Santa Clara transit strike enters third week

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board yesterday proposed an enhanced wage offer in an effort to resolve contract negotiations with its frontline workers and bring an end to their strike now entering its third week in Santa Clara County, California.

The board convened a special meeting yesterday to address the ongoing strike by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265, which started March 10.

The board proposed an increase to the agency’s most recent proposal with authorization to go up to an 11% offer paying out at 4%, 4%, 3% over three years, conditional upon agreeing to proposals that reduce absenteeism to guarantee reliability of service. This also represents an increase from the previous board-authorized offer of 9% over three years, VTA officials said in a press release.

But Local 265 President Agent Raj Singh said the proposal falls short.

“The VTA is trying to bully their employees with this latest contract offer that has rolled back proposals on overtime and attendance. It’s reprehensible,” Singh said in a press release. ATU represents over 1,500 VTA employees, including light-rail and bus operators, maintenance staff, dispatchers, fare inspectors, and customer service representatives.