Mayor Bloomberg brokered a sit-down between striking bus drivers and their bosses — but the factions say it’s pointless unless the city joins them at the table.
Union reps and bus owners are planning to meet at Gracie Mansion Monday, but they said the city should be there, since its new contracts are the main sticking point.
“The best way for this strike to end is with Local 1181, Mayor Bloomberg and the city’s bus companies in one room, talking candidly and in good faith,” said union boss Michael Cordiello. “Until that happens, the strike goes on.”
But the mayor — who has maintained that the issue is between private companies and their employees — will not have a rep there to help hammer out an agreement, a spokeswoman said. “The union is striking over the issue of employee protections. That is not something that the city can include in the contracts, and they and the bus companies must negotiate over that matter,” she said.
Bloomberg reiterated his stance yesterday on his weekly radio show. “It’s a private company that employs private-sector workers. They’ve got to negotiate something,” Bloomberg said.
“I’m sorry the people are out on strike. But they have a right to do it . . . I can’t take sides in this.”
The union is striking because it wants the city to reinstate a provision it stripped from a bid request for new contracts that ensures its workers keep their jobs regardless of which company gets the gig.
“We have been negotiating regularly with the unions over the last two weeks. But the dispute isn’t between us and the union. The dispute is between the union and the city over job protection,” said a spokeswoman for the companies.
The union claims it wanted to meet yesterday but the bus owners put it off until Monday.
One bus company, Pioneer Transportation Corp., sent a letter to union employees yesterday asking them to take pay cuts so it could submit lower bids for future contracts — in the event that the employee protections aren’t reinstated by the city.
Companies with unionized workers fear they’ll be undercut in the bidding by new companies whose employees aren’t paid union wages.
Striking workers in Brooklyn agreed the mayor needs to step up and get involved.
“Tell the mayor to fix it. He shouldn’t stay out of it,” said Marlyn Rose, 27, a bus matron for seven years.
The strike began on Jan. 16 and is the first one since 1979.
Only 2,689 routes were running in the city yesterday, out of about 7,700, the Department of Education said.
Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts