Possible reprieve for jobs in transit

Relief package could avert bus, ferry layoffs

Nearly 150 Bay Area bus and ferry workers facing layoffs in less than two weeks might be keeping their jobs after a new federal coronavirus relief package was sent to President Donald Trump’s desk on Tuesday.

In response to the $900 billion relief package, the governing board for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is set to meet on Wednesday to consider rescinding its Nov. 13 decision to lay off 146 bus and ferry employees and to cut pay by 10% for its managers, administrators and board members through furloughs.

“We’re thrilled,” said Denis Mulligan, the district’s general manager. “It’s a welcome lifeline and it couldn’t have happened any later.”

Shane Weinstein, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575 that represents about 250 bus drivers with the district, said the meeting came as “very welcome news” to the many workers who face losing their jobs in less than two weeks.

“I just know that this right here is going to be able to give us some more time and more space for the vaccine to take effect,” Weinstein said.

The new coronavirus stimulus package includes $14 billion for mass transit, of which about $975 million is expected to go to Bay Area transit agencies, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Whether Trump will sign this latest relief bill is unclear.

On Tuesday afternoon, Trump posted a video on Twitter calling on Congress to amend the bill in order to increase stimulus checks from the proposed $600 to $2,000 per person and to eliminate “wasteful and unnecessary” spending contained in the package.

The Golden Gate Bridge district was the first major transit provider in the Bay Area to approve mass layoffs following months of plummeting ridership and bridge toll revenues that subsidize the district’s ferry and bus services. While the district received $ 52 million in previous federal stimulus

dollars from March, these funds dried up in November and the district faces a multi-million deficit in mid-2021.

Other Bay Area transit agencies are facing the possibility of similar cuts. Providers such as San Francisco Muni and BART already eyeing potential layoffs if conditions don’t improve.

“They’re in the front of the pack on this because of the nature of the losses, because of the nature of their revenue stream,” Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler said of the Golden Gate Bridge district. “They just got to the tripwire first. But those issues are going to be replicated at all the other transit districts too, at some point.”

Despite the district losing 96% and 75% of its ferry and bus ridership, respectively, federal relief funds from the CARES Act allowed the district to keep staff on the payroll. After the funds dried up in November with no replacement in sight, the district approved the layoffs to address a projected $48 million deficit by mid-2021.

The bridge district board voted in November to cut 205 positions — 146 of which are filled — on Jan. 4 and approved a $2.1 million severance package that included extending health benefits to the end of May. Board members and administrators were given a 10% pay cut through furloughs.

How much of the new stimulus funding the bridge district could receive is unclear and could be for some

time. Bay Area transit providers received $1.3 billion from the CARES Act passed in March, which was distributed in two payments this year by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission following months of debate on how the money should be used.

“It took us two tranches last time to get that,” Rentschler said. “That may happen again.”

While the bridge district layoffs could be rescinded, they’re not entirely off the table.

“If, however, bridge traffic and the associated toll revenue do not return to normal levels in the coming months, or if there is not further additional new coronavirus relief, then the district will face a financial shortfall when this new federal financial relief runs out

that will necessitate a new consideration of options to reduce costs or raise revenues,” the district staff report states.

But the new stimulus funds would buy more time for the district to plan ahead.

“We’ll continue to do everything we can to reduce costs and make this money last as long as possible,” Mulligan said.

Weinstein said he is optimistic that this possibility will be avoided under the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.

“We’re hopeful that if we did need extra funds that it would be much easier under this administration to get,” Weinstein said.

More informat ion about Wednesday’s board meeting is online at bit. ly/2Jghadu