Taking aim at RTD

Pending bill would jeopardize savings from private contracting

Published February 8, 2007 at midnight

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Colorado labor leaders have wasted little time trying to undermine one of Bill Owens' signature accomplishments during his years of public service - the contracting of transit services to private providers.

To be sure, the original bill mandating that 20 percent of RTD bus service be under private contract was the brainchild in 1988 of Republican Sen. Terry Considine. But Owens was a key ally in the legislature, and in the years that followed he pushed to increase the proportion of lines under private contract until, in 2003 when he was governor, the legislature required at least half of RTD's bus service to be operated in that fashion.

Then, when it became necessary, Owens protected that mandate with his veto pen.

This week, the union that represents RTD's drivers and mechanics announced that it wants to chip away at this legacy. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001 will push legislation that would place a ceiling of 55 percent on the proportion of private workers on the bus system (there is no ceiling now), while eliminating the 50-percent floor. Private contracting would be "voluntary" - which means that such service would certainly diminish over time.

Since contracted service is substantially less costly, this proposal would rock taxpayers.

In addition, transit employment will surge over the next decade with the build-out of FasTracks, perhaps by 1,500 more jobs. And while the light-rail work force is and would remain entirely unionized, the district could hire private contractors for new lines that deploy other technologies such as commuter rail or streetcars. But it will hardly be inclined to do so if it's reducing such service on buses at the time.

RTD also would lose crucial leverage with the transit union when labor agreements are up for renewal. As the proportion of service under private contracts declines, the union will feel less restraint in pushing for outsized salary and benefit demands.

There's not much doubt that a measure along the lines envisioned by the transit union is likely to pass both houses of the new legislature; a plan that was even more union-friendly was sent to Owens' desk last year. Fortunately, he vetoed it.

If this year's legislation succeeds, it will test Gov. Bill Ritter's willingness to side with taxpayers and transit riders over a narrow interest group important to his party.

The impacts of a new law would not be apparent at first; the next big union contract expires in 2009. But recall what happened when the transit union struck for a week last year. The light rail lines closed. But RTD used its private bus drivers to offer limited service, so not all riders were stranded.

Should contracting mandates evaporate, the district would lose that flexibility in the coming years. And the union would have greater power to hold hostage transit riders and the taxpayers who pay the district's bills.

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