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    1. Bus

    CO: RTD Board of Directors Approves New Contract for Union Employees

    March 28, 2018
    The Regional Transportation District’s board of directors provided final approval for a new, three-year collective bargaining agreement for all of the agency’s union-represented employees.
    Related To: Regional Transportation District (RTD)

    The Regional Transportation District’s board of directors provided final approval for a new, three-year collective bargaining agreement for all of the agency’s union-represented employees. The contract offers a starting wage for new operators that is competitive in the local job market and addresses employee working conditions that had been in need of updating.

    The new CBA — which began March 1 and extends through Feb. 28, 2021 — is the legal contract addressing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for the 1,975 RTD employees represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001. Union-represented employees constitute about 69 percent of the agency’s employee base, and they primarily include bus and rail operators and mechanics.

    Leadership teams from the agency and ATU Local 1001 reached a tentative agreement for the new CBA on Feb. 28, the last day of the prior contract, after more than five months of negotiations with the help of a federal mediator. The new contract was ratified March 10 by 89 percent of ATU 1001 members and approved March 13 by RTD’s Financial Administration and Audit committee.

    RTD CEO and General Manager Dave Genova noted that the agency itself and the Denver metro region had experienced substantial changes since the start of the last contract five years ago, including the opening of five new transit lines during that time frame. In addition, he noted, many core issues related to working conditions were last addressed in 2009.

    “I am so pleased by the diligent, thoughtful bargaining work completed by both leadership teams,” Genova said. “Our agency cares deeply about our employees and the good work they do every day in service of the public. This new contract enables RTD to better serve the excellent employees we already have – and shows potential employees that the agency is a great place to build a career.” 

    The new contract raises the starting hourly wage for operators from $17.59 — which includes a $1-an-hour increase in 2017 — to $19.40, placing RTD just above the midpoint of the Denver-area market. The pay increases in the new contract — 8 percent the first year, followed by 3 percent in each of the following years — are the largest RTD’s operators have ever received.

    The contract also addresses mandated overtime work, and it requires earlier and more personal notification of mandated overtime. Employees will be notified at least 72 hours before a mandated shift, for example. Because of record-low unemployment levels, over the past three years nearly 75 percent of RTD operators had been required to work overtime, with one day off each week.

    Much of the negotiations focused on work-life elements. Some key working conditions addressed in the new contract include the following:

    • Reducing spread time from 14 to 13 hours. This change better enables rest time.
    • Increasing the number of straight versus split-shift runs as of the May 28 service changes. While straight runs cost the agency more money, they are better for operator working conditions.
    • Restroom availability and rest breaks, both in having an updated list of restrooms and adding in enough scheduled time to use them.
    • Working with employees’ notification requirements to better enable them to schedule and take medical or other types of appointments.
    • Creating four 10-hour-day work weeks for certain maintenance positions.