AC Transit officials said they expect that a limited number of union bus operators will continue a ‘sick out' Wednesday that has slowed bus service for the more than 236,000 daily riders of the East Bay bus system.

On Tuesday, for a second straight day, approximately 250 AC Transit bus drivers failed to show up for work. The labor action caused delays on certain routes, but AC Transit is continuing to operate buses on all lines.

Also on Tuesday, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) was in Alameda County Superior Court seeking to block the Transit District from implementing a new contract that was adopted by its board of directors after labor talks hit an impasse.

The court took no action on the ATU request to invalidate the contract, instead opting to hear arguments from both sides at 9 a.m. Friday, July 30.

"We apologize to our customers for being inconvenienced by the actions of a limited number of our drivers," said Interim General Manager Mary King. "I urge the drivers to honor our riders, the taxpayers and their profession and get back to work. Our riders need regular service and they deserve it from our drivers and from our transit district."

She thanked the drivers who showed up to work on time and thanked passengers for ‘sticking with us during this difficult period."

The "sickout" labor action flies in the face of an ATU pledge not to strike during impending arbitration. Last week the court ordered binding arbitration to resolve the labor dispute, largely relying on the union's promise not to disrupt service. AC Transit is considering a legal challenge to the court's decision.

The new contract, adopted by the District's Board of Directors when labor negotiations stalled after the union walked away from negotiations, took effect Sunday, July 18. It instituted new work rules with regard to overtime; a co-pay policy for medical care and employee health insurance; and a two-tier pension plan.

The contract was enacted to reduce the District's costs by $15.7 million to help stave off a projected deficit of $56 million. Without the new contract, the District will hemorrhage $1.2 million a month, which will force the District to take drastic financial steps including wide-spread employee layoffs and more severe service reductions such as the elimination of all weekend routes.

Already the agency has:
• Eliminated more than 70 general and administrative staff positions. In addition, a third of its executive staff has also been eliminated --including the elimination of three executive management staff-- the use of district vehicles has been curtailed and management leave benefits have been canceled. Together, that has reduced expenses by $9.2 million. But, as yet, there have been NO layoffs to or concessions from drivers or mechanics.

• Raised fares. Local riders are paying more due to the 25 cents per trip fare increase and $10 increase in the price of a monthly pass. Transbay riders are paying more due to the 50 cents per trip fare increase and $16.50 increase in the price of a monthly pass. Youth, senior and disabled riders are paying more due to the 15 cents per trip local fare increase and 30 cents Transbay increase.

• Cut Service. Riders also had their bus service reduced in March by 7.8% or $10.3 million worth of service hours; they are facing a second round of service cuts in August that will further reduce service by 7.2% or $11.4 million in service hours.

• Reduced Spending. The Board of Directors has cut its salary by 5%, cut travel by 50%, and eliminated a special travel account for transit advocacy.
Even though significant spending reductions have been achieved with these cuts, it is still not enough to balance the budget, given that labor costs account for about 75% of the agency's operating budget. Without contributions from the ATU members, the budget gap cannot be closed.

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