Local Latino groups join bus strike fray

ORANGE — Members of the local Latino community joined the fray Thursday in the bus drivers' strike, picketing outside the Orange County Transportation Authority and voicing support for the drivers.

At 4:30 p.m. at the authority's headquarters on Main Street, about two dozen people took up signs, noisemakers, a drum and a megaphone to show their solidarity with the Teamsters union, which has been negotiating with the authority since the strike began Saturday. Representatives for the organizations present said they sided with the drivers because they felt the authority's demands were unfair.

"These are workers," said Sergio Trujillo, head of legal services for the Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, one of the political groups protesting on the sidewalk. "A lot of them are Latinos as well. So we're here to support the workers rather than the corporation."

Hermandad was joined by the Mexican American Political Assn. and a group of janitors who work in the transportation authority headquarters. Marisol Rivera, the senior organizer for the janitors' union, said she and her colleagues would go on strike next week if the authority did not resolve its conflict with the bus drivers.

Nativo Lopez, the national director of Hermandad and national president of the Mexican American Political Assn., said in urging the authority to end the strike, his groups were also supporting regular bus riders. Around two-thirds of Orange County bus commuters, he estimated, were Latino and made an income of less than $23,000 a year.

"The longer it goes on, the more suffering they're causing to the riders of the county," Lopez said.

The strike entered its sixth day on Thursday with the two sides remaining at a standstill. Joel Zlotnik, the authority's spokesman, said the conflict centered around where to distribute raises among the bus drivers.

The union has asked for higher raises for experienced drivers, while the authority favors spreading the raises more evenly.

"There hasn't been a whole lot of movement," Zlotnik said. "We're still negotiating. The issue over the way the Teamsters want to distribute the money is still a major sticking point for us. The Teamsters haven't appeared willing to change on that position."