Transit workers rally for pay
EL CENTRO — Nearly 100 employees of First Transit Inc. gathered Tuesday at its Ross Avenue facility to express concerns about ongoing contract negotiations and rally for public support.
The so-called “concerted activity” was to notify both the company’s representatives and the employees’ union, Teamsters Local 542, of the employees’ frustration.
Those concerns include the company’s alleged unfair labor practices, and the union’s negotiation tactics that have allegedly ignored employees’ input.
Tuesday’s concerted activity took place at 4 a.m. and was requested by transit employees who felt some sort of public demonstration of solidarity was needed.
“(The union) only did this because we pushed for something,” said longtime bus driver Isaac Pedroza. “There’s many issues that we’ve raised with them, and they haven’t exercised our rights on our behalf.”
Nor was Pedroza alone in alleging that First Transit was engaging in unfair labor practices and creating a hostile work environment that employees contend is aimed at disrupting their legal right to conduct union activities.
Several employees pointed to a recent uptick in the number of write-ups that employees have received as a sign of retaliation for employees expressing their concerns.
The company’s alleged actions have prompted Pedroza to consider submitting a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging unfair labor practices.
“They are not following the law really,” he said.
A request for comment left with its operations manager went unreturned on Tuesday.
First Transit Inc. is under contract with the Imperial County Transportation Commission to provide fixed-route transportation services as part of the Imperial Valley Transit program.
The employees’ previous three-year contract with First Transit expired on Dec. 31, and negotiations have been ongoing for the past few months, said Mike Morales, Teamster Local 542 business representative.
Current contract negotiations have been advancing at a somewhat faster pace than previous negotiations, which took about seven months.
Increases in salary and annually scheduled raises are being sought by the union, as are improvements to employees’ working conditions.
“We want a good living wage,” Morales said. “We’re not asking for a lot.”
Currently, new hires are compensated at a level equal to the state’s minimum wage, with annual raises ranging between 15 to 25 cents.
Morales acknowledged awareness of some employees’ complaints about the union’s progress with negotiations, and contended that the union’s actions have been adequate and within the guidelines established by the NLRB.
To date, nothing has been brought to his attention that would compel him to file an NLRB complaint against First Transit for unfair labor practices, Morales said.
“There are no grounds for that at this time and hopefully there won’t need to be,” he said. “As long as there are goodfaith negotiations, we have to continue.”
The union is also hoping to extract concessions from First Transit that would go toward improving the employees’ workspace at the IV Transit facility on Ross Avenue.
“There’s small little issues that we need to address as well,” Morales said, adding that parties return to the negotiation table Thursday.
The union represents the company’s bus drivers, dispatchers, mechanics and utility workers.
Recently, the Imperial County Transportation Commission was publicly soliciting bids to operate its IV Transit programs.
The last day to submit bids was May 10, according to a legal advertisement ICTC published in this newspaper. The request for proposals were to operate ICTC’s IV Transit, IVT Access, IVT Ride and IVT MedTrans programs.
The current contract with First Transit will expire at the end of this fiscal year, June 30, according to ICTC’s legal advertisement.
The bid process is nearing its completion and no further details could be provided at the moment, said ICTC program manager David Aguirre.
The IV Transit contract that ICTC is soliciting bids for would be a three-year contract, with two one-year extension options.
The current contract has been in place for the past eight years and was serviced exclusively by First Transit Inc.
First Transit is a subsidiary of FirstGroup America, which specializes in operating public and private transportation systems across North America.
First Transit has 60 years of experience and is a leading provider of transportation contract and management services in North America, moving more than 350 million passengers annually, according to its LinkedIn webpage.
FirstGroup America has more than 96,000 employees throughout the United States and Canada and total revenues of $4.8 billion, its LinkedIn webpage stated.
The company’s vast reported revenues is what has local Teamsters Local 542 members hoping for a larger share of the profits, considering the vital public service they provide.
“We should be getting pay that reflects the responsibilities that are in our hands – people’s lives, not cattle, people’s lives,” said two-year veteran bus driver Abel Prieto. “We want the community to take notice that we are all professionals.”