union also seeks increases in pension payments and improvements in health coverage for dependants.
Transit Management’s initial wage offer is to increase wages by 1 percent each of the three years covered by the contract and the company proposed to increase pension levels from the current $1.10 per hour by 3 cents each of the three years.
Drivers for RTC RIDE, formerly known as Citifare, last held a strike during the summer of 2002.
That dispute paralyzed bus lines in downtown Reno during the busy summer season.
It resulted in picket lines at the downtown transit center, employee lockouts and replacement drivers being brought from out of state.
Citifare drivers returned to work in late summer without a contract. A compromise contract was approved in late December 2002.
Another three-year contract, providing a 10 percent wage increase over three years, was approved in June 2005.
Workplace rules are also on the table during talks.
Over past negotiations, the two sides pounded out rules in their contract before but some like Michael Steele, General Manager of the RTC-RIDE (formerly Citifare) bus system, want to abandon them completely now.
"We've made it real clear to the union that we want the rules out of the contract," says Steele, "in terms of safety, absenteeism, employee conduct, those kinds of things... it just gives us a lot more flexibility."
"When you take away those rules," Tracy countered, "management can do anything," adding that is a situation, "that just won't fly."
A federal mediator will try to forge an agreement between the operator of the Reno area's bus service and drivers on Thursday.
Transit management asked for a mediator because that has been helpful during past labor talks and also because the contract expiration is imminent.
Union officials say the two sides are far apart on the issue of wages.
Company officials say the union's demands are unrealistic in the current economy.
"Frankly, we're pretty far apart," says Steele.
Another issue related to the talks involves a contract provision to fully observe the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, a provision that was recently rejected by the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County in contract talks with Teamsters Union Local 533, angering the Reno-Sparks NAACP.
The local NAACP recently passed a resolution asking that RTC observe the King Holiday by creating a policy in the Regional Transportation System's collective bargaining agreements with its workers to that effect.
