Officials of MeVa, the public bus authority, are evaluating a union proposal that would end a strike and put buses back on the road immediately.
The union proposal would give drivers and mechanics a smaller raise in the next year, but leave unresolved the issue of mandatory Saturday shifts. Jim Mark, Teamsters Local 170 lead negotiator, said he met with his members Thursday morning to consider how to get the buses back on the road.
“The question I put to them was, recognizing that we are far apart on the one issue of Saturday work and overtime, how can we bridge the gap and get back to servicing the community?” Mark told WHAV. “We’re offering to take $33 an hour rather than the $34 the company has offered for one year. It’s not the perfect solution but it is a good solution. And it gives us a year to resolve the Saturday work issue.”
MeVa Administrator Noah S. Berger, said he and his staff “are reviewing” the proposal.
“Nobody has a stronger desire to see an end to this than me,” Berger told WHAV.
Haverhill-based MeVa offered its own compromise Tuesday that included a four-day work week for 15 drivers and some optional Saturday shifts, but the union rejected it.
The main sticking point between the two sides is Saturday work. Currently, drivers have the option of accepting Saturday shifts and, those who have already worked 40 hours, receive overtime pay. MeVa seeks to require Saturday work as part of a wage hike.
The regional transit authority’s 140 drivers and mechanics walked out at midnight on July 1 after its union was unable to come to terms with the regional transit authority on a new three-year contract. The drivers and mechanics are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 170.
Drivers currently make $29.51 per hour. The agency offered a 25% wage hike, or an added $4.49 per hour across the board increase for all drivers in the first year of a new three-year contract, according to Berger. In year two, wages would rise to $36 per hour and to $37 in year three. The proposed contract also includes 100% coverage of health insurance premiums for employees and their families as well as an additional $3 per hour for Saturday shifts.
Berger said MeVa is seeking the change in its Saturday work assignment policy because the current system is not “sustainable.” He said the biggest request from riders is more Saturday and Sunday service but that the company cannot add more service because it is already scrambling to fill the current shifts. He also noted not all the drivers would have to work every Saturday.
MeVa provides free, fixed route bus service to 16 Merrimack Valley as well as on-demand van service. It has seen a 60.8% increase in ridership since 2019, one of the few regional transit authorities nationwide which exceeds its pre-COVID-19 service levels.