MCTS bus drivers, mechanics to vote on contract offer

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee County Transit System bus drivers and mechanics approved a strike, but there's now something that could stop it.  

The backstory:

Last week, the union green-lighted a strike; after months of negotiations, no contract could be hashed out. 

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"Striking is not that close, it’s on the horizon, but it’s not close. We have other things we want to try, negotiations, demonstrations and other things," said Bruce Freeman, ATU Local 998 union president.

"At MCTS, we understand that our operators and our mechanics are MCTS," said Alexander Corona, MCTS chief financial officer.

The union and MCTS continued to negotiate. Finally, both sides reached an officer.

"I negotiated it and you know, like most negotiations, there are going to be things in that proposal that you don’t like," said Freeman.

What's next:

On Wednesday, union members huddled behind closed doors to hear about the negotiation. They will vote on whether to accept the proposed contract on Friday.

Freeman revealed it's a proposed one-year contract – not the three-year they were originally negotiating.

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"I could see where a one-year deal would do them good, because the fact that they need time to kind of iron out the problems that they have, and if we get a one-year deal, that gives them that cushion," Freeman said. "They will start negotiating Dec. 1 for the contract that would expire on March 31.

"If that goes through, they get that bumper, they can regroup, they can concentrate on what they got going on over there. We can start getting ourselves geared up for December…"It kind of gives everybody a little breathing room, but the problem is going to be whether or not this thing goes through Friday."

Budget shortfall, new leadership

Big picture view:

Besides the risk of a strike, MCTS estimates a nearly $11 million budget shortfall. 

The transit system will tap into unused federal pandemic relief funds to fill some of that budget hole. This fall, it plans to delay off-peak trips on some routes. MCTS leaders also said they are stopping overtime, except for emergencies, and freezing hiring.

Interim boss Julie Esch resigned last week, and the county's transit system has since hired Steve Fuentes as its new CEO. He comes from the Chicago Transit Authority, bringing an outsider's perspective aboard a struggling transit system.

"I’m not going to say I was surprised. I didn’t think they would move on it so quickly. I know they have been taking applications and interviewing people for that position," said Freeman.

"It was kind of surprising that it just kind of happened out of nowhere with all this other stuff going on, so I’m assuming they wanted to make a move and get somebody in position and get a handle on some of the problems that they got over there now."