Union Busting Veolia Provoke DASH IBT 572 Transit Strike In LA-IBT-Union Tops Pushing For Concessions

Union Busting Veolia Provoke DASH IBT 572 Transit Strike In LA-IBT-Union Tops Pushing For Concessions 

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_23555751/labor-dispute-halts-dash-service
Labor dispute halts DASH service

By City News Service
Posted:   06/27/2013 06:07:22 PM PDT
Updated:   06/27/2013 06:15:11 PM PDT

A strike by employees of a city bus contractor brought some downtown, Hollywood and South Los Angeles DASH routes screeching to a halt Thursday. A little more than half the routes -- about 21,000 riders -- have been impacted, according to Department of Transportation spokesman Clinton Quan.

The labor dispute is between city contractor Veolia, which operates buses on the routes, and its employees' union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 572, whose members walked off the job Thursday morning.

Veolia representatives said the strike was "sudden" and came as they were undergoing "productive discussions" with the union and also offering some wage increases. "Veolia's proposal to the union, which has been described as 'very generous' by union leaders, has twice been recommended for approval by the union's leadership to its membership, only to be voted down because of internal local union issues unrelated to the offer made," read a statement released by the company.

Two unions recently merged to form Local 572, and the negotiating parties had been discussing combining two prior labor agreements, according to Veolia. The Teamsters were not immediately available for comment.

According to the city, some services are still available aboard DASH Downtown routes D, E and parts of F. DASH Downtown routes A and B are not operating, nor are the Crenshaw, King-East, Hollywood, Midtown, Highland Park/Eagle Rock, Lincoln Heights/Chinatown, Los Feliz, Wilshire Center/Koreatown, Fairfax and Leimert/Slauson lines. Bus service for Beachwood Canyon, Hollywood/Wilshire and Southeast/Pueblo del Rio will have limited hours.
Quan said the city was not warned about the strike and will try to keep riders updated about service disruptions.

Veolia said the strike may go on for several more days and that they are using employees who are still reporting to work -- including some who have crossed the picket lines -- to handle service. Eight routes handled by another contractor were not impacted by the strike.