Today, Tucson City Councilwoman Regina Romero called for both sides in the transit strike to “return to the negotiating table to find an equitable solution that helps get our riders back on the bus. Romero placed blame for the stand still on the Sun Tran management company, Professional Transit Management.
In her statement, Romero, a functionary of Congressman Raul Grijalva, claims that “unlike the striking workers who forgo their salaries during the work stoppage, PTM gets paid the same amount if they are at the table or away from it. This third-party management system means there is little accountability when services are halted…..The lack of responsiveness from PTM has to change, or PTM needs to go.”
But not all City Councilmembers see it quite that way.
Councilman Steve Kozachik noted in a recent newsletter: “The Teamsters began with a set of demands that amounted to a General Fund increase of just over $20M in three years. Last week, they lowered that pro-posal to one in which the General Fund subsidy for Sun Tran would increase by 20%, or around $5M annually in three years. As was true last time I wrote about this, it’s still the case that even if those dollars were moved to support Sun Tran, they’d come from other City responsibilities.”
Kozachik wrote that he would not be supporting the proposal. “If others have ideas as to where we’ll come up with those dollars, short of agreeing on new revenue sources such as fares or route efficiencies, I’m all ears,” wrote Kozachik.
Kozachik presented the most recent Teamster proposal:
a) For employees not yet at the top of their pay rate, move them to the next level in their line of progression (cost to Sun Tran – $4.4M)
b) Add 55 cents per hour to the top rates across the board for each of the three years of the contract (cost to Sun Tran – $3.5M)
c) Sun Tran already pays 100% of each employee’s pension contribution. Add 25 cents to each worker’s pension for each year of the contract (cost to Sun Tran – $1.6M)
d) Sun Tran already pays 100% for each employee’s (including dependents) medi-cal, dental, short-term disability and vision care – increases in those costs over the three years of the contract will cost Sun Tran $1.3M.
e) Add Cesar Chavez Holiday (cost to Sun Tran – $294K)
f) Increase shift premium pay for maintenance workers (cost to Sun Tran – $267K)
g) Provide an additional 1 week of vacation to workers with 30+ years of service. That would give such workers 6 weeks of vacation annually (cost to Sun Tran based on current employee pool $68K)
h) Increase maintenance worker uniform and tool allowance (cost to Sun Tran – $27K)
Kozachik claims that the above “yields a cumulative new set of costs to Sun Tran of $11.6M over the three years of the agreement. They would increase the City General Fund allocation to Sun Tran to right at $36M per year. This year, it’s just under $30M.”
“Since 2010, Tucson has increased it’s annual General Fund investment in transit more than $13 million,” said Romero in her statement. “That is the single largest area of growth behind police and fire. We are investing in our transit system, because we understand its value to our residents. We need effective management to match.”
“Getting back to the table to negotiate is important. What’s also important is to recognize that we set our budget for Sun Tran and that’s the pool of money within which the union needs to focus their desires,” wrote Kozachik.