Transit Workers to Vote on Last-Ditch Concessions

More than 150 layoffs and a 15-percent service reduction to Allegheny County public transit might be delayed – if only for one week.

Port Authority of Allegheny County's Board of Directors today adjourned a contentious meeting to allow members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, which represents Port Authority workers, to vote on last-minute concession proposals aimed at preventing the cuts. The board will reconvene the meeting at 3 p.m. tomorrow.

Union President Patrick McMahon said that the union offered County Executive Dan Onorato a proposal under which members would take a 10-percent wage cut and forgo a 3-percent wage increase. He said that offer, if accepted, would save $18.6 million for the transit agency.

The union also is considering two other cost-cutting proposals it received from Onorato, but McMahon did not release details of those proposals.

Port Authority CEO Steve Bland said that, if the union and board can come to an agreement, the cuts and layoffs could be delayed for at least one week.

McMahon, meanwhile, said that ratifying the union's proposal would allow for Port Authority service levels to remain the same through June 2012.

McMahon, who pleaded with the board to reschedule its meeting until Sunday to allow time to organize the vote, said that he is unsure of when the union vote would take place. Members must vote on the new proposal before the Port Authority board reconvenes.

"What's happening is we may be able to stop these (service) cuts," McMahon said. "This union agreed to take a significant cut out of its pay because that's the right thing to do for our riders."

The board, meanwhile, will notify McMahon later today if it finds the union's proposal to be acceptable. If Port Authority rejects that new proposal, union members may still vote on the two alternative proposals from Onorato's office.

McMahon said that he was doubtful that Onorato's remaining proposals for the union would pass. He said that the union's proposal would allow for Port Authority service levels to remain the same through June 2012.

"For us to consider that, I would have to take this to my (union) executive board to decide if we'll bring it to the members," McMahon said of Onorato's proposals. 

Bland said that the union's new proposal included "very, very significant concessions – unprecedented and historic."

"I'm happy to know that all of us in this room are united in trying to save this service for one week," Bland said.

Members of the drivers union filled the meeting room, often jeering and heckling members of the board as they spoke. Outside, protesters lined Sixth Avenue, demonstrating their opposition to the widespread public-transit cuts.

Port Authority's board  to eliminate 29 bus routes and lay off more than 150 employees in an effort to stretch $45 million in unused highway funds provided by former Gov. Ed Rendell. Port Authority expects that the loss of those routes will impact about 5 percent of its riders.

Rendell's $45 million in funding was expected to stretch Port Authority service to June 2012, when more cuts will be necessary if a new revenue source from the state is not found.

This article originally appeared on the .