Sun Tran The strike

thousands of families throughout the community

CM Steve Kozachik
Ward 6

At the time I write this, the strike that’s shutting down most of the Sun Tran system will possibly entering to its 5th week. The best thing for the community would be for it to be resolved and everything back to normal by the time this month’s Arizona Bilingual edition goes to print. Whether it is or not, I want to use this space to make clear some facts that haven’t received the level of coverage they’ve deserved.

The City of Tucson allocates $30 million to operate the Sun Tran fixed route system. We spend another $12 million on Sun Van, and around $4 million for the streetcar. It’s the fixed route system that’s shut down due to the strike.

The $30M we use for Sun Tran comes from our General Fund. That Fund is used to pay for roads, maintaining our parks all over town, police, fire and all of the other essential services we provide to you. Everything competes for funding from the same source. If we increase funding in one area, that money has to come from some of those other services.

Sun Tran is managed by an outside firm, Professional Transit Management (PTM.) We have to contract out the management because of the Federal dollars we use to purchase the busses. Because there is Federal money involved, the law states the workers must have the ability to strike. Since City workers cannot, the operators are non-City employees, and are organized by the Teamsters, local 104.

As is usually the case, this strike is largely about pay and benefits. Other issues have been raised, but the sides are principally divided over money issues.

An entry level bus driver has 100% of their medical insurance paid for by the company. PTM also pays 100% of the worker’s dental and vision coverage, plus all of their pension benefits. The total value of an entry level operator’s pay and benefit package is north of $46,000 per year. The Teamsters strike is aimed at increasing those benefits, plus pay and benefits for non-entry level workers.

PTM began the contract negotiations with an offer to increase the entry level worker pay, and add the Cesar Chavez holiday. As the strike continued, they offered to let the union take the value of that initial offer and move the dollars around however they wished to, as long as the total value stayed within the budget the City has given to them to operate the system. The offer was rejected by the union.

The strike has hurt thousands of families throughout the community. It is my belief the offer placed on the table by PTM was fair. While we continue to work out from the recession, many bus riders and others throughout the community look at an employment package that begins at $46,000 in value as a pretty attractive deal.

Our economic recovery will eventually allow us to hire the new firefighters we need, add police protection, purchase new public safety vehicles, upgrade our parks and roads, and yes, find ways to increase our revenue stream to the Sun Tran system. For now, we continue to prioritize and allocate funds to touch the many needs our community has. PTM recognized the tight budget situation. I believe the strike was avoidable if all parties had done so.