As the squabble over working conditions at VIA Metropolitan Transit intensifies, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 694 packed the board room this Tuesday. Union members, alongside supportive council members, turned up the heat on the transit agency, condemned for what they call "union busting" maneuvers. In the words of ATU Local 694 President Brigido Almanza IV, the discussions with VIA have soured this year, marking a departure from the norm. "Unfortunately, this year, the dialogue with management has been more difficult than in the past," Almanza voiced in a statement obtained by San Antonio Report.
With more than 1,500 bus operators and maintenance personnel under its wing, the union's outcry isn't a faint whisper. It echoes a prominent plea for a 40% raise, aimed at grappling with the gripping costs of living and inflation. "We're not asking for a whole lot, we just want the company to be fair," Almanza remarked to reporters before the meeting. Despite their efforts, discussions on wage and schedule adjustments, once tabled for the VIA board's meeting, were conspicuously dropped from the agenda last week.
The rally outside VIA headquarters saw a turnout of roughly 75 members, and District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo affirmed the workers' stance, "VIA should take care of the workers that “keep San Antonio moving," she stated. VIA spokesman, Josh Baugh countered with the grim forecast that a 40% wage boost for drivers would result in drastic service reductions, jeopardizing the agency's eligibility for federal funds for projects like the Green Line.
Despite trailing in sales tax revenue compared to counterparts in other major cities, VIA boasts of offering the state's highest wages for bus drivers after their first year – $25.25 hourly. "At month 12 of employment at VIA, an operator earns $25.25 hourly. In Austin, the wage is $20.62 while Houston and Dallas both pay $23.81 and $23.18, respectively," Baugh noted in an email mentioned in the San Antonio Report. Besides, newcomers to the operator seat are tempted with a $21.58 per hour starting wage, sweetened by up to $4,000 as a hiring incentive.
Under Texas law, VIA employees cannot collectively bicker for a labor contract, due to the agency's public nature. Nonetheless, for decades a meet-and-confer protocol has steered changes in working conditions – a tradition that VIA and the union now find themselves straining to maintain. This past May, VIA informed the union that they would bring working condition amendments to the board regardless of union consent, divulged Rob Wohl, an organizer with ATU International assisting ATU Local 694. "They explicitly said: This is going to be a monologue, not a dialogue," he lamented.
As this dispute unfolds, VIA maintains that the dialogue continues, Jeff Arndt, VIA’s President, and CEO, reassured the San Antonio Report before the rally. And while the board is expected to approve new working conditions before the budget is finalized in September, employees like station foreman Joseph Frasier linger in limbo, still unshielded by the working conditions policy and hence hesitant to join the union. "I’d be paying dues for nothing," Frasier said.
