Santa Cruz bus drivers no closer to ending strike By MATT KAPKO Bay City News Service October 3, 2005 SANTA CRUZ -- Tens of thousands of Santa Cruz County residents who rely on public transportation have been left to find alternative means of travel since bus drivers went on strike Sept. 27. United Transportation Union Local 23 and the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District appear no closer to reaching a solution today than they were six days ago when the strike was called. The union's negotiators offered a three-year contract proposal to the transit district's board of directors Thursday and the board essentially rejected that offer on Friday without a response. The board of directors emerged from that meeting with an offer to enter into fresh negotiations for a multi-year contract on the condition that 145 bus drivers return to work as a measure of faith in the process, Les White, general manager of the transit district, said today. Union representatives rejected the move. "They were not willing to talk to us unless we put the drivers back to work first,'' union chair Bonnie Morr said today. "The reason we went on strike to begin with had to do with the (transit district's board of directors) breaking faith with us,'' she said. As for where things will go from here, none of the involved parties are sure. "I don't have any great ideas about how to make it happen,'' Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin said today. Rotkin is one of two members of the Santa Cruz City Council who sit on the transit district's 11-member board. "The district offered what I thought was a reasonable way to move ahead,'' he said. The union argues that the board didn't offer anything other than a demand to return to work. The board and transit district are merely putting a "smokescreen" in front of the real issues, Morr said. "You have to know there's no trust there,'' she said. "There was no counter proposal there.'' Rotkin said the board is hoping to find a temporary solution that will allow bus drivers to get back behind the wheel and resume the popular service to the roughly 23,000 daily riders. "What are their conditions for talking?'' he asked. "This strike is not about wages or health care costs,'' Rotkin wrote in a letter. "The Santa Cruz bus drivers are the fourth highest paid in the nation - which is extraordinary given that we are much smaller than the first three,'' he said, referring to New York City, San Francisco and Santa Clara County. Rotkin's involvement and powerful role in the process brought a group of unexpected visitors to his office at City Hall today. A group of students at the University of California at Santa Cruz are supporting the bus drivers. Today, a delegation from the Student-Worker Coalition for Justice marched from campus to Rotkin's office to pose their questions and concerns. "He was being very political and not giving many concrete answers,'' Matthew Edwards, a member of the coalition, said of Rotkin's reaction today. The march was preceded by an educational rally at the school aimed at informing students of the issues behind the strike. "We're trying to do as much education on campus as possible,'' Edwards said. The strike comes after prolonged attempts to reach a one-year extension on a contract between the union and transit district. Santa Cruz bus drivers last went on strike in 1980. The strike lasted about 20 days. Home