BY STEPHANIE BRIEN
Journal Times | Posted: Monday, June 30, 2008 12:00 am
RACINE - The Belle Urban System will be running as scheduled Tuesday according to bus drivers and dispatchers Monday night who declined to be named.
The buses will run even though BUS employees' contracts expired Monday and new contract negotiations are still ongoing, employees said.
The bus drivers and almost all BUS workers are members of Teamsters Local 43, which had a three-year contract with Professional Transit Management of Racine. The City of Racine contracts Professional Transit to run the bus system and employ the workers.
Negotiations between the union and management company are about more than wages, said Terry Kaprelian, 60, a bus driver for more than 10 years and a member of the Teamsters.
"The main thing is the work rules. The company wants to take the work rules out of the contract," Kaprelian said. For instance, one of the terms written in the contract limits the number of minutes drivers can be late for their shift before getting written up, Kaprelian said. There are also regulations about management dealing with drivers who arrive early to bus stops which can cause people to miss their buses, Kaprelian said.
"If that was not in the contract there wouldn't be consistency (in enforcement)," Kaprelian said. "They could change the rules inordinately whenever they want it."
Kaprelian is currently on sick leave, which he is also concerned about losing, and has been participating in union meetings, he said.
Kaprelian also thinks the city should manage the bus company directly instead of going through an outside contractor like Professional Transit Management, he said.
"Everything belongs to the city except the management," he said. "What kind of (weird) deal is that?"
In April, the City Council renewed its contract with Professional Transit Management for two years along with a 3 percent annual pay increase.
Former bus driver and 7th District Alderman Ray DeHahn agrees with Kaprelian. "The city could do it better themselves," DeHahn said. "I've often thought that, but I'm only one of 15 (members of the City Council)."
Although DeHahn said he thinks the city should manage the bus system directly, he voted to renew Professional Transit's contract in May because of departmental changes. Transit planner Mike Glasheen retired in late May and DeHahn didn't want to see too many changes at one time, he said.
In the long run, DeHahn said, he thinks it would be better for the city to run the bus system directly because it could save money and it would also eliminate the fear of a strike. City employees cannot legally strike, he said.
To find out if buses are running, call: (262) 637-9000 between 4 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.