Thousands scramble for rides to school, work

Bus employees walk the picket line at the Kalihi-Palama Bus Facility on Middle Street. No new talks are scheduled between the union and the bus company. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Dan Nakaso and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers

Striking bus workers walked picket lines for the first time since 1971 today as heavier-than normal traffic flowed relatively smoothly through Honolulu on the first day of a citywide bus strike.

Passengers from Wai‘anae arrive in a city van at the Hotel Street drop-off area today as a strike by bus workers forced many in Honolulu to find other modes of transportation. No significant traffic tie-ups were reported in the city this morning. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

There were no major traffic tie-ups this morning as people apparently carpooled, took advantage of city shuttle vans and left for work and school earlier than normal.

Every bike rack along Bethel Street was filled this morning; there are often plenty of spaces. City Handi-Van services for disabled passengers also seemed to be operating without disruption, although union officials said they planned to picket the Handi-Van’s King Street office later today.

But untold numbers of bus passengers had to scramble this morning.

Bob Bourke of Kailua got a ride from a neighbor as far as Kalihi and had planned to hitchhike to his job downtown when came upon a city shuttle van.

“I’m a little hot and sweaty,” said Bourke, who was running more than 30 minutes late to his job at a downtown environmental engineering firm. “I’m going to have to change my shirt at work.”

Briana Redulla rollerbladed from her home in Kalihi to her job near Ward Avenue. “Look at the sweat beading on my face,” she said. “And no makeup.”

Some 1,300 bus workers walked off the job just past midnight after a last-ditch bargaining session at Blaisdell Center that lasted nearly 10 hours.
No further talks are scheduled.

Chris Boucher, a spokesman for Hawai‘i Teamsters and Allied Workers 996 said this morning that “I don’t think we’ll meet this week.”
Asked how long the strike might last, OTS spokeswoman Marilyn Dicus said that Teamsters President Mel Kahele “has said three months. We don’t have any prediction.”

Hundreds of striking Teamsters gathered at the Middle Street entrance to TheBus yard this morning while Harris drove a city Ford Explorer to shuttle people from Kapalama Elementary School to Chinatown Gateway.

Vans expected to fill up

Some 350 people made reservations with the shuttle vans but not all of them showed up today, said city Managing Director Ben Lee, who drove a route from Kapolei to Chinatown Gateway.

As news of the strike settles in, Lee said, city officials expect the vans to be full tomorrow. The city announced this morning that it will not take any new reservations for the shuttle vans.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who addressed a business group in Hilo this morning, said he intends to meet with union leaders to learn more about the dispute.

“I realize as the press had reported that it’s about benefits and pay, but often times it’s much more than that, and I’d like to know what it is,” said Inouye, D-Hawai‘i.

“If there’s any role that we can play federally, I can assure you that we’ll be there.”

Inouye said he believes Hawai‘i gets “just as much if not more” in federal transportation money as most communities, but said he will also look into the depth of federal support for the bus system.

Riders left struggling

This morning, a recorded cheerful voice of a woman on the TheBus’ telephone number said:

“Aloha. Thank you for calling TheBus. TheBus is on strike and no one is available to answer your call. ... We regret the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and understanding.”

That left regular bus riders such as Joann Smith wondering how they will get around.

“I have no clue,” said Smith, a University of Hawai‘i audiology graduate student. She starts an internship program next week that requires her to go to Pearl Harbor and to the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind and has no idea how she’ll get there.

“I go everywhere on TheBus for everything,” she said this morning.

Outrigger Hotels & Resorts hired an outside bus company to create a temporary, company-wide, shuttle system. Some 205 Outrigger employees signed up for round-trip rides from nine locations to get into Waikiki, Outrigger spokesman Jim Austin said. He wasn’t sure this morning of them how many actually got onboard and paid the $3 round-trip cost. Outrigger is subsidizing the remaining $5 cost.

“We couldn’t continue this indefinitely,” Austin said. “We’re committed for the short term. But I know that there will be a breaking point.”

Contract talks between O‘ahu Transit Services and the union broke off late last night, with Kahele telling OTS negotiator Perry Confalone: “Call when you’re ready to take your cutbacks off the table.”

Actions ‘unconscionable’

Kahele was clearly angry with OTS negotiators last night, saying they had given nothing back during the day’s discussions.

“We’re prepared to (strike) for three months and that’s the bottom line,” he said.

“We apologize for the inconvenience that we may cause the public, but we need to actually point the finger at OTS.”

Kahele said the union had reduced its demand for a wage increase to 40 cents per hour and was prepared to go lower but that OTS negotiators refused to bring any kind of raise to the City Council.

Confalone, the chief negotiator for OTS, said the union never presented an offer in writing but instead gave a vague oral proposal that would increase the company’s cost $10 million over the next two years.

“I think the union’s actions ... were unconscionable,” he said. “There comes a time when you have to say enough is enough and this is one of those times.”

Going into talks yesterday afternoon, Kahele said a 9-0 vote by members of the City Council in favor of bus fare increases was good news, but that proposed cuts in benefits would have to be taken off the table to avert the strike.

Kahele had called the council vote “one positive movement in the right direction.” But he said there were 38 other issues regarding vacation, medical insurance, pensions and work hours that had yet to be resolved. By the end of negotiations, Kahele said the two sides were far apart in 26 areas.

The two sides didn’t meet face to face at the negotiating table until 10:35 last night, using a federal mediator for the first eight hours.

There was cause for optimism earlier in the day.

The council had approved the city administration’s original bus fare proposal, which would increase the price of adult and youth monthly passes, raise individual fares for children between 6 and 17, and create a 25-cent fare for senior citizens, express riders and passengers who transfer between buses.

A final vote is scheduled for Sept. 24.

Council members called the bill a “work in progress,” saying they wanted to show bus drivers on the verge of a strike that they were committed to preventing service reductions and layoffs, a central issue in the contract dispute.

The bill is designed to generate $6.8 million in revenue, which would restore the cuts in bus service the city made in June and enable the city to avoid additional, more drastic cuts.

Hourly raises sought

At the start of negotiations, the union was seeking 10 percent wage increases for each of three years of the contract, but the proposal it took to negotiations yesterday called for annual raises of 40 cents to 60 cents an hour, which amounted to 2 percent to 3 percent increases.

City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the proposal from the union in play before yesterday’s negotiating session would have cost the city $14.95 million over three years in wages and pensions.

She said that would require an increase in bus fares from $1.75 for an adult fare to $3.79. The $6.8 million generated by the bus fare increase includes about $1.3 million in previously negotiated benefits for bus workers, she said.

After five years of employment, bus drivers earn $21.27 per hour or about $44,000 per year, according to OTS.

By comparison, the company said, police officers and firefighters earn about $37,500 per year and teachers earn about $35,000 per year.

Under the current contract, the company said 100 percent of the cost of medical coverage is provided to its workers, compared to 60 percent of the cost provided for police, firefighters or teachers.

OTS has said under the current contract it pays $3.19 per hour (15 percent of wage cost) for pension or about $6,600 per year.

Advertiser Staff Writers Lynda Arakawa, Kevin Dayton, Mary Kaye Ritz, Vicki Viotti, Johnny Brannon and Jennifer Hiller contributed to this report.