Bus Drivers Cry Foul Over 'Union-Busting Tactic'

As of this writing, Capital Metro's bus drivers and mechanics are still on the job, but they're not happy about it. Over the past week, both sides in negotiations between the transit agency and the drivers' union have hurled plenty of bluster, but both insist they don't want a strike.

On Sept. 12, StarTran – the personnel subcontractor that Capital Metro must use because state law forbids negotiation with unions while federal law requires it – issued a "final" contract offer to Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1091. The key contrast between this offer and the previous one is smaller pay raises to accommodate phasing in of increased health-care deductibles (as opposed to immediate deductible increases, which the union worried would hit employees too hard).

"This final proposal addresses the main issues ATU 1091 raised with our previous offer," said StarTran General Manager Terry Garcia Crews in a press release. "We remain focused on ensuring the long-term sustainability of the public transportation system while offering a very competitive compensation and benefits package. It is time for the union to accept this offer and end our community's fear about a possible work stoppage." Just for PR sake, the release also noted that AISD bus drivers make considerably less than Cap Metro's, and a first-year AISD teacher earns less than most city bus drivers.

Shop steward Bill Kweder fired back in a statement that AISD drivers have very different responsibilities and probably should be paid more, and ridiculed the comparison to teachers. "[Teachers] truly deserve better," Kweder wrote. "But driving and teaching are not similar in any way. For that matter, why not compare the wages of bus drivers to professional athletes?"

The union complained that the offer still contains a proposed two-tier wage scale that would raise new employees' pay slower than that of current workers. "This is a classic union-busting tactic," said ATU 1091 President Jay Wyatt. "StarTran wants new employees to make less and put them against the union for agreeing to less wages."

Finally, the union attacked Capital Metro's new commuter rail, which should begin operations later this year or early 2009, as a cause of the transit agency's current labor situation. "Capital Metro is broke," Kweder wrote in a letter to ATU members. "The entire commuter rail project has been the big lie from the beginning. The voters bought into it because they were given a thirty million dollar price. ... With what we know about the cost overruns in the project the true cost has to be over 100 million dollars." And the proposed new Downtown streetcar system is only adding to the problem, Kweder said, charging that its price tag "will make the cost of commuter rail seem a pittance by comparison."

Capital Metro spokeswoman Misty Whited replied that the expenses from commuter rail are separate from salary money sent to StarTran. For StarTran's part, Crews said that her company must keep costs down to remain competitive with other subcontractors that might want a piece of the Capital Metro pie (Cap Metro also does employee subcontracting with First Transit and Veolia, which handle some of the fixed routes and the UT shuttle service).

As for the "union-busting tactics," Crews said: "We are rewarding performance. If a driver has no accidents and a good record, they can get to the top pay tier in three and a half years instead of seven."