SAN JOSE — Silicon Valley commuters may need to brace themselves for an extra dose of traffic gridlock this week, as transit workers in Santa Clara County prepare to go on strike.þþThe Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 will vote Wednesday on whether to accept the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) last, best and final offer. The two sides have been negotiating since August on a new contract.þþRepresentatives from the union did not return requests for comment, but said on Twitter Monday that workers were likely to reject the proposal. The union received approval on April 9 from the South Bay Labor Council to go on strike should negotiations with the VTA fail.þþ“All bets are off after Wednesday,” the union said via Twitter.þþWhile the two sides have reached agreement on a number of issues, they still have to iron out disagreements over pay and scheduling.þþThe VTA is offering an 8 percent wage increase over three years, with 3 percent in the first year and 2.5 percent in the second and third years, plus a one-time lump-sum payment of 3.1 percent of workers’ salaries that would be doled out in increments over the three-year period. But union representatives say the increase doesn’t do enough to cover the actual cost of inflation, which increased 4 percent in the last year alone, according to the US Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index.þþUnion representatives have also taken issue with a rise in the number of “split shifts” that bus and light rail operators are required to work: working a morning shift, take time off during the afternoon and then have to come back to work in the evening.þþ“Many of our members cannot afford to live where we work so we commute long distances to and from work,” a statement from the union posted to Twitter on June 14 read. “VTA is pushing to increase an all ready [sic] unsafe working condition.”þþFacing a $25 million shortfall, the VTA in April approved a new service plan with 63, mostly small, cuts to curtail service, often in the form of reducing weekend routes or eliminating them altogether, shaving off a few hours at the start or end of the day, or running buses less frequently.þþA few bus routes, including the 65, were eliminated entirely, as was light-rail service along the Almaden spur, which affected two stations. But the authority also increased service on some of its busiest and most-used routes through downtown and East San Jose.þþIn addition to the issues over wages and schedules, the VTA is proposing increases to operators’ medical expenses, although union officials say they would also like an increased contribution to dental coverage, which they say hasn’t been raised since 2001.þþ
Source: www.mercurynews.com
