ATU files initiative petition to set prevailing wage for bus operators

CORVALLIS - Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 757 has a bold new strategy to try to win decent wages for Corvallis city and school bus operators - take the issue directly to voters with a local ballot initiative.

ATU Local 757 President Ron Heintzman says the initiative is a way to force a favorable long-term resolution even as the union prepares for a strike at Laidlaw, Inc., an anti-union, multibillion-dollar corporation out of Canada.

Laidlaw has a contract with the City of Corvallis to provide municipal bus operators, and with the local school district to provide buses and drivers. Wages start at $6.65 an hour with health insurance available for $160 a month.

Heintzman said wages are so low that some city bus drivers who work 50 to 60 hours a week still qualify for food stamps and public health benefits.

Given Laidlaw's history of stubborn refusal to meet wage demands and its willingness to violate labor law, Heintzman hopes to outflank the company by taking the debate to the voting public. Thus, on Feb. 18 the union filed an initiative petition that would mandate that the city require transit subcontractors to pay prevailing wages and benefits, based on that paid by other nearby transit agencies. Heintzman predicts that if the initiative passes, Laidlaw won't bid again on the city contract, since paying prevailing wages would cut into the high profit margins the company requires for its operations.

The measure's title must undergo several weeks of scrutiny by the city attorney, but it's expected to be approved for circulation by mid-March. Corvallis City Recorder Sue Mariner said the union and its supporters will have until May 8 to gather 2,300 signatures in order to qualify for the Sept. 21 ballot.

Heintzman said the union will be able to raise that many signatures in one weekend. Since state law exempts school districts from ballot initiative campaigns, the union will be collecting signatures on a non-binding petition to urge the school board to find a way to avert a strike.

But Heintzman said a strike appears imminent in Corvallis.

Since the success of a union organizing campaign that took years due to the company's legal maneuvers, the union has spent 14 months bargaining for a first contract. It has filed multiple unfair labor practice charges against Laidlaw with the National Labor Relations Board.

If the drivers go on strike, a clause in the city's contract with Laidlaw would allow the city to take bus service back in-house.

Workers are reluctant to go on strike, Heintzman says, but feel they have few options because the company has refused to negotiate in good faith.

Heintzman says so far, public support for the drivers has been strong. The union has placed ads in the local paper, sent letters to parents and distributed 1,500 lawn signs that say, "$6.65 is not a livable wage." It also called on residents to sign postcards to the city council and the school board calling for the company to bargain in good faith or submit to binding arbitration. In a three-week period, the union collected 1,000 such postcards. All this in a city of approximately 50,000.