Vol. 74/No. 32      August 23, 2010

On August 2 a county judge blocked AC Transit from unilaterally imposing its contract demands on 1,750 drivers, mechanics, janitors, and others who keep the buses rolling in Oakland and cities throughout the East Bay.

AC Transit implemented the conditions outlined in its contract demands July 18, after three months of negotiations, during which the union refused to accept the company’s proposals. Aimed at reducing labor costs by $15 million, the takebacks included new rules that reduced overtime pay, set up a two-tier pension system, and increased workers’ health insurance costs.

“What AC Transit did wasn’t fair,” said Jimmy Deckard, a driver with 29 years working for the company. “We couldn’t go along with them telling us what to do, with the union having no say.”

The drivers expressed anger at work rules that reduced pay for split shifts. The new terms effectively cut one and a half hours’ pay per day for many drivers working two shifts separated by hours of unpaid downtime.

The company also ended overtime pay for shifts over eight hours, requiring more than 40 hours work in a week. “This means they could have me work a second route if someone doesn’t show up, without paying me overtime,” commented a driver with over 10 years at AC Transit, who asked that her name not be used due to fear of victimization. “How can they expect us to pay more for medical insurance, and copayments, if at the same time they are lowering pay?”

“It’s a union-busting tactic when you take a position that you don’t have to negotiate with the union,” ATU Local 192 president Claudia Hudson told a meeting of the AC Transit Board of Directors July 28.

“This is about changing drivers’ schedules daily, disrupting lives,” Hudson said, emphasizing that new rules giving drivers different routes on different days were especially burdensome to workers with children. She pointed to the longer hours and lack of training for new routes as a threat to safety.

Following the judge’s ruling, company spokesman Arnold Johnson said the return to old work rules would cost $300,000 a week, driving AC Transit further into debt. Johnson threatened further fare increases and reduction in services, blaming the union. In recent months routes have been cut and fares rose from $1.75 to $2.00.

A court decision last month ordered the union and AC Transit into binding arbitration. The first hearing before the arbitrator is August 20.
 
 
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On the Picket Line
Workers told to accept ‘new normal’  
 
 
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