Strike avoided: Fresno bus drivers cut new deal with city after weekend negotiations
Fresno bus drivers voted in favor of a new contract Sunday evening and avoided a planned strike after union and city officials spent all day Saturday and into Sunday morning negotiating the terms of a new deal.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1027, which represents hundreds of Fresno Area Express (FAX) bus drivers, was prepared to strike Monday morning after contract negotiations stalled last week.
Union leaders met with city leaders Saturday to hammer out a deal and worked until 2:30 a.m. Sunday, said Luis Montoya-Alcazar, president for ATU Local 1027.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said on Friday he notified the governor’s office of the potential strike, and the union’s international vice presidents also flew in to Fresno to help with negotiations.
By Sunday evening, 85% of the union membership voted in favor of the newly negotiated deal. The Fresno City Council is scheduled to discuss the tentative agreement for a three-year contract during a closed session special meeting on Tuesday. The City Council may vote on the contract at the next regular meeting.
“It was a 11th-hour, Hail Mary for both sides, and I’m very thankful that we were able to come to a tentative agreement on all of the issues that were before us,” Dyer said. “We had a mutual desire to not interrupt transportation services in the city of Fresno because so many people rely on our public transportation. That’s ultimately what caused us to continue to be at the at the table for as long as we were into the early morning hours.”
The two sticking points in the contract were proposed changes to bus drivers’ overtime pay and how video footage was reviewed. Due to negotiation policies, union and city officials couldn’t share many details about the compromises made in the tentative agreement.
The city’s last and best final offer proposed formal language for how it reviewed video footage on buses after a triggering incident, such as an accident or customer complaint. At first, the bus driver union rejected the language, arguing the proposed language could lead to unfair discipline practices.
The union also fought to protect bus drivers’ unusual overtime pay system, Montoya-Alcazar said. Dyer’s team and the union will form a working group to further hammer out staffing issues that lead to unscheduled absences, and ultimately canceled bus routes. Dyer said the working group also hopes to streamline bus drivers’ schedules, particularly difficult split shifts.
“For the customers, I’m happy that we didn’t (strike),” Montoya-Alcazar told The Bee Monday morning. “We didn’t want to impact them. I know that if we were if we were if we were to go on a strike, they were the ones that were that were going to be impacted. …I’m glad that we were able to come to an agreement with the city to avoid a strike. Believe me, the last thing that we want to do is to stop service to to our residents here in Fresno. Sometimes we have to do what we have to do in order for us to to get where we want as far as working conditions.”
This story was originally published July 11, 2022 at 9:26 AM.