Bus strike’s first day: No new talks, lots of frustrated walkers

Union president says workers prepared to be off job 4-5 weeks.

The Greater Dayton RTA’s bus drivers and mechanics are prepared to strike “four or five weeks,” the union’s president said on Day One of the first Dayton transit strike since 1961.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1385 President Glenn Salyer and RTA CEO Mark Donaghy said no additional talks with the State Employment Relations Board were scheduled.

Donaghy called the union’s multi-week strike threat a “callous disregard for customer needs,” but Salyer said union employees likely “won’t see a loss of paycheck” for roughly a month because of strike benefits the union pays.

Local business leaders and politicians expressed concern RTA riders would lose paychecks, with state Rep. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, floating the idea of introducing legislation to ban future strikes of transit employees by requiring binding arbitration as required of fire and police employees.

Beyond negotiations, GOP looks to prevent future RTA strike threats

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, who along with Antani attempted an unsuccessful reconvening of parties at the bargaining table Sunday evening, drew distinctions between the transit worker strike and those of private sector employees.

“They’re providing a really important service to our community, so it’s not like, ‘Oh, well, we’re not going to make these cars this week,’ or, ‘We’re not going to make these widgets this week,’” the mayor said. “People are not able to go about their daily business, go about their lives, go about their education, because the buses aren’t running.”

No incidents

About two dozen union employees crossed the picket Monday, Donaghy said, but the system only operated about 50 percent of its para-transit service, Project Mobility. No other services operated for RTA, which normally serves 30,000 daily riders.

There was a minor blip with the RTA’s app, which continued to show buses were arriving at locations where service was suspended.

The chief executive said after talks fell through around 12:30 a.m. Monday at City Hall he traveled to the Longworth Street Garage to thank union employees for returning buses to the facility. Once drivers and mechanics walked off, they began a series of pickets at the garage and Wright Stop Plaza, where a third-party company constructed fencing.

Donaghy said there were “no significant incidents,” except for an attempt by a union member to use a car to block a bus operated by RTA Chief Operating Officer Jim Napier.

Asked by local media during a press conference if Napier possessed a commercial driver’s license, Donaghy immediately held up a copy he said Napier sent him ahead of the meeting, but refused to allow media to inspect the record. The newspaper has obtained a copy of an RTA strike plan that indicates Napier indeed has a license.

Additionally, the newspaper asked Donaghy to provide text messages exchanged between him and RTA employees between Jan. 1 to Monday. Donaghy initially rejected the request before asking the newspaper to submit a written records request.

No new talks

Officials on both sides said no talks were scheduled. Two series of talks Sunday were unsuccessful, although both parties indicated the second round of talks arranged by Whaley and Antani were helpful.

“The meetings the mayor set up were probably the best meetings we had, because it was only the two of us and two of them, instead of our whole committee,” Salyer said, adding, “Nobody raised their voice, and the city treated us to pizza and pop and beverages, and we sat and talked and ended up like we always do.”

What are the key Dayton RTA negotiating issues?

Donaghy said “there’s always progress made” when the parties meet together.

Salyer said a set of earlier meetings with a negotiator at the RTA headquarters “got a little testy, but that can be expected in negotiations sometimes because everybody’s giving their best.” He said the union “can always accept” what RTA has proposed, but he said “it’s nowhere near what we think we should have.”

Donaghy said the mediator is “the best opportunity” to bring the parties together. The union wants binding arbitration.

“The mediator from Columbus is well versed in our situation. He was our mediator in summer 2015 on the same contract issue,” Donaghy said.

No buses

Some bus riders were able to hitch rides with friends, coworkers or family members. But many were forced to walk long distances in icy temperatures or cancel plans. People like 44-year-old Dayton resident William Smith unknowingly stood on Wampler Avenue at 5:20 a.m. in the blistering cold for a northbound bus that never arrived.

“This bites the big one,” he said. “I rely on the bus system most of the time.”

Smith’s rent was due and he had to drop it off at the management company, located more than two miles north.

Lawana Crump, 42, has a security job downtown and expects to put a lot of wear on her shoes if the strike doesn’t end soon. She had to walk three miles to work Monday in the dark. Her trip took about an hour, which compares to her usual 10-minute bus ride.

“I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do, so right now I’m walking, early in the morning — even though I think it’s kind of dangerous and cold,” she said, noting she did not want to walk home along Salem Avenue late at night.

Throughout the morning, good Samaritans pulled over at bus stops to let people know no buses were coming. Others on Facebook posted messages offering rides to stranded commuters.

Heidi Gentis, 24, of Dayton, spent Monday, her day off, driving in her blue Subaru, picking people up who needed a ride, including one woman who was waiting at a stop, unaware of the strike. By early afternoon, Gentis already had provided half a dozen trips and wanted to get about 15 more by the end of the day.

Her passengers needed to go to the bank, the store and to work. Gentis said she relied on public transportation growing up in East Dayton and understands how important it is.

“This is my way to give back to the community,” said Gentis, who did not ask riders for payment, but accepted a few dollars for gas.

About the Authors