OCTA maintenance workers to strike; bus service to shut down

The union representing maintenance workers for the Orange County Transportation Authority announced Wednesday that it will go on strike and set up picket lines at 4 p.m. at the Santa Ana and Garden Grove yards of the agency.

A strike planned for Oct. 17 was called off when Gov. Gavin Newsom asked both sides to continue negotiations, but the talks fizzled when Teamsters Local 952 claimed OCTA negotiators walked away from the bargaining table on Monday.

“We have done everything in our power to avoid a strike,” Teamsters Local 952 Secretary-Treasurer Eric Jimenez said. “They have even rejected our proposals that would save them money on members’ health care. But when OCTA walked away from the table on Monday, they gave us no other choice.”

Joel Zlotnik, an OCTA spokesman, replied, “That’s untrue. I won’t discuss the details of the negotiations. There have been proposals back and forth, and we fully expected to continue those talks on Friday.”

The strike will force a shutdown in bus service.

“We cannot safely operate our buses without our maintenance employees,” Zlotnik said.

The 150 machinists, mechanics and service technicians provide a variety of services from gassing up the buses to doing repairs.

“We understand how this labor dispute will adversely affect thousands of riders who depend on the bus system for their transportation needs,” Jimenez said.

But union representatives feel they have done everything they can to settle the labor dispute, which has lingered since negotiations began May 25.

“We have brought in mediators,” Jimenez said. “We have come up with ways to save OCTA money on health care. We have reached out to OCTA board members and local political leaders. We have honored the governor’s request to return to the table and continue talks. We have asked our members to be patient and continue working with the utmost professionalism without an agreement … only to have OCTA continually refuse to bargain in good faith and disrespect us by walking out of negotiations.”

The union will not return to talks until the agency has “significantly” updated its bargaining position, officials said.

“They have asked us to meet with them again on Friday,” Jimenez said. “We are willing to do so only if there are significant changes in their bargaining posture. If not, another meeting would not be productive.”

Zlotnik said the agency was “very disappointed in the approach the union has taken in these negotiations. We have reached out to them and had asked to continue meeting on Friday, and, instead, it appears rather than meet they have chosen to go on strike.”

The agency “feels terrible for the riders who are really the ones who are the most hurt by this,” Zlotnik said.

The OCTA has provided a “competitive, fair offer and similar in nature to the agreement we reached with coach operators earlier this year, and we’re disappointed the union won’t continue the negotiations,” Zlotnik said.

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