Bus talks yield new proposals, no agreement
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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
After failing to reach a settlement last night, officials with TheBus and the union agreed to meet again tomorrow morning at about the same time the City Council votes to determine if there will be more money to operate the system.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
O'ahu Transit Services and the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 representing more than 1,300 bus workers last night did not budge from their basic positions: The company is insisting it cannot offer any wage increases for at least three years, while the union is refusing to come off the picket lines unless there is some pay raise during that period.
Local Teamsters president Mel Kahele, right, said the union would prefer a five-year contract over the three-year and 32-month deals proposed by OTS. But the main sticking point in talks remains wage and benefit increases.
But at least one concession was made by the two sides in recent days that may prove critical as the strike enters its fifth week today.
The union's offer to go to a five-year deal would lock them into a longer contract. And while the company has also floated the possibility of a 32-month contract, Teamsters local president Mel Kahele indicated a five-year proposal would be preferable. "We want labor peace for five years, we don't want to end up in this situation again 2 1/2 years from now."
Meanwhile, the company has agreed for the first time to offer wage increases of 1 percent to 1.5 percent — but only in the fourth and fifth years of a five-year term, Kahele said. OTS remains fixed on a wage-and-benefit freeze in the first and second years, and a reopener allowing negotiations for the possibility of increases in the third year, which the union believes is tantamount to a freeze.
Bus workers make between $15.26 and $21.17 an hour.
Perry Confalone, OTS chief negotiator, said the company was told to expect a new proposal by the union tomorrow. He declined to discuss details.
Said Kahele: "We came here to bargain, and the company does not want to bargain or negotiate so we decided on breaking off talks and coming back after the City Council has their ... hearing on Wednesday."
He said it was "unreasonable" for the company to not offer some wage concessions when the city has saved what he estimates is roughly $10 million since buses were idled on Aug. 26. The city has stated that it cannot use that money because it will most likely be needed to help compensate for lost ridership that is expected to result because of the strike.
The Council meets at 10 a.m. tomorrow to hear a bill on higher bus fares that would bring in an estimated $6.8 million. That money would stave off scheduled cuts in services because of a shortfall in the bus budget, which might have caused layoffs.
