The Greater Dayton RTA’s CEO Mark Donaghy held a press conference on Dec. 22, at 3:30 p.m. to discuss ongoing negotiations with the ATU Local 1385 union. Agency management has presented yet another proposal for a renewal contract in a last-ditch effort to avoid the threatened strike by union members.
This is the fourth proposal RTA has offered to ATU negotiators since May.
RTA CEO Mark Donaghy admitted frustration with the union's excessive demands after the ATU submitted a contract proposal at the end of last week. The newest requests by the ATU, in part, would add more than $3 million in costs to the offer made by RTA leaders.
“The only way to accommodate their demands would be to reduce bus service to the public and in fact layoff employee members of Local 1385,” Donaghy said. “We can't in good conscience agree to such demands."
The RTA proposal delivered to the union Wednesday includes 2 percent wage increases in each of 3 years of the new contract and up to 10.5 percent wage increases for Project Mobility drivers. In addition, the RTA offered three options for the union to consider on how to structure an additional 2 percent cash incentive on top of the wage increases.
"It is our sincere hope that the union carefully considers our offer and ratifies a successor agreement so that we can return to focusing our efforts on serving the community,” Donaghy said.
Union leaders had not yet responded to the RTA proposal at the time of this release. The ATU has also not given to the necessary written notice to the State Employment Relations Board and to the RTA as required by state law in order to strike
