Sun Tran and Teamsters Local 104 representatives announced a new three-year contract Saturday night.
According to a press release from Sun Tran, 90% of teamster voted to approve a new labor contract with Sun Tran.
This is a great day for Tucson, Sun Tran, Teamsters Local 104 and especially for our bus riders, stated Sun Tran General Manager Ginger Stevens. Everyone worked so hard to make sure that we’d be able to continue to provide transit routing to our riders without any interruptions in service. And we were pleased to negotiate a three-year contract.
The teamsters haven't released the details yet, but city councilman Steve Kozachik explains what changed this time around. "We knew going into these negotiations and we knew the deadline of the contract was that we would have some money to allocate for this purpose so we didn't revisit 2015 when there was a strike and we were scrambling around for cash."
Two years later, the teamster entered the negotiations wanting to be treated fairly -- to have the same considerations as city employers. "We gave the city workers about 2 and a half million dollars and one time bonus and we're givIng that transit workers the same thing spread out over three years," said Kozachik.
What does this new deal mean for taxpayers and riders? "These dollars are going to the workers and the public is not going to be taking a hit as a result of it. It's not going to result in new taxes. It's not going to result in increased fares. It's money we have budgeted in for this purpose," said Kozachik.
All buses will continue to operate as scheduled.
