Teamsters picket Orange County transit system in contract dispute

[Omaha Steve]

http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/07/09/teamsters-picket-orange-county-transit-system-in-contract-dispute/

Mike LaSalle
Teamsters picket Orange County transit system in contract dispute

July 9, 2007 at 11:44 am · Filed under NewsLog

In an ongoing labor dispute from May of this year in California, United States, Teamsters Local 952, which represents the Orange County Transportation Authority's 1,200 coach operators, went on strike at 12:35AM (0035 hrs) PDT Saturday morning after a cooling-off period declared by State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger expired.

Sanctioned picket lines have been formed outside Authority facilities in Garden Grove, Anaheim, and Santa Ana. About 200,000 regular passengers are affected.

Major sticking points in the negotiation appear to be related to cost-of-living increases and pension funding allocations. The strike was declared after the Authority's bargaining agent said he lacked authority to approve a union counter proposal, which he said had to be taken before the OCTA's board of directors, who will not be available to meet until Monday the 9th at the earliest.

[Spinzonner]

1. Other issues

The union wants to have COL raises only go to drivers with 5 years or more, not more recent hires but OCTA wants raises for all drivers.

A statement was made that only $700,000 was the difference in wage proposals.

OCTA was willing to make wage increases retroactive to May 1st if the union didn't strike.