Transit
service reductions canceled
By
Kimberlee Morrison
Daily Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Service reductions for Long Beach Transit have been canceled after an agreement
between the Transit Company and the Amalgamated Transit Union was reached.
Continued negotiations resulted in a new agreement guaranteeing Transit drivers
a 15-minute break for an 8-hour day and 30 minutes if they worked a 10-hour
day, was ratified by the Union Friday.
According to Guy Heston, chief operating officer of Long Beach Transit, there
are specific California regulations mandating how meal and rest breaks for
transportation workers must be handled.
“There were two options: strict compliance or negotiation of another alternative
with the Union,” Heston said.
Strict compliance required that sometime during the driver’s route, they
be given rest or meal breaks. But Heston said this would have resulted in the
need to hire more drivers to take over a route while other drivers were on
break; hence the additional $3 million in cost.
In addition to reduced service, Long Beach Transit would have had to layoff
drivers Barbara Bales, president of the Union, said there should never be any
reason for service reductions in order to provide for proper meal and rest
breaks for drivers. In fact, she felt that until recently, the Transit officials
were being unreasonable.
“There had been a proposal regarding this issue since February,” said
Bales. “Transit officials simply refused to accept the agreement.”
Heston asserted that the changes made to the February proposal enabled the
Transit to be able to find the best way to provide “appropriate meal/rest
breaks without any adverse affects for our customers.”
Sean Lewis , a transit driver of 18 years, claimed the threat of layoffs and
reduced services was a bluff on the part of Transit officials.
“Long Beach Transit is very top-heavy in the management department,” Lewis
said. “And there is no one to keep the bureaucrats in check.”
Although the Transit administration and the Union settled the “meal and
rest issue,” Lewis said there are still major issues, such as pension,
scheduling and wages, that need to be negotiated.
Lewis expressed disapproval with the lack of concern for the needs of the general
public, as far as where service is most readily provided. His most specific
concern was that mostly poor working people or students use the Transit, but
they would have suffered the most from service reductions.
“As it is, 20 percent of all busses in Long Beach service the downtown
area,” Lewis said, “but you can’t catch a bus from north Long
Beach after 7:30 p.m.”
At any rate the service reductions have been canceled due to a “strict
compliance” alternative recently ratified by the Union. Until November
when regular schedule updates take place, services will remain the same.
“We are always trying to [aim] for a win-win and whenever possible to respect
the rights of our employees without adversely affecting our customers,” Heston
said. |
