KATHRYN OGLE An MTA bus arrives at a stop on Hilgard
Avenue. Bus drivers returned to work Wednesday after a 32-day
strike ended the day before.
By Monique Simpson
Daily Bruin Contributor
For four and a half weeks, UCLA employee Misael Pineda commuted
three hours a day from his home in West Los Angeles to campus by
bicycle.
It was a risky ride, pedaling next to cars on Wilshire
Boulevard, and the commute was worse when the weather was cold and
raining, but it was the only way Pineda could get to work.
In addition to working at Kerckhoff Coffee House, Pineda worked
mornings at a warehouse in East L.A. Once the strike began, he was
unable to make it to work by 6 a.m.
“I couldn’t find a ride,” Pineda said.
He had even walked twice for two hours to the job, but
eventually was let go.
“The first week of the strike, I got fired,” Pineda
said.
Pineda was one of the 450,000 Metropolitan Transportation
Authority bus riders who were forced to find alternate methods of
transportation due the strike.
The strike began on Sept. 16 when bus drivers’ union
representatives and MTA officials failed to agree on terms for a
new contract.
“I thought it would be a quick strike, lasting about two
days,” Pineda said.
Instead the strike lasted 32 days, ending Tuesday after the
sides reached an agreement. MTA buses returned to the streets
Wednesday morning, providing riders on campus with needed
transportation.
“A family member would drop me off at the commuter bus
stop, which was inconvenient for him, ” said Janet Brown, an
administrative assistant for the Community Programs Office, who
commutes from Reseda.
Brown used Commuter Express buses ““ a service of the Los
Angeles Department of Transportation ““ which operated during
the strike.
If no one was available to pick her up from the bus stop in the
evening, Brown would walk three miles to her house.
But Brown said she was “one of the lucky ones,”
because everyone did not have access to the commuter buses.
Juliana Arraes, an exchange student from Brazil, also rode the
commuter bus each day from North Hollywood.
“I would pay $6 every day to take a small bus to the
commuter bus and ride the commuter bus,” Arraes said. The MTA
bus fare is $1.35 per ride.
When Arraes arrived in Los Angeles for the first time two weeks
ago she was surprised to find the bus drivers had been on strike
for such a long period.
“In my country, strikes last two to three days,”
Arraes said.
Arraes thinks the strike was so long because “the
government doesn’t have good communication with the
people.”
Even though she took the commuter bus, Arraes still experienced
trouble getting to campus on time.
“Tuesday, I waited two hours for the bus and missed two
classes,” Arraes said.
Others on campus also encountered major problems because of the
strike, but bus riders were not the only people who suffered.
Ann Morrow, a 10-year veteran MTA bus operator said as a result
of the strike she had difficulty buying groceries for her two
children and herself. Had the strike continued past Wednesday, she
planned to visit a local food bank where she could pay $25 for a
week’s worth of groceries.
Morrow said her family had to eat whatever they could find in
the house.
“I pretty much emptied out the cabinets,” Morrow
said.
For the first time, Morrow said, she was unable to pay her
monthly bills.
Despite the financial hardships, Morrow said many bus drivers
stayed on the picket line because the consequences of crossing the
line were severe.
“The union would fine you $1,000 plus take away about 25
percent of what we would make if we crossed the line,” Morrow
said.
Although there is a new contract, many drivers have not had an
opportunity to read the exact terms of the agreement, but from what
they know, they are pleased.
“We did OK,” said Ignacio Arellano, an MTA bus
operator.
Among the terms of the new contract, drivers will receive a 9.3
percent raise over three years, a one percent increase in their
pension plan and additional part-time drivers will be added.
“We think the contract represents a real give and take on
both sides,” said MTA spokesman Ed Scannell.
Scannell said the MTA was able to “increase their
efficiency while drivers received a fair pay increase.”
“Before the strike, the full-time bus operators’ top
rate was $17 per hour, and now it is close to $22,” Arellano
said. Although he said bus drivers do not receive this rate until
they have worked for MTA for seven to ten years.
In an effort to compensate bus riders for the inconvenience due
to the strike, MTA bus rides were free until midnight Sunday.
Most bus riders and drivers were pleased to have the buses
operating again.
“It feels good to be back,” Morrow said. “No
one is stranded anymore and my bills are going to get paid
now.”