Judge ends VTA strike after agency seeks help from court to resume service
A judge ordered VTA workers' end their three-week strike on Wednesday after the VTA brought the issue to court, claiming workers had broken their "no strike" clause.
"The court will order them to preliminary injunction requested by plaintiff will and does here by issue defendant ATU … are restrained ... directly or indirectly ... in all the following acts sanctioning, assisting or engaging in any strike," Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Daniel T. Nishigaya said.
The VTA issued a statement following the ruling.
"The judge's ruling ordering striking employees back to work will return affordable transportation to tens of thousands of people in Santa Clara County who need it to get to their jobs, school, and other important destinations. It will get our employees back to work after they have been without a full paycheck for more than two weeks. We hope this ruling will encourage ATU Local 265 leadership to do the right thing by their members and agree on a new contract that will keep these employees among the highest paid in the nation for the work they do. VTA is currently working to resume transit service as soon as possible," the VTA said.
In response, the ATU released a statement saying it plans to appeal the court ruling immediately.
"This ruling from Judge Nishigaya is outrageous," said ATU Local President Raj Singh. "The VTA's lawfare and the court's ruling does not get the parties any closer to resolving the fundamental problem—the VTA's refusal to offer a fair settlement of the labor dispute and its disrespect for its employees as demonstrated by its recent insistence that my coworkers and I are 'uneducated.' The community we serve would have been better served if the judge had ordered the VTA to come up with a fair offer instead of forcing us to report to work under court order," union President Raj Singh said in the press release.
The transit agency claims workers broke a "no strike" clause, even though their contract has expired. CBS News Bay Area contacted the ATU before their court appearance for comment but did not hear back.
According to a press release issued by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Tuesday evening, a "Santa Clara County Superior Court ordered the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265 to appear in court on March 26...to justify why the Court should not issue an order stopping the strike."
More than 1,500 workers took to the picket line beginning on March 10th. Striking employees include bus and light rail operators, maintenance staff, dispatchers, fare inspectors and customer service representatives.
On Sunday, the VTA Board held a special meeting to drive a higher pay offer to workers. The new proposal included an 11% pay raise over three years, with 4% increases in the first two years and 3% in the final year.
On Monday, workers rejected the latest contract offer from the agency. Amalgamated Transportation Union Local 265 announced that 83% of the over 1,100 members who cast ballots voted to rejected the deal, in a vote held at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds.
The VTA also announced an Uber voucher program for riders to use on Monday. The agency is offering vouchers for Uber service of up to $5 for each ride with a maximum of two rides per day. The VTA said rides need to begin and end at a VTA bus stop, light rail stop or transit center and must be ordered on Uber's mobile app.
The rideshare company has geo-coded all of VTA's transit stops onto the app so that the system knows when a ride is being hailed in close proximity to a VTA stop. Riders will pay the first $2.50 of any qualified ride, after which a $5 voucher will take effect. Any additional costs after the $5 voucher will also be paid by the customer.
Both sides were unable to reach a deal after months of negotiations and the latest contract had expired in early March.
Before the strike, daily ridership on VTA was about 100,000 riders.
