Bus talks break off with 'no progress'

By Gordon Y.K. Pang and Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Talks between representatives for more than 1,300 striking workers and the company that operates TheBus broke off last night, and it appears that attempts to end the 16-day-old strike have hit a wall.

"OTS is getting a management fee, and the management fee is increasing," said Mike Chambrella, an in-house attorney for the Teamsters.

OTS President James Cowen said he believes he is among the lowest paid transit managers in the country. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Apparently, we're trying to meet and ... settle this strike and apparently there's been no progress," said Mel Kahele, president of the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, after five hours of negotiations at Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.

"We did try to make some changes on our proposal. The company made no movement on theirs," he said.

Kahele, who declined to take questions after the session, said he did not expect the talks to resume soon.

Perry Confalone, chief negotiator for O'ahu Transit Services, said the company offered a 90-day "cooling off" period, during which employees would return to work immediately while the two sides continued to talk. He said the union rejected the offer.

The company also continued to propose a settlement giving no increases in wages or benefits in the first two years, with a "reopener" allowing for negotiations on the possibility of wage and benefit increases in the third year.

"Presumably, and hopefully, the economy would be in such better shape that we could actually provide for increase in those areas," Confalone said.

The union's position accepts no increases in wages and benefits the first year, but seeks 50-cent-an-hour increases in both wages and pension benefits in the second and third years, contingent that money for such raises is approved by the City Council.

The night ended testily. Toward the end of the final face-to-face session, one frustrated union member yelled at the management bargaining team to make concessions that would end the stalemate. When the management team walked out of the main negotiating area to return to a separate meeting room, reporters observed several union officials following them into the hallway, where words were exchanged in grave tones.

"There's frustration in there, and we certainly sympathize with that frustration," Confalone said.

Earlier yesterday, Mayor Jeremy Harris held a press conference to take issue with a Teamsters' newspaper advertisement that said, in part, "OTS management fee paid to (OTS President James) Cowen and his vice president is $375,000. The city pays for the rest of the bus staff. What does Mr. Cowen do with $375,000 a year?"

Harris said Cowen and his vice president, Roger Morton, earn the same as any other city director and deputy — $99,807 and $94,554 each year, respectively. An additional $56,424 goes for benefits for the two men.

The mayor said that Cowen spends $60,000 of his $87,000 discretionary fund, part of the $375,000 total, for an employee appreciation day, an employee Christmas party and employee travel for an annual bus rodeo competition on the Mainland. An additional $27,300 goes toward management training, outside services and miscellaneous expenses, according to the mayor's office.

Mike Chambrella, an in-house attorney for the Teamsters, said the union wanted to point out that the $375,000 total would increase to $425,000 at the end of the five-year contract in the fall of 2007.

"OTS is getting a management fee, and the management fee is increasing," he said. "Whereas they don't want to increase the salaries of the drivers or (other) employees."

Cowen said he believes he is among the lowest paid transit managers in the country.

The ad also chastised Cowen for not showing up at the bargaining table since the strike began. The 78-year-old head of TheBus said his appearance at Blaisdell yesterday was not prompted by the ad but by empathy for his management negotiating team and the late hours they've spent in the talks.

"Don't you think that an old man who has been around the block as many times as I have can not be pressured by the Teamsters union to come to a meeting?"

As for any hope that Cowen's presence would indicate a loosening of the company's purse strings, he made it clear otherwise to reporters.

"Wages and benefit increases — there won't be any," he said. "How many hundred times do I have to say that? There won't be any."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or reach either at 525-8070.