Bus talks to resume today
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| A man bicycles on Beretania near Ward Avenue as morning traffic moves creeps along on the second day of the city bus strike.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser |
By Gordon Pang and Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writers
Striking O'ahu bus workers are headed back to the bargaining table today after a deal brokered by Mayor Jeremy Harris jump-started negotiations that broke off late Monday night.
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The Teamsters union agreed to resume talks with O'ahu Transit Services after Harris yesterday convinced the bus company's president to guarantee there would be no layoffs or cuts to benefits once the City Council approves a promised package of bus fare increases.
Mel Kahele, president of the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, agreed to resume talks this afternoon after he received a letter from OTS president James Cowen late yesterday, the second day of a strike that has paralyzed the island's public bus system.
"If the City Council increases TheBus budget by $6.8 million by passing a fare ordinance no later than Sept. 24, 2003, there will be no service reductions and no layoffs," the letter states. "No workers will have any of their current benefits reduced."
Harris and OTS officials clarified that the guarantee also would cover workers hired during the three-year contract. The union had objected staunchly to earlier proposals for a two-tier system that reduced benefits for new employees.
"Hopefully we can sit (at) the bargaining table and reach some kind of agreement, so we can get back to work and provide transportation," Kahele said.
Harris and City Council members remained adamant that they would not support any increases in pay or benefits for the more than 1,300 bus drivers and other workers who walked off the job early Tuesday morning.
"If the issue is additional pay, the issue is quite clear, there will be no additional pay," Harris said. "The city is not going to fund, nor can the bus system afford to pay, the bus drivers any more than we're paying them now."
The union had sought 10 percent wage increases, but scaled back the demand to less than 3 percent before talks broke down Monday night.
Kahele said he would meet with his bargaining committee to come up with a position on wages before resuming negotiations at 2 p.m. today at the Blaisdell Center.
"The issue wasn't about greed. It wasn't about no increase in wages. The issue that drove us off the bargaining table and to the strike line was all the cutbacks that they had on the table," Kahele said.
OTS negotiator Perry Confalone said the immediate goal is to seek a "status quo agreement," but it was unclear whether that could convince strikers to return to work while talks resume.
The City Council on Monday tentatively approved a range of fare increases that Harris had requested to restore money cut from the bus budget this year.
The $6.8 million package also would pay for previously approved worker benefits and make up for a shortfall in projected bus fare revenue.
Council Chairman Gary Okino said there was no doubt the panel would approve a bill by Sept. 24 to raise that amount. But it has not been decided how much fares would increase for adults, youths and seniors, he said.
"If we can agree to some fare structure soon — say, by next week — we'll try to expedite the process," Okino said.
He echoed Harris' warning that the union should not hold out for a pay raise.
"There is no sentiment on the council to go beyond this," Okino said. "Simply put, there is no money for any wage increases."
Council members Charles Djou and Mike Gabbard said the panel had done all it could to end the strike, which began a day after some public schools, the University of Hawai'i system and some private schools started classes after the summer break.
While there appears to be consensus that the OTS guarantee and the money promised by the City Council would preserve existing benefits, the company and union had different interpretations of how many concessions had been on the table.
Kahele said the company had demanded 32 "take-backs," which he declined to specify yesterday.
"We're not going to negotiate in the media," he said. "When we had given the company our proposal, we had told them, 'Pull the take-backs off the table. Those figures we can still negotiate. So it wasn't like it was our last, final offer."
OTS vice president Roger Morton said the company was still seeking take-backs on six issues. He said the money promised by the City Council yesterday would take those off the bargaining table. The take-backs include wage progression steps for operators that allow them to obtain step increases until they top off after five years of service. The company wanted to freeze them for one year.
The company also wanted to freeze for one year clerical performance salary adjustments for clerks, which are similar to the wage progressions for operators, and sick leave redemption benefits that entitle workers to cash in up to one week of their sick leave each year.
Another take-back proposed by the company, which pays all health premium contributions, would have capped any potential increases in contributions at 10 percent for each of the three years of the proposed contract.
The company also wanted employees to work General Election Day on a weekday schedule and reduce vacation and sick leave benefits for employees hired after the contract is ratified.
Morton said the wage progression, sick leave buy-back and clerical performance salary adjustments were intended to save slightly more than $1 million annually; the health premium cap up to about $1.1 million compounded annually; the General Election Day $140,000 every other year (when there is an election); and the vacation and sick leave benefits about $35,000 annually.
Each day of the strike, the company is saving about $250,000 in operating costs and losing roughly $45,000 in revenues, he said. Factoring in other costs such as increased security and van rentals associated with the city's van program, the net savings is about $180,000 a day, he said.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or reach either at 525-8070.
