Roaring Fork Transportation Authority CEO, union official speak further on possible strike
Regan Mertz/The Aspen Times
Housing availability, cost of living, and management rights are all big reasons why Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) bus drivers are leaning toward a strike, according to a union leader.
“RFTA consultants advised management that housing should not exceed 30% of drivers’ income,” Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1774 President Ed Cortez said. “That number was originally proposed in past negotiations and did not come from us. That was from the advisors for RFTA management.”
On Thursday, word spread that RFTA’s union had submitted a petition with the Colorado Department of Labor to strike against its employer. The Department of Labor has a 20-day window to decide whether the union can strike.
The union has to give 40 days’ notice by law to strike.
One change union drivers are calling for is increasing maximum pay from the current $38.76 an hour to $46.41, but the two parties reached an impasse Sept. 9.
Cortez said Roaring Fork drivers consistently have a higher-than-average turnover, mainly due to costs associated with living in the valley.
Cortez, who was on the board of RFTA for seven years, said he has recently seen management become more rigid. RFTA Chief Operating Officer Kurt Ravenschlag recently took over for former CEO Dan Blankenship, who is now retired.
“Things have changed now that former Chief Operating Officer Dan Blankenship has left,” Cortez said. Ravenschlag had been part of negotiations in the past under Blankenship’s leadership until taking over as CEO.
“In 2020, when we first negotiated, we realized that we needed to adjust wages through collective bargaining, which we did by 5%,” Ravenschlag said. “In 2023, we adjusted wages by 17%. We went a total of 22% — above and beyond what ATU was requesting.”
Cortez said that before this most recent round of negotiations, the number of steps to reach the top tier of driver pay was a point of contention in negotiations. He said that during the last round of negotiations, RFTA promised to go from seven tiers, down to five to reach that top driver pay.
Ravenschlag said that the actual adjustment was from ten tiers down to seven.
“We are having discussions to get below seven tiers during these negotiations,” he said. “We ended up reducing those steps to six with our latest offer.”
With wage issues leading to turnover, Cortez said the winter months are when things get demanding, especially when taking into account weather conditions.
“In the past, the first week of winter is when we have seen the highest number of turnover,” he said. “The reality sinks in, and the drivers decide they do not want anything to do with it. It is a hard job.”
Rights of Management are another contentious issue that he mentioned, saying drivers should have a say when it comes to hiring, technology, scheduling, or anything that affects the drivers daily.
“RFTA is being steadfast to have the ability to do whatever they want, whenever they want, and to whomever they want,” he said. “We would like to have a say while at the bargaining table, so we know what to expect from management to help protect our drivers.”
Cortez also said that RFTA has put into place a Fatigue Monitoring System to monitor drivers. This monitoring system is a point of major contention.
The Fatigue Monitoring System is set up for when a driver shows up to work. The supervisor will make sure that the driver is not drowsy or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The monitoring system is a graphic test, which Cortez explains is similar to a video game.
“The system is very inconsistent and not accurate,” he said. “We did not want this system to have disciplinary consequences, which RFTA has agreed to — at least for now.”
“The system creates all sorts of graphics that appear on a screen, and then we (the drivers) have to select the correct graphic. There are like 12 graphics, and we have to select the one that is different,” he said. “This goes on for two minutes. If you do not pass, you can take it up to two more times. If you still fail, then you are not allowed to drive.”
Ravenschlag said that the system is put in place to establish a baseline for each driver.
“It doesn’t matter if you are really good or really bad at the monitoring system. It just establishes a baseline for that individual,” he said. “When you check in at the beginning of the day, it determines if you are operating within your normal range.”
He said that if a driver is outside of their normal range, the driver will check in with their supervisor. Ravenschlag said that out of 17,000 tests, only 15 have been sent home. All 15 received pay for that day.
“We do not want this to be viewed as a punitive action,” he said.
Drivers will be paid for up to two days for missing work due to fatigue. He said that RFTA offered drivers four days, but that was turned down during negotiations due to the contention that the monitoring system would remain in place.
Ravenschlag reiterated that the monitoring system is based on an individual’s baseline, and that there is no set high or low score. There is only the driver’s normal range.
Cortez said he heard that some drivers — who were not working at the time nor getting ready to work — decided to take the monitoring system test for fun after a night of drinking. He said that all of them passed.
“Neither AlertMeter nor anything like it is mandated or approved by any governing agency with regulatory authority over safety in public transportation or commercial vehicle operation,” Clifford Cajka, who has been a seasoned bus operator in the valley since 2004, said in an email. “The U.S. Department of Transportation and its cognate agencies have in no way even begun to test, approve, or implement any such device. RFTA bus drivers are the only true transit drivers in the world being forced to take this test daily.”
Ravenschlag denied these accusations and said that there has been a lot of misinformation going around.
Will Reinken, the attorney representing the ATU, said there have been drivers who have said that they have not felt good one day and that they do not want to drive, yet when they took the test, they did well.
“On the contrary, there have been instances where drivers have felt well but have not taken the monitoring test in a while, and failed it,” Reinken said. “We are committed to safety and there’s probably some kind of metric out there that will measure that, but the alert meter is not it.”
He said that the ATU needs to be part of that discussion but because of the Rights of Management put into place, that is not an option right now.
Ravenschlag said that even though management does not need to work with drivers on programs such as the Fatigue Monitoring System, they have been.
“One thing we would like to share with the public is this is giving the impression that the bus drivers are going to strike. We know there are a lot of people who depend on our services for employment, health care, and other essential services, and we will continue to meet those needs for them,” he said. “Right now, the ATU is not allowed to strike. They cannot strike, per their contract, in the 2024 calendar year.”
He said the soonest the ATU could strike would be January of 2025, but that the union would have to get permission from the Department of Labor and present that striking would not impact the health and safety of the community.
“We do not think the ATU will be able to prove that,” he said.
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