A tentative agreement has been reached between the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and its Municipal Railway operators’ union, SFMTA officials announced today.
Today is the last day of the current workers’ contract.
The SFMTA board of directors this morning at a special meeting rejected a previously mediated agreement that Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, the Muni employees’ union representing more than 2,000 workers, had already rejected last month.
The union voted down that proposed contract in a May 30 vote and a three-day “sickout” ensued on the first three workdays of June. About half of the agency’s drivers did not show up to work those days and there were significant service disruptions.
The board rejected the previous agreement and announced it had reached, through mediation, a new tentative agreement with its workers.
“Both sides are positive about the tentative agreement,” SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose said.
Rose said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and former Mayor Willie Brown were brought into the negotiating process and helped reach the latest deal.
Contract details have not been released yet, Rose said, but SFMTA director of transportation Ed Reiskin said he hoped to share specifics by the end of the day.
SFMTA’s earlier proposed contract had included a 5.05 percent wage increase for workers, but they would also have to contribute 7.5 percent of their pension.
The union, which denied organizing the sickout earlier this month, had argued that the proposal reduced workers’ take-home pay and would replace many full-time drivers with part-time employees.
The union is scheduled to vote on the new tentative agreement next Monday and the board will then vote on the contract July 15, according to Rose.
The board also voted today to extend the bargaining timeline. Anything agreed or approved by July 15 will be effective retroactively on July 1, the start of the new contract term.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
