The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1395 Negotiating team has agreed to postpone the strike it set for next Monday, Oct. 21. The union will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday with the First Transit –the company that runs Escambia County Transit Authority for the county. The negotiating session will be held at Escambia County Area Transit main conference room.
“We will reevaluate our position on the strike after we bargain with First Transit, while our bus riders are priority we postpone the strike date because of them, but it has been a year and half with First Transit and it’s time the Transit workers have a contract to focus entirely on the job of providing transportation to our bus riders,” ATU Local 1395 President Mike Lowery told the Independent News.
“We’ve gone over 3 years with an expired labor contract under former Management team Veolia Transportation and now First Transit and almost six years without a raise and our retirement benefit is completely unfair compared to employees under the Board of County Commissioners.”