Bus company, union resume talks today
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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
As the islandwide bus strike entered its third week yesterday, management and the union representing more than 1,300 bus workers took steps behind the scenes to end the stalemate that has forced O'ahu residents to alter their commuting habits.
The talks are scheduled to resume at 2 p.m. today, according to OTS spokeswoman Marilyn Dicus. Negotiations broke off Monday night after more than nine hours of on-and-off negotiating at the Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.
O'ahu Transit Services, through federal mediator Carol Catanzariti, issued a counterproposal yesterday to the one offered by the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 on Monday, Dicus said.
Dicus declined to give specifics. But on Monday night, chief OTS negotiator Perry Confalone made it clear the company would not budge from its position of no wage or pension benefit increases, which continue to be major sticking points in the negotiations.
Mike Chambrella, a Teamsters in-house attorney, confirmed that the counterproposal had arrived at the union's Kalihi headquarters late yesterday afternoon. Chambrella said union leaders were evaluating it last night.
While details of the company's counterproposal were unknown, Chambrella gave some details of the union settlement offer for a three-year contract from Monday night.
The union is retaining its position on wages: agreeing to no pay increases in the first year, and 50-cent hourly increases in the second and third years of the contract, as well as 50-cent increases in pension benefits in the second and third years. Chambrella emphasized that the company would not be required to pay the increases if the city did not provide additional money.
The main shift in the union's position Monday was in agreeing to the management stipulation that a proposed no-layoff clause through the life of the contract be in effect only if the City Council approves higher bus fares to stave off nearly 1,000 hours cut from bus service in the city's current budget.
But the union wants to delete any reference to the estimated $6.8 million that the fare hike proposal is supposed to bring in. "We don't want to lock ourselves to that number," Chambrella said.
The company, before yesterday, had offered two proposals. One called for an 18- to 20-month contract with no wage or other cost increases. The second called for a three-year deal with a wage and pension freeze, subject to new negotiations at the end of the second year to take effect the third year.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.
