Calling in security

Move comes after report of picket harassing a rider

Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 5, 2006 at midnight

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A divided RTD board voted Tuesday to spend up to $500,000 a month to hire Ohio-based security teams composed of ex-military and retired cops during the transit strike.

That decision came after the board rejected RTD staff's request to spend up to $1 million a month on the security forces provided by International Management Assistance Corp. of Cleveland.

And in an unusual development, board member Bill McMullen broke ranks with his colleagues after an intense closed-door session in which he failed to get RTD to agree to end the strike Thursday morning by entering arbitration.

"I'll be out on the picket line in the morning," said McMullen, who delivered doughnuts, oranges and bottled water to pickets earlier Tuesday.

McMullen's bid and the board's decision to hire IMAC capped the second day of a strike by 1,750 union members that saw another worker rally, a decision by the governor not to intervene and continued disruption of the regional transit system.

At Tuesday's RTD meeting, general manager Cal Marsella made a pitch to hire IMAC after his staff told the board that a bus rider was harassed by a picket at the Interstate 25/Broadway Station.

Some board members suggested the security money be used instead to add to RTD's contract offer and possibly end the strike - a view echoed by Tommy Mullins, international vice president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

"Could it be possible those monies could go toward settling this contract?" he asked the board.

But Marsella said later that adding money to its "last, best and final" offer would essentially reward strikers for walking off the job.

"The money we're going to be spending on security wouldn't have to be expended if we didn't have a strike," Marsella said. "But we do, and we're concerned about security."

Using his spending authority, Marsella already has spent $114,000 to bring in two 13-member security teams, some of whom were present at meeting.

He needed to go to the board, however, to finalize the larger contract that will fund six teams.

International Management Assistance Corp. says on its Web site that it provides an array of crisis management services, from catering to security.

Its forces won't be armed, but will provide a presence at key locations for such services as videotaping strikers' activities and protecting RTD property. John Tarbert, RTD's manager of security, said they could step in if an incident occurs that requires action.

Most board members agreed that added security is needed,

"I feel we'd be totally remiss if we don't go out of our way to make sure that public safety is taken care of," said board member Bill Elfenbein. "If something happens, it's too late. You can't take chances with employees or customers."

But McMullen said hiring security guards "sends the wrong message to our men and women who are on strike."

"I feel it is absolutely inappropriate to treat the RTD family like they are criminals," he said. "I think we are going around this the wrong way."

Members of the RTD negotiating team are scheduled to meet this morning with union leaders and federal mediator Christel Jorgensen.

Strike's second day

Besides security issues, the day also saw back-and-forth haggling over binding arbitration to end the strike.

"If RTD agrees to binding arbitration, the buses and trains will roll right away while we settle our differences with RTD at a hearing instead of the picket line," Yvette Salazar, president of Local 1001, told about 150 RTD workers gathered at the Market Street bus station.

However, Gov. Bill Owens turned down the union's request to reverse a state labor department order and send the dispute to arbitration instead.

"This governor is not going to step in," he told reporters.

Under arbitration, the workers would return to the buses and trains while a neutral third party went to work crafting a settlement binding on both sides.

Owens said he would not intervene unless circumstances substantially change, but he said he couldn't say what those circumstances might be.

"I think the union has a very weak hand," he said. "Its leadership is calling for me to bail them out of something they made a decision to do. It's actually between them and the elected board at RTD.

"I don't believe, as governor of the state of Colorado, it's my responsibility to second-guess the RTD board in terms of what it can afford to pay these bus drivers."

RTD says it won't go beyond the $15.3 million in wages and benefits it put on the table.

Part of the strategy is to avoid increasing the final offer out of concern it might embolden workers to strike again in three years for more money.

In January, Local 1001 asked the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to deny it the right to strike. If the state had done that, mandatory arbitration would have followed immediately.

But the labor department ruled that the union could walk out - and that's what members did at 2 a.m. Monday.

A majority of voting members rejected a wage rate increase of $1.80 an hour over three years, coming in 15-cent increments every three months. It was the largest pay-rate increase RTD has ever offered.

In addition, RTD proposed a one-time $250 signing bonus, increased contributions to the health and welfare fund, and an offer to split any future increases in the monthly cost of medical and other benefits.

The union counters that members have had their pay scales frozen the last three years and should make up more ground, like RTD's top managers were able to do last year with sizable raises.

The walkout has cut RTD's bus service hours in half, idled all light-rail trains and stopped rush- hour express and regional commuter service.

RTD is using private drivers who work for companies under contract with the agency to keep some bus service going. And Owens says RTD should consider hiring more.

As a lawmaker, Owens carried the legislation that required the transit agency to privatize a portion of its routes.

"Here's what I would do if I were on the RTD board," Owens said. "If I had half my drivers working and half my drivers striking, I would start to bring on more private drivers. In time, I would move toward that."

One member of the RTD board agreed.

'More privatization'

O'Neill Quinlan, who represents parts of Douglas and Arapahoe counties on the 15-member board, said privatization has saved the agency money and it should examine more of it, with or without the strike.

"But if this strike kept us out a month, I'd bring up more privatization in a heartbeat," Quinlan said. "And I believe I'd get support for that. My loyalty is to the riders, not to the union."

Gordon Scott of Metro Traffic said the highways seem to be only slightly affected by the RTD strike.

Scott said traffic "ran a little heavier than Monday morning, but it's hard to put a finger on it. I don't know if we have seen everything."

Eastbound traffic on the Boulder turnpike through Westminster was heavier than usual, as was southbound Interstate 25.

Santa Fe Drive was also busy because it parallels a light-rail line.

The evening commute ran smoothly, though an accident on I- 25 near Lincoln Avenue backed up traffic for a while.

"The last couple of days are relatively trouble-free," said Scott. "I had braced myself for some really heavy driving times, but it hasn't evolved to the extent that I thought it would."

Tuesday's developments

• The RTD board agreed to spend up to $500,000 a month on private security during the strike.

• Gov. Bill Owens rejected the union's call to end the strike through binding arbitration. The state in March issued an order allowing the strike. That decision removed the option of arbitration, which would effectively force a settlement on both sides.

• Sen. Ken Salazar called on the sides to resume talks because of potential harm to RTD's credibility and its upcoming FasTracks expansion.

• With private contractors still providing bus service, at least one RTD board member suggested studying the cost impact of converting more of the union-held jobs to private contracts.

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5247.

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