Hyannis, Mass.-Area Transit Authority, Union Reach Tentative Agreement

By Patrick Cassidy, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.

Feb. 13–HYANNIS — Cape transportation workers won’t go on strike, for now.

“Talks have stopped because we reached a tentative agreement,” Charles Ryan, III, president of the union that represents Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority workers, said yesterday.

The agreement — accomplished in less than four hours at the Radisson Hotel in Hyannis — means the cancellation of a strike planned for Saturday. Union members will vote on a new contract based on the deal within the next two weeks, Ryan said.

The RTA has 90 to 140 bus drivers, dispatchers and mechanics and provided 600,000 rides on the Cape in 2005.

Under the old contract drivers and dispatchers make between $12.23 and $17.46 an hour depending on seniority.

The negotiations centered on sticking points that included the protocol for sick and personal days, Ryan said.

Professional Transit Management, which took over operations of the RTA last year, wanted an annual cap of 240 hours on sick and personal days that can be accrued over a career.

Workers could gain unlimited days during their career under the previous contract.

Another bone of contention between the two sides was the distribution of overtime hours.

The company wanted to offer overtime to part-time workers first.

The union wanted full-time employees with seniority to get first shot at the extra income.

Ryan would not say how these issues were decided, only that the strike was off and service to passengers would not be disrupted.

But there is a chance the agreement could fall apart if union members don’t like it.

“The package is going to be voted on by the entire membership and until that happens I don’t want to comment on it because I’d rather the members hear it from me than hear it in the paper,” Ryan said.

The company’s general manager, Lisa Maragnano, was also reluctant to talk about details but said the agreement was good for both sides.

“It was very cordial,” Maragnano said about the negotiations yesterday.

Talks between the company and Local 1548 Amalgamated Transit Union have sputtered and occasionally stalled since the previous contract for RTA workers expired on Sept. 30.

The two sides agreed to extend the contract twice but it expired again on Jan. 31.

On Feb. 3 the union rejected an offer from the management company and Cape transportation workers prepared to strike.

Only a phone call from a federal mediator brought the two groups back to the table for yesterday’s meeting.

RTA services include the b-bus, which picks up residents at their homes by appointment, and the Breeze and Flex buses, which run regularly scheduled routes from Falmouth to Provincetown.

The possible resolution was welcome news for those who depend on the buses to get around.

“I just think its music to my ears,” said long-time rider Jane Perry, who uses the buses three to five times a week and is an advocate for riders.

Even with the agreement, RTA management has to make more of an effort to understand its own company, Perry said.

“The real world is on the buses not sitting in the board room,” she said.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.

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