Striking drivers back bus fare rise

By Treena Shapiro, Mike Leidemann and Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writers

More than two dozen bus riders and bus drivers appeared before the City Council Budget and Transportation committees today to weigh in on two proposals to restructure the bus fare schedule to make up a $6.8 million budget shortfall.

Striking bus drivers urged the council to raise bus fares to help settle the almost three-week long bus strike, even after Council member Barbara Marshall pointed out the fare schedule has no impact on their contract.

"Please help end the strike," said bus driver Sybil Kam. "We all want to go back to work. We don't want to put a burden on the city. We don't want to put a burden on anyone else."

Meanwhile, negotiators for O'ahu Transit Services and the bus workers' union resumed contract talks just after 2 p.m. today. OTS chief negotiator Perry Confalone and Teamsters attorney Mike Chambrella said they were hopefull that progress culd be made. Chambrella said the union was prepared to stay at the table as long as it needed to to reach a settlement.

The City Council committees are expected to vote on a version of Bill 53 Wednesday that would then be taken to the City Council meeting on Sept. 24. Without fare increases, 100,000 bus service hours will be cut, which the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, representing more than 1,300 striking bus drivers, said could lead to layoffs of up to 40 union employees.

One proposal would decrease single adult cash fares to $1 from $1.75 and increase the prices for bus passes, bringing fares more on par with what is seen across the nation. The steepest increase would be for seniors and persons with disabilities, who would pay $60 for an annual pass, instead of the current $25 for a two-year pass.

The bill was intended to put more of a burden on those who use the bus, council members said.

An alternative proposal would increase the cash fares to $2, but institute more modest bus pass increases for seniors and persons with disabilities and no pass increases for eligible low-income residents.

Councilwoman Barbara Marshall, who introduced this proposal with Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz, said the problem with the other proposal was that "it seemed to lay the heaviest burden on the people who most need it," she said.

Their proposal would double the senior and disability passes by making them $25 annually, rather than every two years.

However, Mayor Jeremy Harris has said the second proposal would fall about $5 million short of the $6.8 million.

The union, which represents 1,300 drivers, mechanics and other OTS workers, is seeking a three-year contract with increases of 50 cents per hour in both pay and pensions during the second and third years.

The company still has two proposals on the table, OTS spokeswoman Marilyn Dicus said.

The first proposal calls for an 18-month contract with no pay raises. The second calls for a three-year contract that freeze wages for two years and allows negotiations on two topics of the union's choice to be reopened in the third year.

Teamsters President Mel Kahele could not be reached this morning, but yesterday he blamed OTS, Mayor Jeremy Harris and "slanted" media coverage for an apparent lack of public sympathy as Honolulu enters a third week with no bus service.

But some members of the union — and its own public relations consultant — said the Teamsters have done a poor job justifying their actions to people inconvenienced by the strike.

Each side has accused the other of bad faith and distortions during the negotiations.

Kahele vowed to fight back hard this week with a new media advertising campaign designed to bolster public support by deflating what he said were distortions by OTS.

"There's been a lot of deception, a lot of lies," Kahele told hundreds of strikers who gathered in the parking lot of the union's Hart Street headquarters.

OTS has begun airing TV and radio ads aimed at pressuring union members to settle. The TV ads ask bus employees to return to work and request pay raises when financial times are brighter. The ads praise the bus workers, but note they make a good salary. Radio ads are expected to begin running this morning.

Kahele yesterday struggled to extinguish fears and rumors raised by workers, and said they should show strength and unity to win pay and pension concessions.

"We're very displeased with OTS, and most of all with the mayor for sticking his big nose in our business," Kahele said.

He said it was wrong for Harris to publicly criticize the union and say the city won't have any money for raises, while at the same time insisting he is not involved in negotiations.

Harris has called the Teamsters' negotiating style "erratic" and accused the union of changing its demands and pushing for pay increases after he brokered an assurance that benefits wouldn't be cut.

"Mr. Kahele better get used to me sticking up for the taxpayers of the city," Harris said yesterday. "After all, they're the ones paying the bill."

Kahele said a public guarantee by Harris that there would be no layoffs or benefit cuts came with strings attached, and were good only if the City Council provided enough money.

He said the union attached similar language to its proposal for increased pay and pensions, making any raises subject to council budget approval.

"It was a fair and reasonable proposal where no one can call us greedy," Kahele said.

OTS is a private company under contract with the city to provide subsidized public bus service. The city owns the buses and facilities and supplies the money to operate buses and pay the work force, which is employed by OTS. Bus workers make between $15.26 and $21.17 an hour.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.