LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Thursday, the nonprofit that operates Lake Transit Authority reached an agreement for a new three-year contract with union-represented workers who had gone out on two separate strikes this summer.
Paratransit Services of Bremerton, Wash., reported that it met with representatives of Teamsters Local 665 on Thursday and reached the agreement on a tentative collective bargaining agreement.
Teamsters Local 665 President Ralph Miranda told Lake County News that the new three-year contract was ratified by about 20 union members who met in Clearlake on Thursday, the same day the contract went into effect.
The new contract calls for a 2.2-percent wage increase, but the restoration of step pay increases that the union had fought for aren't included, Miranda said.
“It is essentially the same offer that Paratransit offered prior to the strike,” he said.
Paratransit Services confirmed that the deal reached Thursday mirrored Paratransit Services' best and final offer which initially was presented on June 18.
Teamsters members went out on a two-day strike July 1-2. After they didn't make headway over the step increases – which they said they had given up in 2010 with the belief that they would be added back when the economy improved – they began an indefinite strike on July 29, as Lake County News has reported.
Christie Scheffer, Paratransit Services' chief operating officer and executive vice president, said that when the indefinite strike was called, Paratransit Services' priority was to maintain and restore transportation services as quickly as possible to Lake County.
Paratransit Services also moved forward with hiring permanent replacement workers and gradually restoring services. Scheffer said the nonprofit “kept every commitment and restored significant portions ahead of schedule.” All services were fully restored by Sept. 3, according to Lake Transit.
The second strike ended on Aug. 16 after the striking union members voted to go back to work unconditionally in order to restore the transit services that had been curtailed during the walkout.
“We had a legal right, given the expenses we have incurred to restore services as quickly as possible to
Lake County to pull our wage offer off the table, but we had made an initial fair wage offer and remained committed to our employees and have kept our word,” said Scheffer.
Miranda said that, for the union, the decisions to end the strike and to settle on the new contract resulted after Paratransit Services successfully hired replacement workers.
“We had thought all along that replacement workers were not that readily available,” Miranda said. “Apparently they hired people from whatever location they could and put them in the seats.”
That has left many union workers waiting to return to work. Miranda said Local 665 and Paratransit Services agreed that workers should be recalled for openings based on seniority.
As of Monday, six Teamsters – five drivers and one dispatcher – had returned to work for Lake Transit, Miranda said. That leaves 23 Teamsters still waiting to go back to work.
Scheffer said Paratransit Services is looking forward “to service expansion and continuing to make a difference in serving Lake County.”
Miranda said the union is going to refocus, and switch its effort to get Paratransit Services replaced as the transit authority's operator. He said the contract is expected to come up for renewal next June.
“We will continue to make appearances at the Lake Transit Authority meetings, we will continue to agendize items and speak our mind,” Miranda said.
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