Lowell bus drivers' union vote up in the air
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LOWELL -- A local union that represents employees of the Lowell Regional Transit Authority met yesterday to discuss the possibility of a strike, but the result of the meeting was unknown last night -- even to LRTA Administrator James Scanlan.
About 40 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents bus drivers, mechanics and other employees (and which was misidentified in a story in Thursday's Sun) attended the closed session at the Lowell VFW to discuss their options if contractual demands were not met.
After the meeting, one member only said that "everyone will find out when the company finds out." Another union member became militant, ordering other members not to speak to a reporter.
Last night, Scanlan said he waited by the phone yesterday to hear from union members to discuss the result of the vote. As of 10:30 p.m., he had not heard from the union.
Scanlan said last night that he was "under the assumption" that buses would be running as normal today, though he added that if a vote to strike was taken, service would be interrupted.
The union members are employed by Cincinnati-based First Transit, which contracts with the LRTA. The union is represented locally by attorney Kevin Murphy, who is also a state representative. Calls to Murphy last night were not returned.
"I'm at a loss for why no one has contacted the management company," Scanlan said. "I talked to them and they hadn't heard from anybody. I thought we would
hear from the president of the union or their representative, Kevin Murphy. I am disappointed and annoyed that there wasn't anybody from the union contacting us."
Employees have been working under the same labor contract that expired in June that averaged a base pay of $39,000 a year, before overtime, for drivers. The salaries of mechanics and other service personnel were not available.
The union twice turned down offers of a three-year, 9 percent raise because their health-insurance contribution would have risen from 10 percent to 20 percent.
The union is made up of "upwards of 70 to 75" members, according to Scanlan.
"From what I heard, (the employees) were looking at and discussing their demands and requests," Scanlan said. "Secondly, I heard that they were having a discussion to have a vote about a strike. And third, that they were talking about authorizing the negotiating committee to authorize a strike."
According to Scanlan, the national ATU would have to agree and condone the strike of its local affiliate. Scanlan was unsure as to whether the two organizations have had any discussions regarding the issue to date, adding that, "hopefully the national group will see what (the situation) is all about before agreeing or condoning a strike."
"The reason it was put forth at that time was the whole macro-economic situation globally, nationally and locally, that was happening," Scanlan said. "The LRTA had received information from the state Legislature that our budget for this year and the one coming up would be cut back, and that would obviously have an impact on what we are able to fund in wages or services."
The Legislature told the LRTA to anticipate an 8 percent cut in funding.
"Through October, we thought we had put out what was a responsible offer," Scanlan said. "At that time, the economy changed greatly. If (union members) don't strike and will allow us to continue to have dialogue, then we will provide what we can afford. ...
"They are great employees," Scanlan added. "They do a great job. It is not an easy one, and I respect that."
He added, however, "We can only provide a contract that we can afford. It's a tough balance."
During the current national economic downfall, the LRTA has so far been able to avoid laying off employees but will "try over the next month or so to make efficiencies in the operation without affecting many people," Scanlan said.
"We are trying to figure out how to balance everything out -- combining routes, those types of things," he added.
More than 6,000 Merrimack Valley LRTA passengers would be affected if a strike is approved. The LRTA runs 17 bus routes through Lowell, Dracut, Chelmsford, Billerica, Tyngsboro and Tewksbury, as well as the downtown Lowell shuttle, which runs 12 hours a day, six days a week.
Scanlan said a strike would be difficult to work around.
"If there was one, we would have to look at all of our options," he said. "Do we have people that can help out by driving buses? Would we be able to get replacement drivers? It's going to be difficult because there are so many routes. ... We might not be able to have buses at all because we can't put out service that only does 10 percent of the job.
"I want to get this behind us and move forward," Scanlan added. "My goal would be that we are running service (today)."
Staff reporter Robert Mills contributed to this report.