Three dozen Teamsters struck August 1, demanding that Transportation Concepts honor the terms of their union contract.

The company is insisting that the drivers, who have been working these routes for as long as nine years, are now “new hires,” who will start at $10 per hour and reach a top wage of $11.25 per hour after five years—the length of the contractor’s agreement with the city. Strikers are picketing the company’s Los Angeles depot from 4:00 a.m. to midnight every day. The bus routes are operating with replacement drivers, but strikers say there have been many delays.

The MTA operates about 200 bus routes directly, and contracts out 21 routes with low ridership. The contractors generally pay much lower wages than the MTA, where drivers are members of the United Transportation Union and those with seniority earn more than $20 per hour.

“What we’re doing is building confidence in the union,” said Louis Minnefield, a picket captain and shop steward in Teamsters Local 848. He noted that Transportation Concepts has refused to honor other union agreements on contracts it has won before, but this time workers have stood up. “They don’t want these drivers talking to us,” Minnefield added, referring to those who were employed by Transportation Concepts before it acquired the new routes. “They’re watching them like hawks.”

On the picket line August 5, one of these contract drivers, Mike Alecio, explained that he was being paid $8.25 an hour. When the members of Teamsters Local 848 walked out he signed a union card and said, “I’m on strike.”

Seth Dellinger contributed to this article.  
 
 
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