DENVER (AP) -- A transit strike was averted Wednesday when negotiators reached a tentative agreement on a contract for 1,900 drivers, light rail operators and mechanics, a union spokesman said.þþThe agreement, which still must be ratified by union members, was reached about four hours after the midnight Tuesday strike deadline, said Dave Minshall, spokesman for Local 1001 of the Amalgamated Transit Union.þþRTD spokesman Scott Reed did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday.þþA union vote likely will be held within 10 days, Minshall said. The agreement also must be approved by the board of the Regional Transportation District.þþThe deal would prevent a potentially crippling strike that could have shut down two-thirds of the Regional Transportation District's bus routes and all of its rail routes, affecting thousands of Denver-area commuters.þþOutlines of the new contract were not immediately available.þþThe Amalgamated Transit Union's drivers, light rail operators and mechanics had been poised to go on strike at midnight Tuesday. The union made an offer late Tuesday centering on work rules and health insurance, rather than wages, Minshall said. He said the RTD responded with a counteroffer.þþThe transit agency serves seven Denver-area counties and logs 250,000 passenger trips every weekday, including about 35,000 on trains.þþThe old contract expired Feb. 28. Negotiations had made little progress since then, but Mayor Wellington Webb pleaded with both sides to keep talking.þþUnion officials had said RTD's proposed changes to overtime pay and vacation days, coupled with higher health insurance premiums, amounted to a 15 percent cut in pay and benefits.þþReed had said the agency was willing to rearrange some of the details of its contract offer, but the overall cost was set. He said the slumping economy has affected RTD revenues, which are generated in part by retail sales.þþThe average full-time bus driver was paid $42,300 annually, and got three weeks' paid vacation and 12 paid holidays under the old contract.þþPam Perdue said riding the light-rail takes longer than driving for her commute downtown from the Denver Tech Center, but she enjoys the train ride.þþ``That's my decompress time,'' she said Tuesday while waiting at a downtown light-rail station. An RTD subsidy program her employer participates in decreases her cost to ride.þþ``My cost for a bus pass is $4 a month versus if I drive, parking costs $6 a day,'' she said.þþPerdue had planned to car pool with co-workers if RTD workers went on strike.þþ
Source: NY Times
