No quick end seen to citywide bus strike
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| Dozens of city buses are parked at the Manana bus center. No negotiations are scheduled in the bus strike and the city says there is no money to provide raises.
Chopper • Special to The Advertiser |
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
There was no movement yesterday toward ending O'ahu's bus workers strike, and all sides appear entrenched for a long battle as the strike enters its second day.
BUSINESSUnion leaders warn they are ready to strike for three months if necessary; bus company managers say the union is being unreasonable; and city officials say there is no money for the wage increases that workers demand.
"The facts are clear: There is no money for a pay raise," Mayor Jeremy Harris said yesterday. "There isn't any money for a pay raise today, there won't be any money for a pay raise in a week, there won't be any money for a pay raise in a month. So to go out on strike is simply inflicting hardship on both the riders and on the drivers."
No new contract negotiations are scheduled, and union officials said they don't expect progress this week.
Gov. Linda Lingle is monitoring the situation. As in the recent nurses strike, she said, "I'm reluctant to get in the middle of a dispute between labor and management."
Harris said he is not considering taking over the privatized bus system, but it is an alternative if the strike drags on.
"I think from the beginning it was kind of dug in," said Dr. Lawrence Boyd, a labor economist at the University of Hawai'i's Center for Labor Education and Research. "From everything I've seen, management was pretty intransigent about what they wanted."
But Harris put the blame squarely on union leaders, saying they are "inflicting a hardship" on their members and the public.
"I think it ends up being a lose-lose situation," he said. "And by that I mean the public is losing, obviously, because they're facing all of the inconvenience of the bus strike. But I think also the bus drivers are losing, because they're going to be losing their paycheck."
Harris emphasized that the city is not directly involved in negotiations between the union — Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 — and O'ahu Transit Services, the private firm that runs the bus system under a contract with the city.
But he said his administration would not pay for any increases, no matter what OTS negotiates.
"There's not going to be any additional money coming to them to pay any increased salaries or benefits," Harris said. "So it's clear to me that the company will not offer that, because the company does not have it to offer."
Boyd said, however, that it is only half true the city has no money for raises. "They're really saying, given our priorities, there's no money for you," he said.
He pointed out that the city was able to adjust its spending plans to cover arbitrated raises for firefighters this year, at a cost expected to approach $7 million over two years.
Redirecting money from other areas or finding new ways to generate cash may be politically unpopular, but are not impossible, Boyd said. The real question is whether parties involved will be flexible, Boyd said, and Harris' hands are not tied.
"It seems to me that the buck has to stop some place, and right now it stops in the mayor's office."
But Harris called the union's position woefully unrealistic given the shaky economy and wage freezes that other workers are enduring, and he believes most people agree.
"The public shouldn't have to go without bus service," he said. "There is no reason for the strike. The strike is illogical."
He said the Teamsters' proposals at the start of negotiations would cost $14.9 million over three years on top of the $6.8 million that would be covered by bus fare increases under consideration by the City Council.
Agreeing to the raises and benefits would trigger "a catastrophic increase in bus fares," raising the adult fare from $1.75 to $3.72, Harris said.
But raising fares that high is just one option the city could use to generate money for pay increases, though it is one Harris has said he would not support.
The Teamsters, which represents more than 1,300 Honolulu bus workers, originally sought 10 percent wage increases for each year of a three-year contract.
The union later asked for less than 3 percent, which it said would cost the city $3 million per year. Details of how a benefit package would be structured were not available.
After five years of employment, bus drivers earn $21.27 per hour, or about $44,000 a year.
Revenue from bus fares and passes pays for about a third of the system's annual operating cost of more than $117 million. Money from fuel taxes and other sources make up the rest.
Teamsters business representative T.K. Hannemann said no one should be surprised by the situation the city is in.
"Let's cut to the chase: Jeremy Harris and OTS knew a long time ago that there is going to be a budget shortfall," Hannemann said. "... The rent would be due sooner or later. The company forced us to go out on strike."
City Council budget chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said she was exploring various ways to raise money, but does not want to burden riders unduly. Some controversial options are to increase the fuel tax and rent space for advertising on bus exteriors, she said.
Kobayashi said council members are in a difficult position because they are not involved in the negotiations but must deal with the results.
"Whatever comes out of negotiations, if it's agreed to, then I guess we'll have to somehow find the money. But we certainly don't know where we'll get it," she said, "because there is no money."
J. Roger Morton, senior vice president of OTS, said it was impossible to predict how long the strike would last, but "I hope that the spirit of aloha helps us out during this time."
Morton said the first day of the strike showed him the aloha spirit was helping, and he noticed a lot of informal ridesharing.
"We're lucky to live in a state where people are willing to help out their neighbors and their co-workers," he said.
Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i Chapter, said he hoped the strike would lead people to consider alternatives to driving.
"The only good that could come out of this is it could give people a new appreciation for public transportation and how it benefits not only bus riders but car drivers," he said. "If there is gridlock, people might explore other transportation alternatives."
Advertiser staff writers Lynda Arakawa, Dan Nakaso and Robbie Dingeman contributed to this report. Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
