Roughly 140 bus drivers and mechanics in the Merrimack Valley went on strike early Wednesday morning, suspending all bus service across the region until further notice.
The strike comes after the contract for MeVa drivers and mechanics expired at midnight. There’s still some scaled-back on-demand service through its program miniMeVa.
The main sticking point is over Saturday work. Jim Marks, a business agent for Teamsters Local 170, said drivers currently have the option to work Saturdays for overtime, but MeVa wants to require them to work Saturday shifts while paying drivers at their regular rate.
“They [drivers] would lose money hourly, and people would be forced instead of having the option to work it [Saturdays]. They’d be forced, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid,” he said.
“They’ve had this in place for 20 years ... and it’s worked out well,” Marks added. “They’ve always filled the runs. They’ve never had issues.”
But MeVa’s CEO Noah Berger said each week, MeVa dispatchers “have to tie themselves in knots” to get drivers to fill open Saturday shifts.
He adds that Saturday shifts are not guaranteed overtime, unless an employee is working more than 40 hours. He also emphasized that the company is not eliminating overtime or forcing drivers to work Saturdays.
“It makes it very difficult logistically to grow our Saturday service and to provide the level of service on weekends that we know our communities want,” Berger said during a press conference on Wednesday. “We just went through a comprehensive planning process ... and that was the number-one request from our riders and stakeholders.”
The company’s proposed contract includes a 25.4% wage increase over the next three years and an additional $3 an hour for Saturday shifts, which Berger calls “a very generous offer…given that many government services are currently being cut back due to uncertain funding.”
The municipalities affected by the strike are Amesbury, Andover, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Merrimac, Methuen, Newburyport and Salisbury.
Local mayors are focused on how this will impact their residents. Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove said MeVa’s growth in ridership has been a point of pride. But “it makes this disruption in service even more damaging,” she said.
“Small communities like Amesbury are not positioned to provide alternate transportation and rely on MeVa as a critical service for residents, employees and visitors,” she said. “Before 9 a.m. this morning, we had already seen and heard from riders stranded at bus stops and struggling to get to work and medical appointments.”
Methuen Mayor David P. Beauregard Jr. said he’s mostly worried about the riders who depend on these buses every day.
“I respect the collective bargaining process and remain hopeful that both parties can reach an agreement as quickly as possible,” he said in a statement.
Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon emphasized that the work stoppage will negatively affect both riders and the drivers and mechanics who won’t be paid during the strike.
“Newburyport remains hopeful that negotiations will continue in good faith and a fair and reasonable resolution will be reached that fairly compensates MeVa drivers and mechanics, and allows MeVa to remain fiscally and operationally sustainable,” he said.
Berger said MeVa and Teamsters Local 170 will be back at the bargaining table Tuesday afternoon.
