Drivers are back on track

Many of the Orange County Transportation Authority’s 1,100 drivers were back to work Monday afternoon after the authority’s board of directors and Teamsters Union approved a new contract, officially ending a weeklong strike.

Bus service, which has been limited since July 7, is expected to be completely restored by Friday, and special bus lines from Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, San Juan Capistrano and Fullerton to the Orange County Fair will return this weekend. Passengers will continue to ride free through Thursday.

“We’re just very pleased that the strike is over and we think we’ve got a very good deal with the coach operators,” said authority spokesman Joel Zlotnik. “We’re excited to get them back to work and get the bus system working again for the thousands of people who depend on us.”

On Sunday, Teamsters voted 696 to 35 in support of the contract and celebrated with a Solidarity Celebration at the union hall Monday.

The new contract, worth $18.2 million more than the previous one, will be applied retroactively to May 1 and includes a 14.7% increase in wages and benefits over the next three years for all drivers. In the first year, drivers with five or more years of experience will earn a 4.25% wage increase and junior employees will receive a 3.5% raise.

“We’re happy that people are going to be able to get to work, to the beach, the fair, shopping, whatever they want to do,” said secretary/treasurer Patrick Kelly. “We were disappointed we didn’t realize more of our objectives, but we felt we had to balance our interests with the interests of the riders.”

Strikers were hoping to see a first-year drop in prescription drug co-payments as well as a 50 cent per hour pension increase.

Mike Todd, who has been driving for the authority for six years, expressed dissatisfaction with the new contract, but said he couldn’t afford not to go back to work.

“We didn’t get what we wanted, but people need to pay their mortgages, they need to go back to work,” he said.

Operating 900 buses on 81 routes, the authority estimates that more than 220,000 people ride the bus daily.

Waiting for a bus on Harbor Boulevard on Monday, Charlotte Kent of Costa Mesa said she was anxious for the buses to return to full force after exhausting alternative methods.

“It’s a pain in the (butt),” she said. “I think this [bus] is going to take me home, but I don’t even know.”

For more information on which bus lines are running, go to www.octa.net or call (714) 636-RIDE.

HEIDI SCHULTHEIS contributed to this story.