honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 11:50 a.m., Friday, September 5, 2003

Bus talks to continue

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers

Marathon contract talks between striking bus workers and their employer ended just after midnight with management proclaiming a 10-day strike close to being over but the union insisting the two sides were still far apart.

Both sides said they were willing to meet through the weekend if approached but indicated there likely won’t be a full negotiation session until Monday.

Marilyn Dicus, spokeswoman for O'ahu Transit Services, today said the Monday negotiations were tentatively set for 2 p.m., assuming both sides agreed and a room at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall was available.

Both sides will meet informally before then to talk about early retirement provisions.

Perry Confalone, OTS chief negotiator said he believed the two sides are seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel" after union chief Mel Kahele indicated he is willing to consider a two-year wage freeze.

He restated the company’s latest proposal of no wage increases during a 20-month contract or a three-year contract with a "re-opener" after the first two years allowing the union to negotiate for wage increases for the third year.

But Kahele didn’t share Confalone’s optimism.

"I’m not sure what kind of light he sees at the end of the tunnel, and what tunnel he’s looking in," Kahele said. "But the tunnel we’re looking in is total darkness."

Kahele said that the two-year wage freeze was the idea of federal mediator Carol Catanzariti and that he never got a chance to submit the idea to his negotiating team because he was told OTS officials were not interested.

Kahele said there were still other significant issues to settle.

Overtures made by both sides when the talks began at 2:45 p.m. gave a glimmer of hope that a settlement could be reached.

Kahele, president of Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, said he would be asking his negotiating team to agree to forgo wage increases in the first and second years of the proposed three-year contract.

OTS, which operates TheBus on a contract with the city, was seeking a wage freeze for the first two years.

The unresolved issue appeared to be what would happen in the third year of the contract. OTS is offering a "wage reopener," allowing the union

to seek a pay raise for the contract’s third year but not guaranteeing one. The Teamsters yesterday would not detail its position, but its last formal demand was for pay raises of 50 cents an hour in each of the second and third years.

Kahele and other union officials said they’re perplexed why OTS won’t budge from its wage position since the union is not requiring the company to pay any negotiated raises if the city does not provide the money for them.

Meanwhile, OTS officials said they are willing to accept a modified version of the Teamsters proposal for an early retirement incentive program.

The union said it wants its workers who retire after 30 years of service to be eligible for 50 percent of medical benefits, regardless of how old they are when they retire.

The company said yesterday that it is willing to pay medical benefits for early retirees, but not until they reach age 60. At 10:05 p.m. Kahele told reporters that employer O'ahu Transit Services "is stalling negotiations."

Kahele said OTS had put on the table an additional $250,000 over three years for a supplemental retirement medical plan, but then promptly withdrew the offer after a 90-minute dinner break.

Despite angry finger-pointing and accusations of bad faith, both sides have made other concessions since the strike began at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 26.

The union, when negotiations began on May 6, had sought wage increases of 10 percent in all three years for its workers, who make between $15.26 and $21.17 an hour. As of Wednesday night, the union’s formal position on wage demands had come down to increases of 50 cents an hour in the second and third years.

The union is also seeking 50-cents-an-hour increases in pension benefits in the second and third years. The company said that those concessions also would add $1.5 million annually to OTS’ operating budget.

Meanwhile, the company has agreed to scratch some 30-odd "take-backs" of benefits including the trimming of vacation and sick leave days for new employees and the elimination of two holidays.

OTS president Jim Cowen last week also faxed a signed memo to Kahele promising not only to withdraw the company’s position on take-backs, but assuring him that there would be no reduction in service hours during the life of the contract nor any layoffs of employees provided the Honolulu City Council approves a new fare plan expected to restore some $6.8 million that had been cut from TheBus’ operating budget this year.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070 and Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.