OCTA, union talks rolling on

SANTA ANA — The head of the Teamsters union representing Orange County's bus drivers called upon commuters Wednesday to pressure their local politicians — including Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor — to help resolve the bus strike.

At an often fiery news conference, union leader Patrick Kelly said negotiations remained at a standstill and the Orange County Transportation Authority had unfairly portrayed his group as insensitive to junior employees.

He provided onlookers with a flier listing Mansoor and other elected leaders who were members of the transportation authority's board of directors, and encouraged them to call and voice their concerns.

The strike entered its fifth day Wednesday with representatives for both sides still mired in negotiations. Kelly said the salary packages proposed by the authority and the union were similar to begin with and had grown closer over the last few days, as the union had amended its offer Tuesday to meet a number of the authority's concerns.

"I think they're looking for excuses not to sit down and bargain with us," Kelly said. "We're less than $1 million apart."

The union's new proposal would offer the same starting salaries to drivers as the transportation authority's proposal, but would provide higher hourly salaries for experienced drivers. Joel Zlotnik, a spokesman for the transportation authority, said even after the changes, the union's salary schedule still favored senior bus drivers over newly hired ones.

"They still want the senior operators to get the bulk of the raise, and that is just not acceptable to OCTA," he said.

He added that unless the union changed its position, he did not expect the strike to end any time soon. "The bottom line is we want people to know there isn't much progress being made, and people may need to prepare for this thing to go on for a week or several weeks if the union isn't willing to offer some concessions," Zlotnik said.

Mansoor could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, but he previously told the Daily Pilot he supported the transportation authority's proposal.