San Diego MTS to play peacemaker between staffing agency and striking bus drivers

By Joshua Emerson Smith | San Diego Union-Tribune

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Metropolitan Transit System leaders — under ratcheting public pressure — have taken their first major steps toward ending a weeks-long bus driver strike across the South Bay.

MTS board members voted Thursday to hold a special meeting next week to consider giving the agency's staffing company, Transdev, a deadline to end its labor dispute with Teamsters Local 683.

Bus drivers are locked in a standoff with the subcontractor, demanding better access to clean restrooms, as well as tighter limits on mandatory unpaid breaks and forced overtime. So far, the French business, which employs tens of thousands of workers across the United States, hasn't offered enough to get the union workers to stand down.

"The No. 1 goal of MTS is to get service up and running again and back to the standards that are expected by our riders," San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn told reporters after a special closed-session meeting of the MTS board, which he chairs.

The MTS board now plans to hold a public meeting next Thursday, June 15, to consider giving Transdev a June 23 date to restore service or face potential "legal action." The agency has the right to cancel its contract with the staffing agency for noncompliance.

To sweeten the deal, Whitburn said the board will also consider providing Transdev an additional $1 million under its contract if it makes the deadline. MTS is slated to pay the staffing agency about $75 million for its services this year.

The cash incentive would come on top of a $21 million bump to Transdev's contract that MTS officials approved in January to give bus drivers a $2-an-hour wage increase.

"We recognize the growing challenge to hire and retain bus operators," Whitburn said. "We have seen the high cost of living in San Diego."

Since last year, the company lost roughly 300 employees at its Chula Vista location, according to records provided by the Teamsters union.

In response to the idea that its contract could be canceled, Transdev recently told the Union-Tribune: "We have been long-term partners in good standing with MTS, and believe we will be so into the foreseeable future."

Bus drivers, mechanics and other union workers packed the MTS boardroom on Thursday, pleading with the agency to cancel its contract with Transdev and bring them in-house. The transit agency directly employs 467 of the its roughly 1,160 drivers.

"We really care about our passengers. We really miss them," said Fausto Surposa, who has driven a bus in the South Bay for 24 years. "But this is what has to be done to have a change. We need to get Transdev out."

Service delays could get much worse for riders if the situation doesn't improve.

Bus mechanics in the South Bay, who have walked off the job in support of drivers, are now gearing up for their own labor negotiations at the end of the year.

"If certain issues are not addressed, we're going to be back in the same situation," Joel Bojorquez, a mechanic with the Teamsters, told the MTS board on Thursday. "If we get pushed to go on strike on the maintenance side, the drivers are going to honor our picket line."

Bus drivers in Kearny Mesa, organized by Teamsters Local 542, are also currently on strike and in labor negotiations with Transdev. The drivers operate fixed-route minibuses, as well as paratransit services for people with disabilities.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1309, which represents bus drivers in East County, will soon see its contract expire as well. Many of those drivers, who operate out of El Cajon, have honored a work stoppage in solidarity with union workers in Chula Vista and Kearny Mesa.

"They've been treating us so bad for so long," said Jason Brown, one of many East County drivers who attended Thursday's meeting.

He said he took out a personal loan just to honor the work stoppage, adding: "Anyone who could did. A lot of people in El Cajon would love to go on strike."

Transdev bus drivers currently make about $19 to $27 an hour depending on seniority and location. By comparison, MTS offers $22.71 to $31.25 an hour.

Bus driver Charles Flint said the working conditions and pay are humiliating.

"I love my job," he said. "We just want what's fair."

One of the biggest issues facing drivers involves "splits," forced unpaid breaks between morning and evening shifts. While the practice is common among transit agencies, drivers have said Transdev abuses the system, often requiring up to six hours of unpaid time off in the middle of the day.

Transdev said it gave the Teamsters a final contract offer last week that included a reduction in the number of splits from 25 percent to 20 percent of shifts, with a four-hour cap.

Union workers with Teamsters Local 683 flatly rejected that offer, with more than 95 percent of members voting to continue the strike.

Drivers have also said they've been disgraced by the state of restrooms and break facilities at major transit stops, often just portable toilets and rundown trailers.

Union officials recently went so far as to file a complaint with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health over what they called "inhumane conditions."

For more information on canceled routes visit: sdmts.com/first-transit-work-stoppage-mts or call (619) 233-3004.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.

©2023 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Visit sandiegouniontribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Daily News Briefing