CA: VTA union to vote on new contract proposal Saturday after nearly two weeks of striking

 As the strike of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority workers reaches the end of its second week, union members are set to vote on a new proposal Saturday following several days of contract talks. But the union’s negotiation team is urging members to vote “no.”

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 walked off the job March 10 after negotiations with the transit agency fell apart the week before, over a pay raise amount and language in the contract’s arbitration clause.

The union’s membership is set to vote on the proposal Saturday, the VTA said. If approved, the proposal will then go to the VTA’s board for a vote. If the union votes to accept the contract proposal, union workers can return to their roles before the proposal is approved by the board, if union leadership permits it, said VTA spokesperson Stacey Hendler Ross.

“VTA is open, and we want our workers back on the job,” Hendler Ross said.

But a letter from union leadership to members of ATU dated Thursday urges members to vote “no” on the proposal Saturday, adding that leadership decided to put the proposal to a vote because they “hit a deadlock” and “the agency refuses to budge.” The negotiations team is recommending a unanimous “no” vote.

“After two more days of negotiations, I regret to inform you that we have been unable to reach an agreement with management,” the letter reads. “Management made it clear they would not offer more than a total 10.5% increase, justifying their position by citing reasons such as ATU’s highest offer in the past decade, claims that we are ‘uneducated workers,’ budget constraints, and the potential need to cut services.”

In the VTA’s new proposal to the union, employees would receive a 10.5% raise over three years, according to a press release from the agency. That would be broken down into a 4% raise in the first year, a 3% raise in the second year and a 3.5% raise in the third year, according to the proposed compensation package uploaded to ATU’s website.

When contract negotiations first fell apart, the union was asking for an 18% raise over three years, while the transit agency was offering a 9% raise over the same time period.

The new proposal also includes arbitration language that was agreed upon by both the union and the transit agency, the VTA said.

“ATU leadership has held its members and the riders who depend on public transportation for their livelihood hostage for two weeks,” VTA said. “It is the responsibility of ATU leadership to ensure their members have the facts.”

The new proposal also includes “significantly enhancing” dental coverage, the VTA said. The transit agency’s officials said they will continue to cover all healthcare costs for 93% of ATU employees, as well as provide a pension and medical care for retirees.

Union leaders could not be reached for comment by Friday afternoon.

The VTA’s 2025 budget deficit is projected to reach $46.8 million, and it is projected that they will be in a deficit for each of the five following years, VTA Controller Jayden Sangha said. Any further raise for union members will be “digging a deeper hole in that deficit,” he said.

About 85% of VTA’s funding comes from sales tax revenue, which has been down, he said. He added that about 70% of VTA’s budget goes toward labor, making even a small percentage increase have a “pretty substantial” increase in costs.

“Even 3% is not affordable,” Sangha said. “But we understand that there is cost of living, and all those things that have gone into this. So that’s where the understanding of the 3% was, but we’re in a position that anything beyond that number is absolutely not affordable. It really puts us in a position that we cannot sustain operations without cutting service or laying off staff.”

The move from a 9% offer to a 10.5% offer will “add additional deficit for VTA,” he said, adding that it is “very likely” there will be staff reductions or other financial tradeoffs to offset the deficit.

“The reserves can only last you so long, and then it comes a point where we have to make those hard choices of cutting service, cutting the labor force and making those cuts within the agency, our operations to sustain ourselves,” Sangha added.

The agency added that the proposal keeps the union as the second-highest paid in the Bay Area. Under the contract that expired earlier this month, VTA bus operators at the top of the pay scale made $42.88 per hour, which under the proposed agreement would raise in the first year to $44.60 an hour.

In the Bay Area, only bus operators at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority operators make more. MUNI drivers earn $46.15 per hour at the top of the pay scale, according to the most recent memorandum of understanding between the agency and union.

Operators for SamTrans in San Mateo County make $41.71 per hour at the top of the scale, said Randol White, public information officer for SamTrans. In the East Bay, operators for ACTransit make $38.07 per hour at the top of the scale, according to the pay scale listed on the ACTransit website.

Nationally, bus operators for urban transit systems made an average hourly wage of $24.87 in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In California, bus operators in both public and private industries made an average hourly wage of $31.51. In New York City, operators are paid $39.70 per hour, according to Transport Workers Union Local 100, the union that represents more than 40,000 transit workers in the city.

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