Post by Walker on Jul 2, 2012 10:06:04 GMT
Source
Union officials made good on their pledge to go on strike against COTA this morning at 3 a.m., despite reaching a tentative agreement early today with the transportation authority.
The deal was reached at 1:18 a.m. after a marathon bargaining session with a federal mediator, said Central Ohio Transit Authority spokesman Marty Stutz.
Although a tentative agreement was reached, leaders of the union representing more than 600 bus drivers and mechanics held to their position that their members would go on strike until a contract was formally approved by a vote of the union.
Workers are expected to vote on the contract this evening. If the contract is approved, buses will start running again on Tuesday morning, Stutz said.
Andrew Jordan, president of Transport Workers Union Local 208, could not be reached for comment early today.
According to COTA, the deal calls for wage increases of 7 percent over the three years of the contract, with workers having to pay an additional 2 percent into their pensions.
The strike is the first job action in the city to park buses in 25 years and comes the day before buses were to shuttle thousands Downtown for the Red, White & Boom fireworks festivities.
The union and COTA officials met for more than 12 hours of closed-door talks that ran late into the night at the Northeast Side offices of federal mediator George Albu. The building was dark because of the power outages that hit Columbus on Friday. It was not known what the negotiators were using for light.
The union and COTA have been in talks since the last contract expired in November. Union members shot down a state fact-finder’s recommendations and larger tentative agreement in April that would have amounted to 2 percent pay raises this year and 2.5 percent raises in 2013 and 2014
The earlier agreement also called for drivers and mechanics to pay 1 percent more toward their pensions in 2013 and 2014 and did not address concerns of drivers who wanted to reach the top of COTA’s pay scale more quickly.
It’s a difficult time for a strike that would inconvenience thousands.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman yesterday called the prospect of a strike “irresponsible.”
In addition to a heat wave and storms that left hundreds of thousands of central Ohioans without power, the strike comes just before the Red, White & Boom fireworks show on Tuesday.
Some 26,000 people took buses to and from Downtown for the fireworks last year. COTA had scheduled 200 extra buses for this year’s traffic-choking celebration.
COTA provided nearly 19 million trips to riders last year, the highest in more than a decade amid increasing ridership.
The union last went on strike off-and-on from November 1986 to February 1987.
Riders were without service a total of 65 days during that time, with the strike ended by a back-to-work court order.
Union officials made good on their pledge to go on strike against COTA this morning at 3 a.m., despite reaching a tentative agreement early today with the transportation authority.
The deal was reached at 1:18 a.m. after a marathon bargaining session with a federal mediator, said Central Ohio Transit Authority spokesman Marty Stutz.
Although a tentative agreement was reached, leaders of the union representing more than 600 bus drivers and mechanics held to their position that their members would go on strike until a contract was formally approved by a vote of the union.
Workers are expected to vote on the contract this evening. If the contract is approved, buses will start running again on Tuesday morning, Stutz said.
Andrew Jordan, president of Transport Workers Union Local 208, could not be reached for comment early today.
According to COTA, the deal calls for wage increases of 7 percent over the three years of the contract, with workers having to pay an additional 2 percent into their pensions.
The strike is the first job action in the city to park buses in 25 years and comes the day before buses were to shuttle thousands Downtown for the Red, White & Boom fireworks festivities.
The union and COTA officials met for more than 12 hours of closed-door talks that ran late into the night at the Northeast Side offices of federal mediator George Albu. The building was dark because of the power outages that hit Columbus on Friday. It was not known what the negotiators were using for light.
The union and COTA have been in talks since the last contract expired in November. Union members shot down a state fact-finder’s recommendations and larger tentative agreement in April that would have amounted to 2 percent pay raises this year and 2.5 percent raises in 2013 and 2014
The earlier agreement also called for drivers and mechanics to pay 1 percent more toward their pensions in 2013 and 2014 and did not address concerns of drivers who wanted to reach the top of COTA’s pay scale more quickly.
It’s a difficult time for a strike that would inconvenience thousands.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman yesterday called the prospect of a strike “irresponsible.”
In addition to a heat wave and storms that left hundreds of thousands of central Ohioans without power, the strike comes just before the Red, White & Boom fireworks show on Tuesday.
Some 26,000 people took buses to and from Downtown for the fireworks last year. COTA had scheduled 200 extra buses for this year’s traffic-choking celebration.
COTA provided nearly 19 million trips to riders last year, the highest in more than a decade amid increasing ridership.
The union last went on strike off-and-on from November 1986 to February 1987.
Riders were without service a total of 65 days during that time, with the strike ended by a back-to-work court order.