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Buses to keep
rolling: Tentative
accord is reached
with union
No details will be released
By Jaymes K. Song
until Teamsters vote whether
to ratify the new contract
Star-BulletinBus service will continue without disruption for thousands of Oahu residents who depend on the TheBus for transportation.
A tentative agreement was reached this morning averting a possible strike by city bus drivers and workers.
Roger Morton, vice president of Oahu Transit Services, which operates TheBus, said he does not believe the new contract will lead to fare increases, but said any increase would be a matter for the City Council to decide.
The agreement was reached with the Teamsters union at 5:30 a.m. after an all-night negotiating session with a federal mediator, Morton said. Talks resumed at 9 last night after an all-day session from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. yesterday. Contract negotiations had been going on for two months.
The bus drivers' contract expired at midnight yesterday.
No details of the agreement will be released until union members have had a chance to vote whether to ratify the contract, according to a written statement signed by Mel Kahele, president of the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, and James Cowen, OTS president and chief executive officer. The statement also assured riders that buses will be operating on their regular schedules.
"The riders won't notice a difference besides happier drivers," Morton said.
Riders who depend on the bus were concerned about a driver strike, which would possibly limit or halt bus services.
Operators at TheBus' information line were flooded with hundreds of calls this morning from people inquiring about the status of the buses today.
Union officials said the drivers did not plan to strike unless there was no movement by OTS.
TheBus has about 800 drivers and carries more than 73,000,000 passengers every year.
At a rally last night, Bill Diltz -- here from Teamsters Washington, D.C., international headquarters -- told several hundred drivers, mechanics and clerks that OTS wants a four-year contract with no pay raise the first year, 2 percent the second year, 2 percent the third and 3 percent the fourth.
Diltz called for "3 percent across the board" in a three-year contract. A 3 percent annual wage hike has been the norm in all TheBus contracts here in the 1990s, Diltz said.
Diltz said a driver's entry-level pay is now about $12 an hour. He also called for increased pension benefits, improved job security and other fringes.
Reporter Harold Morse
contributed to this story.
TheBus
Teamsters Local 996
