VTA to impose vaccine mandate; jobs may be at risk
For months, the Valley Transportation Authority lacked a COVID-19 vaccination requirement, even as the virus surged and every other Bay Area transit agency cracked down. But now that cases have plummeted, it is about to implement a tough policy that could lead to the firing of hundreds of unvaccinated employees.
The latest tally provided by the VTA listed 379 employees — nearly 20% of the total workforce — without a single dose of the vaccine. Of these employees, 59 have received exemptions on medical and religious grounds. The rest face the possibility of losing their jobs in the coming weeks, a move that would exacerbate staffing shortages and could lead to cuts in light rail and bus service in Santa Clara County.
The mandate, effective April 29, comes months after most Bay Area transit agencies wielded the threat of terminations to boost their own vaccination rates and protect anxious passengers. In the end, BART and Muni resorted to firing or forcing the early retirement of a combined 127 employees, a small fraction of their staffs. Both agencies now have vaccination rates above 99%.
AC Transit implemented its own vaccine mandates last month and is now reporting a 91.5% vaccination rate — an increase from a self-reported tally of 52% in December when workers were not required to disclose vaccination status. Still, some 200 workers remain unvaccinated at the bus operator, and their employment status is in limbo.
But some transit agencies, fearing the loss of critical staff, have backed away from firing holdouts. Los Angeles Metro, the largest transit agency in the state, walked back a stringent vaccination policy and is now allowing COVID-19 testing for workers who are not inoculated, according to Art Aguilar, president of the local chapter of the Amalgamated Transit Union. Samtrans and Caltrain have also avoided firing workers with a weekly testing exemption.
Meanwhile, the VTA has remained adamant that it will not offer a testing option, leaving unvaccinated employees to decide whether to finally get jabbed or risk losing their livelihoods.
“We were the ones that showed up for the 12-hour shifts helping keep the doors open and keep buses on the road,” said Robert Bircher, 37, a VTA mechanic for the past 11 years who said he will not get vaccinated. “Now we're the bad guys. We're the ones on the chopping block.”
Josh Pospishek, vice president of the union representing VTA'S front-line workers, said two of his members have needed welfare checks in recent weeks over mental health concerns due to the looming mandate.
“Employees believe they're going to get a pink slip,” said Pospishek. “They're going to fire people, and VTA will not provide service.”
So why is the showdown over vaccine mandates at the VTA going on only now, months after it played out at most public and private employers when vaccines first became widely available? Since the bus and rail operator is a special district, its employees were not subject to city and county vaccine mandates that went into effect around seven months ago and sparked outcries from employee unions and lawsuits. That allowed the transit operator to keep its services running with only about 54% of its front-line workers vaccinated compared with upward of 90% for other agencies in Santa Clara County.
Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said the agency started looking into a vaccination policy after officials saw a slowdown in inoculation rates among staff.
“(Riders) need to be protected and also our employees need to be protected,” said VTA Board Chairman Chappie Jones. “Once VTA has established policy, which is not to test but to teterminate, I think that we should move forward with that policy.”
Courts have upheld vaccine requirements, which have been widely implemented in California among private companies and public agencies since the fall. In January the Supreme Court did strike down President Joe Biden's attempt to require large private employers to enforce a mandate, and a California law that would have required sweeping vaccine mandates was shelved last month leaving the state with a patchwork of vaccine mandates that vary from city to city.
Still, Raul Peralez, a VTA board member and San Jose councilmember, slammed the VTA for instituting a rigid vaccination policy without seeking board approval, unlike BART or AC Transit.
“Even at the city of San Jose, we're not terminating (unvaccinated) people we're giving them a one-day suspension,” said Peralez. “We should be incentivizing vaccination . . . but without penalty, discipline and certainly not termination.”
Monica Mallon, a South Bay transportation advocate, said the VTA policy is coming at an awkward time for the agency, which desperately needs to keep service levels up amid surging ridership now at 60% of pre-pandemic levels. She argued that mask mandates on public transit and plastic barriers between drivers and riders provide plenty of protection for passengers.
“I think honestly, a lot of the board members that are pushing for mandates just haven't taken transit during the pandemic,” said Mallon. “If a significant number of employees don't get the vaccine, there could be really negative long-term impacts for ridership,” she added.
The strict VTA mandate is succeeding in getting some workers to vaccinate.
“I thought this would kind of blow over but it's not,” said one longtime VTA mechanic, who declined to provide his name, fearing retaliation. “So I'm scheduled for a vaccine next week. It's out of pure force, really.”
But others are pushing back. One bus driver, Agustín Gutiérrez, authored a petition opposing the mandate that has over 700 signatures.
Multiple employees, many of them hailing from the Central Valley where vaccination rates are far lower than in Santa Clara County, said they are willing to put their family's future on the line over the vaccination mandate. One 30-year-old bus driver, a father to four daughters, said he may have to sell his Manteca home.
Bircher, the bus mechanic who lives in Lathrop, said he would likely have to pull his kids out of private school and home-school them because he refuses to put them in public school.
“I'm not going to go with their narrative. It's my body,” said Terry Allen, a 15-year VTA veteran, who crisscrosses Sunnyvale, Cupertino and San Jose every day driving Bus 523. He recently had his request for a religious exemption denied. “I've drawn my line in the sand.”