Due to an ongoing strike by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, March 15 marked the sixth day that the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority halted bus and light rail services across the county.
ATU Local 265 has over 1,500 members, performing jobs ranging from bus and light rail operations, maintenance, customer service, janitors, and bus dispatchers, said Armando Barbosa, an executive board member of the union.
“I want to emphasize that we are the heartbeat of [the VTA],” Barbosa said. “We make up about 85 percent.”
However, according to VTA communications and media spokeswoman Sandra Bermudez, the union only makes up about 62% of the 2,400 person agency.
Along the Moffett Field to West Valley College route — Route 51 — VTA buses provide transport to many MVHS students daily and run as early as 5:53 a.m., according to the VTA website. Outside of the student population, VTA services shuttle roughly 100,000 people daily, Bermudez said.
MVHS students are especially impacted by the suspension of the Route 51 bus service. Sophomore Joseph Lezama said that he usually bikes to school, but takes the bus on days when it rains. During previous times that the bus services have been unavailable, Lezama said he has had to wait another three hours after school ends for his dad to finish work.
“[The strike] has impacted me in a big way,” Lezama said. “Especially now, when it’s raining really hard, I can’t get home at all.”
Senior Grinell Longstreet, who used to ride the bus almost daily, said he now has to ask his mom to drive him or call a Lyft to get home, costing him more money than he would have had to pay for the bus services. Although it’s now more difficult for Longstreet to get to and from school, he said, the strike has had more severe impacts on students who don’t have a car.
The main goals for the strike are the right to arbitrate discipline — the power of an independent body to reach an authoritative judgment — secure, continuous work in a safe environment, and fair compensation for the jobs union workers perform, Barbosa said.
“What ATU has asked for is no further than what is fair,” Barbosa said. “[The VTA] keeps asking the workers to continue working in these conditions and continue to operate [under] unfair wages that do not meet the rising economy of today’s market.”
Bermudez said the VTA has tried to reach a resolution with the ATU on these issues, but Bermudez clarified that the union already has the right to arbitrate, and they are requesting the removal of parameters for arbitration. Negotiations between the VTA and ATU Local 265 began in Aug. 2024 and the two groups have met about 35 times total, Bermudez said
“When [the] VTA attempted to negotiate the contract at very first, they started at a 0 percent [wage increase],” Barbosa said. “If you are intending to negotiate in good faith, you do not come to the table with 0 percent.”
According to a blog post by the VTA, it has offered wage increases of 2%, 3%, and 4% per year over a three year period in recent negotiations, which Bermudez said are competitive wages and will keep VTA operators the second-highest paid operators in the Bay Area.
However, Barbosa claimed that the VTA has not sent anyone with the authority to make any deals to negotiations. Bermudez refuted this claim, and said that the VTA has a bargaining committee that is “given a certain level of authority at which they can negotiate before they need to obtain additional authority.”
MVHS students had differing opinions on the strike and if it was justified. Despite the troubles the strike has caused Longstreet, he said he isn’t against the strike.
“It’s not fun that [the union] is going on strike, but I can see why,” Longstreet said. On the flip side, Lezama said that he doesn’t support the strike, due to the complications it’s causing in regards to student transport.
“Students are late to class and students need to get home,” Lezama said. “I think the strikes should just get done with and [they should] bring all the buses back soon.”
Bermudez said the VTA values their employees and wants them to return to work as soon as possible in a way that benefits both of them. Both Bermudez and Barbosa said their respective organizations understand how impacted the community is by the strike.
“We love our community just the same,” Barbosa said. “We are part of our community. Most of our operators and union brothers and sisters are part of this community. We are right alongside the community, hand in hand, asking for the [VTA] to come to the table.”
