Cap Metro: Between a Rock and a Union

When it comes to resolving Capital Metro's labor situation, pleasing two masters isn't going to be easy. The state wants one thing: Senate Bill 650, currently making its way through the Lege, would require the transit agency to scrap its current labor arrangement and either hire all its drivers and mechanics directly or bid the work out to contractors. Under the current arrangement, most of the agency's workers are employed by StarTran, a shell company created by Cap Metro some years ago to comply with state laws forbidding collective bargaining by government employees and U.S. laws requiring collective bargaining as a condition for getting federal money. But in a May 6 letter, the lawyer for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1091 informed Cap Metro that no matter what the state wants, the union will regard bidding the work to lower-paying contractors as a violation of legally binding labor agreements. According to the union's attorney, Glenda Pittman, such outsourcing can only be done if "supported by good economic reasons." Cap Metro has struggled financially in recent years, but that's not sufficient justification, Pittman wrote. "The primary purposes of collective bargaining ... are to assure that, with their combined economic leverage, collectively-organized workers can achieve higher, and more stable, wages than their non-organized counterparts," she said. Simply getting lower labor costs cannot be regarded as "good economic reasons," Pittman wrote, as the effect "would be to eliminate the very protections of the employees' right to collectively bargain." Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez, who sits on Cap Metro's board, said, "I want to ensure that our work force is treated well, our service remains at its highest standards and our transit agency in the best possible financial position. Any resistance to a state statute mandate should be discussed with the Texas Legislature."