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"title": "VTA’s Legal Challenge to Ongoing Transit Strike Dealt Major Blow",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 7:50 p.m. Monday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authotrity’s legal challenge aiming to put a stop to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030951/vta-strike-underscores-silicon-valleys-widening-income-inequality\">ongoing strike by transit workers\u003c/a> in the South Bay has been dealt a major blow by a judge, according to newly filed court documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an order filed with the Santa Clara County Superior Court Monday, Judge Daniel T. Nishigaya rejected VTA’s request for a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the historic strike by more than 1,500 bus drivers and train operators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge allowed the case to proceed and set a court date for March 26, when the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, whose workers have been on strike since March 10, must argue why the court should not issue an injunction to halt the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the denial of the temporary restraining order means the courts are unlikely to intervene in the labor dispute before March 26, by which time the union and the VTA may have reached a new contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030759/vta-sues-to-end-historic-south-bay-transit-workers-strike\">filed its complaint\u003c/a> a week ago, seeking to force workers back to their jobs while negotiations over a new labor contract continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA has since submitted other supporting filings that helped reveal some of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031387/newsom-should-intervene-in-vta-strike-expert-says\">apparent bad blood\u003c/a> between the agency and its largest labor group, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Nishigaya rejected the VTA’s initial filing on technical grounds, stating it did not comply with state court rules. He then allowed the VTA to resubmit its request for a restraining order, which he denied Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So unfortunately for our passengers, that does not allow for the workers to come back and therefore service to be reinstated,” Greg Richardson, VTA deputy general manager, said Monday night during a news conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richardson said he’s hopeful that a resolution to the contract dispute could be settled before the March 26 court date, though he acknowledged the potential for the strike to drag on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030770\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030770\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dafina Cozine, a bus operator, joins a strike with hundreds of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority workers, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, on N. First Street, in San José, demanding a better contract and an increase in wages on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the union’s president, said members are frustrated VTA appears more focused on trying to win a court fight instead of working out a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They really haven’t made any efforts to resolve this issue,” he said. “They keep either going back to court or they’re hoping that the governor’s office is going to intervene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency and the ATU have been negotiating since August over a new contract, with the most recent contract expiring on March 3. The union \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">began striking\u003c/a> on March 10, grinding the agency’s main services to a halt and forcing tens of thousands of riders to find other ways to get around, including walking or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030951/vta-strike-underscores-silicon-valleys-widening-income-inequality\">paying more\u003c/a> money for rideshares like Lyft and Uber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders say their biggest aims are changing how arbitration is used when worker grievances are filed with the agency, as well as opposing proposed changes from VTA to reduce long-term injury or illness leave from two years to one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12031268 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250313_MUNI-OPERATOR-DAY_DMB_00008-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency and the union also remain very far apart on wages, with VTA offering the union members 9% raises over three years, and the union asking for 18% raises over the same period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After striking with no talks for several days last week, the union and VTA met with mediators on Thursday and Friday, as well as over the weekend, but no resolution was reached, according to both ATU and the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the talks over the weekend were “productive and promising, but unfortunately at the end there was really no resolution to any of the issues that are still outstanding,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do think things are closer than most people want to believe, we’ve just got to get it across the finish line,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, VTA’s General Manager Carolyn Gonot wrote to Gov. Gavin Newsom, asking him to intervene by appointing a board of investigation to look into the issues in the negotiations. A labor expert interviewed by KQED recommended \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031387/newsom-should-intervene-in-vta-strike-expert-says\">Newsom’s involvement\u003c/a> last week to help break the logjam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Governor’s intervention is clearly warranted here,” Gonot wrote to Newsom. “The abrupt disruption in service has created substantial uncertainty for VTA’s tens of thousands of daily riders and other members of the public who rely on VTA to transport their employees, students, and loved ones throughout the County and beyond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment. Richardson said the response from Newsom’s office was to encourage both the agency and the union to continue to negotiate in good faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under state law, the governor can appoint a board to investigate during a public transit strike or threat of a strike and have the board make a written report of the facts of the dispute within a week. The report would not contain recommendations and would be made public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to clarify when the judge’s initial order was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 7:50 p.m. Monday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authotrity’s legal challenge aiming to put a stop to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030951/vta-strike-underscores-silicon-valleys-widening-income-inequality\">ongoing strike by transit workers\u003c/a> in the South Bay has been dealt a major blow by a judge, according to newly filed court documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an order filed with the Santa Clara County Superior Court Monday, Judge Daniel T. Nishigaya rejected VTA’s request for a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the historic strike by more than 1,500 bus drivers and train operators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge allowed the case to proceed and set a court date for March 26, when the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, whose workers have been on strike since March 10, must argue why the court should not issue an injunction to halt the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the denial of the temporary restraining order means the courts are unlikely to intervene in the labor dispute before March 26, by which time the union and the VTA may have reached a new contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030759/vta-sues-to-end-historic-south-bay-transit-workers-strike\">filed its complaint\u003c/a> a week ago, seeking to force workers back to their jobs while negotiations over a new labor contract continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA has since submitted other supporting filings that helped reveal some of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031387/newsom-should-intervene-in-vta-strike-expert-says\">apparent bad blood\u003c/a> between the agency and its largest labor group, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Nishigaya rejected the VTA’s initial filing on technical grounds, stating it did not comply with state court rules. He then allowed the VTA to resubmit its request for a restraining order, which he denied Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So unfortunately for our passengers, that does not allow for the workers to come back and therefore service to be reinstated,” Greg Richardson, VTA deputy general manager, said Monday night during a news conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richardson said he’s hopeful that a resolution to the contract dispute could be settled before the March 26 court date, though he acknowledged the potential for the strike to drag on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030770\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030770\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dafina Cozine, a bus operator, joins a strike with hundreds of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority workers, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, on N. First Street, in San José, demanding a better contract and an increase in wages on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the union’s president, said members are frustrated VTA appears more focused on trying to win a court fight instead of working out a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They really haven’t made any efforts to resolve this issue,” he said. “They keep either going back to court or they’re hoping that the governor’s office is going to intervene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency and the ATU have been negotiating since August over a new contract, with the most recent contract expiring on March 3. The union \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">began striking\u003c/a> on March 10, grinding the agency’s main services to a halt and forcing tens of thousands of riders to find other ways to get around, including walking or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030951/vta-strike-underscores-silicon-valleys-widening-income-inequality\">paying more\u003c/a> money for rideshares like Lyft and Uber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders say their biggest aims are changing how arbitration is used when worker grievances are filed with the agency, as well as opposing proposed changes from VTA to reduce long-term injury or illness leave from two years to one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency and the union also remain very far apart on wages, with VTA offering the union members 9% raises over three years, and the union asking for 18% raises over the same period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After striking with no talks for several days last week, the union and VTA met with mediators on Thursday and Friday, as well as over the weekend, but no resolution was reached, according to both ATU and the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the talks over the weekend were “productive and promising, but unfortunately at the end there was really no resolution to any of the issues that are still outstanding,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do think things are closer than most people want to believe, we’ve just got to get it across the finish line,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, VTA’s General Manager Carolyn Gonot wrote to Gov. Gavin Newsom, asking him to intervene by appointing a board of investigation to look into the issues in the negotiations. A labor expert interviewed by KQED recommended \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031387/newsom-should-intervene-in-vta-strike-expert-says\">Newsom’s involvement\u003c/a> last week to help break the logjam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Governor’s intervention is clearly warranted here,” Gonot wrote to Newsom. “The abrupt disruption in service has created substantial uncertainty for VTA’s tens of thousands of daily riders and other members of the public who rely on VTA to transport their employees, students, and loved ones throughout the County and beyond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment. Richardson said the response from Newsom’s office was to encourage both the agency and the union to continue to negotiate in good faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under state law, the governor can appoint a board to investigate during a public transit strike or threat of a strike and have the board make a written report of the facts of the dispute within a week. The report would not contain recommendations and would be made public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to clarify when the judge’s initial order was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "vta-strike-underscores-silicon-valleys-widening-income-inequality",
"title": "How the VTA Strike Underscores Silicon Valley’s Widening Income Inequality",
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"content": "\u003cp>While higher wages are a key sticking point for the more than 1,500 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030780/bus-drivers-light-rail-operators-on-strike-in-the-south-bay\">bus drivers and train operators on strike\u003c/a> in the pricey Silicon Valley, tens of thousands of riders could also face increased costs as they figure out how else to get around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a problem that underscores the growing income inequality and cost of living in the South Bay, both for transit operators and the riders who depend on their service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely very inconvenient, and it’s going to affect my plans on going to work,” Chris Zin of Union City said of the strike, which ground \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> service to a halt this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zin took BART from Union City to Milpitas, where he was waiting Monday afternoon at a VTA bus stop near the station when he saw an electronic signboard notifying him about the lack of bus and light rail service. Because of that, he said he’ll need to pay to travel one stop farther on BART to Berryessa and then for a service like Uber or Lyft to take him the rest of the way to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to affect my income as well,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sudden loss of transit service is especially a burden on those with limited incomes, who often have few other options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030771\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12030771 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority workers, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, strike for the second day on North First Street in San José, demanding a better contract and an increase in wages on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a lawsuit the VTA filed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030759/vta-sues-to-end-historic-south-bay-transit-workers-strike\">try to halt the strike\u003c/a>, the agency said a shutdown in services “especially impacts certain sectors of the population including seniors, people with disabilities and low-income riders.” Nearly 21% of weekday VTA riders earn less than $15,000 a year, the agency said. More than 27% are going to or from school or college, and about 40% are going to or from work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We calculate that regular folks are spending $10,000 at least minimally on their transportation costs in our region. These are all really difficult things, especially when most people are now spending more than 50% of their income on housing alone,” said Russell Hancock, the president and CEO of think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. “So we’re a deeply burdened region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a strike, the added costs to transit riders can be one more hit to their checking accounts or even drive people away from using transit in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Very often it’s the people that are in the service professions that are reliant on transit, so this can hurt,” Hancock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12030759 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, the union representing the striking VTA workers, said he empathizes with riders, but he blamed the transit agency for what he called “bad faith” negotiations that ran for more than six months before \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">the strike was called\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel for those people. The best part of our job, being an operator, is getting someone from A to B, whether it’s their doctor’s appointment, grocery shopping, or even the school trips. We take pride in the work that we do,” Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unfortunate that the agency has pushed us to this point,” he said. “I hope people understand that this wasn’t something that we intended on doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA’s latest offer to ATU workers includes a 9% pay increase spread over three years, with 4% coming in the first year, followed by 3% and 2%, respectively. The offer represents half of what the union is seeking — an 18% raise over the same time period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA officials have said the agency can’t afford the union’s ask without cutting service and possibly cutting jobs, and believe their current offer is competitive, as it would ensure ATU members remain the second-highest paid transit workers in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hancock and some transit riders, meanwhile, said they understand that striking transit workers are also having trouble in an expensive place to live and work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030773\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030773\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A blacked-out sign at a railroad track stop on North First Street in San José on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sheila Mirrielees, who takes public transit from Mountain View to work in downtown Oakland, was planning on using a VTA light rail train to get home on Monday afternoon from Milpitas BART.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t listen to the news this morning. So now I have to take an Uber out to Mountain View,” Mirrielees said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As long as the strike continues, Mirrielees said she’ll stick to using Caltrain and BART for her commute. Despite the inconvenience, she said she’s on the side of the striking workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is such an expensive area to live that the wages just don’t keep up in most professions,” she said. “People just don’t go on strike for the fun of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Silicon Valley was once known for its wealth as a middle-class region, that has shifted dramatically in the last few decades, Hancock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030673\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striking VTA workers picket acknowledge a passing honking car outside the agency’s headquarters on North First Street in San José on March 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Now, we have the nation’s highest wealth and income gaps where the bulk of the wealth is held by a small number of people and a large number of people are barely getting by,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Joint Venture’s recently published annual report, \u003ca href=\"https://jointventure.org/publications/silicon-valley-index\">the Silicon Valley Index\u003c/a>, Hancock noted that while the region remains an “economic superpower,” it is simultaneously struggling to address critical issues like homelessness, stagnating wages and higher costs for just about everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most people will tell you that those are the conditions for instability and that those are the conditions where you start seeing blood in the streets,” Hancock said. “It’s just a very difficult place to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waiting for a ride on Monday afternoon, Preeti Sharma of Milpitas described her day as “not a good one” because she was tired from the daylight saving time shift and wanted to get home quickly, but was caught off guard by the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharma was catching a ride that day with her friend Helly Tanna, who takes an AC Transit bus into Milpitas BART, but due to the strike on Monday, the signboard Tanna usually checks to confirm her bus is coming was blank, even though the AC Transit is running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The confusion added some stress to her day, and she had to coordinate with her husband and their baby’s sleeping schedule to arrange a last-minute pickup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how long the strike will last, union and agency officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it will be long-lasting, then it might cause trouble,” Tanna said. “We’ll see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "South Bay bus drivers and train operators are striking in part for higher wages in a costly place to live. The shutdown is also hitting riders who depend on their service. ",
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"title": "How the VTA Strike Underscores Silicon Valley’s Widening Income Inequality | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>While higher wages are a key sticking point for the more than 1,500 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030780/bus-drivers-light-rail-operators-on-strike-in-the-south-bay\">bus drivers and train operators on strike\u003c/a> in the pricey Silicon Valley, tens of thousands of riders could also face increased costs as they figure out how else to get around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a problem that underscores the growing income inequality and cost of living in the South Bay, both for transit operators and the riders who depend on their service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely very inconvenient, and it’s going to affect my plans on going to work,” Chris Zin of Union City said of the strike, which ground \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> service to a halt this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zin took BART from Union City to Milpitas, where he was waiting Monday afternoon at a VTA bus stop near the station when he saw an electronic signboard notifying him about the lack of bus and light rail service. Because of that, he said he’ll need to pay to travel one stop farther on BART to Berryessa and then for a service like Uber or Lyft to take him the rest of the way to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to affect my income as well,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sudden loss of transit service is especially a burden on those with limited incomes, who often have few other options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030771\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12030771 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority workers, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, strike for the second day on North First Street in San José, demanding a better contract and an increase in wages on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a lawsuit the VTA filed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030759/vta-sues-to-end-historic-south-bay-transit-workers-strike\">try to halt the strike\u003c/a>, the agency said a shutdown in services “especially impacts certain sectors of the population including seniors, people with disabilities and low-income riders.” Nearly 21% of weekday VTA riders earn less than $15,000 a year, the agency said. More than 27% are going to or from school or college, and about 40% are going to or from work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We calculate that regular folks are spending $10,000 at least minimally on their transportation costs in our region. These are all really difficult things, especially when most people are now spending more than 50% of their income on housing alone,” said Russell Hancock, the president and CEO of think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. “So we’re a deeply burdened region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a strike, the added costs to transit riders can be one more hit to their checking accounts or even drive people away from using transit in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Very often it’s the people that are in the service professions that are reliant on transit, so this can hurt,” Hancock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, the union representing the striking VTA workers, said he empathizes with riders, but he blamed the transit agency for what he called “bad faith” negotiations that ran for more than six months before \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">the strike was called\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel for those people. The best part of our job, being an operator, is getting someone from A to B, whether it’s their doctor’s appointment, grocery shopping, or even the school trips. We take pride in the work that we do,” Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unfortunate that the agency has pushed us to this point,” he said. “I hope people understand that this wasn’t something that we intended on doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA’s latest offer to ATU workers includes a 9% pay increase spread over three years, with 4% coming in the first year, followed by 3% and 2%, respectively. The offer represents half of what the union is seeking — an 18% raise over the same time period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA officials have said the agency can’t afford the union’s ask without cutting service and possibly cutting jobs, and believe their current offer is competitive, as it would ensure ATU members remain the second-highest paid transit workers in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hancock and some transit riders, meanwhile, said they understand that striking transit workers are also having trouble in an expensive place to live and work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030773\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030773\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A blacked-out sign at a railroad track stop on North First Street in San José on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sheila Mirrielees, who takes public transit from Mountain View to work in downtown Oakland, was planning on using a VTA light rail train to get home on Monday afternoon from Milpitas BART.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t listen to the news this morning. So now I have to take an Uber out to Mountain View,” Mirrielees said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As long as the strike continues, Mirrielees said she’ll stick to using Caltrain and BART for her commute. Despite the inconvenience, she said she’s on the side of the striking workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is such an expensive area to live that the wages just don’t keep up in most professions,” she said. “People just don’t go on strike for the fun of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Silicon Valley was once known for its wealth as a middle-class region, that has shifted dramatically in the last few decades, Hancock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030673\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striking VTA workers picket acknowledge a passing honking car outside the agency’s headquarters on North First Street in San José on March 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Now, we have the nation’s highest wealth and income gaps where the bulk of the wealth is held by a small number of people and a large number of people are barely getting by,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Joint Venture’s recently published annual report, \u003ca href=\"https://jointventure.org/publications/silicon-valley-index\">the Silicon Valley Index\u003c/a>, Hancock noted that while the region remains an “economic superpower,” it is simultaneously struggling to address critical issues like homelessness, stagnating wages and higher costs for just about everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most people will tell you that those are the conditions for instability and that those are the conditions where you start seeing blood in the streets,” Hancock said. “It’s just a very difficult place to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waiting for a ride on Monday afternoon, Preeti Sharma of Milpitas described her day as “not a good one” because she was tired from the daylight saving time shift and wanted to get home quickly, but was caught off guard by the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharma was catching a ride that day with her friend Helly Tanna, who takes an AC Transit bus into Milpitas BART, but due to the strike on Monday, the signboard Tanna usually checks to confirm her bus is coming was blank, even though the AC Transit is running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The confusion added some stress to her day, and she had to coordinate with her husband and their baby’s sleeping schedule to arrange a last-minute pickup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how long the strike will last, union and agency officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it will be long-lasting, then it might cause trouble,” Tanna said. “We’ll see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Monday, more than 1,500 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drivers, light rail operators and other employees went on strike for the first time in the agency’s history after more than six months of failed negotiations over wages and other issues.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1945432953\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:33] It’s about nine a .m. on Tuesday, and we’re talking about the VTA strike. But first, I mean, just sort of stepping back here, how big of a role does the VTA play in getting people around the South Bay?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:02:10] Vta, the Valley Transportation Authority, runs a ton of busses and light rail all around Santa Clara County. They serve, according to the agency right now, about 100,000 people per day. They are the transit agency for this region. And so that means they serve the most heavily populated and dense areas and do all kinds of bus and light rail transfers at really popular places like Diridon Station in downtown San Jose or at these various BART stations. They also serve the outer reaches of the county, like Morgan Hill and Gilroy with bus service, and light rail extending into the eastern foothills and into different regions all around big and small cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:04] Okay, so we’re talking about 100,000 people across Santa Clara County who rely on the VTA every day. Now I wanna talk about the strike, which is affecting all of those folks who rely on this agency. Who exactly is on strike right now and what jobs are we talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:03:25] The Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 265, it’s a long name for a union, but that is the local chapter of a very large national transit union. And at VTA, Local 265 represents more than 1 ,500 currently, bus drivers and light rail train operators, as well as a series of other critical functions like maintenance workers who keep those trains and busses operating. as well as customer service agents and dispatchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Rodriguez \u003c/strong>[00:03:58] A lot of us here don’t want to, but we have to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:04:00] Melissa Rodriguez is a bus driver, and she’s been doing it for years with VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Rodriguez \u003c/strong>[00:04:06] It’s hard to live. A lot of people, a lot of drivers live really far away. They drive two to three hours just to get here, just to go to work, and it’s hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:04:16] And I talked to her outside of the Cerone yard. It’s a bus depot in North San Jose. And she’s essentially one of hundreds of workers yesterday who were taking shifts on picket lines and protesting essentially what they believe is an unfair contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Rodriguez \u003c/strong>[00:04:32] People that I’ve had on my bus, they were supportive. They said they had to find other avenues to go ahead and get to where they needed to get to. I feel really bad, but if we don’t do anything about this now, we’re just gonna continue to fight like this back and forth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:54] Yeah, let’s talk about that a little bit more, Joseph. Why exactly is this strike happening? And I guess how did we get here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:05:01] It’s been months and months of negotiations. ATU members were negotiating for a new contract. Their current contract expired in early March, but they’ve been negotiating with the agency to hammer out a new contract since August. Despite that, you know, more than six month negotiation period where for most weeks they were meeting twice a week, they were unable to get the contract completely figured out. And the two sides, the agency and the union, they remain really far apart on these critical issues like wages, as well as how employee grievances are handled and a couple of other issues that are important to the union right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:50] What exactly are these VTA workers asking for? What are their demands?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:05:57] Yeah, the biggest one right now, at least in terms of, you know, on paper, where they’re farthest apart is wages. So the VTA made its most recent offer to the union in late February, on February 28th, and they were offering a 9 % raise to these drivers, operators, and other workers over a period of three years. Meanwhile, on the other hand, you’ve got the union on that same day making their most recent ask. And for wages, they are asking for 18%. So they want a 6 % raise in each of the three years that this contract would cover. The union is asking for double what the agency is offering. So that is one of the biggest chasms, I guess, you could say. One of the bigger sticking points is the arbitration issue. So essentially, this is the way that the union and the agency work out disputes. When there is a problem with the way a worker was treated in the view of the union, they can bring a grievance to the agency. and that can sometimes go into the arbitration process. The ATU and the VTA have been meeting for months and negotiating multiple times a week up until this strike occurred. And the negotiation team for the union includes its president, Raj Singh, and he has been characterizing these negotiations in a really negative light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Raj Singh \u003c/strong>[00:07:13] Negotiations have not been in good faith, you know, the communication was very poor. The agency has stuck to their normal routine that it’s, you know, it’s used for every single negotiations that I’ve seen in my 17 years of employment here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:07:29] He said that the agency is wasting the union’s time for the first several months of the negotiations and not addressing real issues and not making what the union considers to be real substantive offers in terms of wages. He has kind of lambasted the agency and claimed that they are the reason this strike is happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Raj Singh \u003c/strong>[00:07:49] We’re asking for the agency to, you know, present something that they believe is fair. We want to get this done sooner rather than later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:01] Wow, strong words there. And also seems like there’s just a lot going on here. The union and the agency being very far apart on wages and this sort of conflict resolution process. I mean, how has VTA responded to all of this and especially these demands?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:08:24] Yeah, I mean, I think there’s been some nearly equally strong words coming from the VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Greg Richardson \u003c/strong>[00:08:32] Let me first start by saying how disappointed we are with the action taken last night by ATU Local 265 with their communication to our board of their intent to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:08:45] you’ve got the deputy general manager of VTA, his name’s Greg Richardson, and he has, you know, been interviewed a million times by local media as well as held press conferences where he has decried what he calls a decision, a choice by the union to basically abandon a hundred thousand people every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Greg Richardson \u003c/strong>[00:09:05] you know these are folks who are trying to get to their job and if they’re not aware of it and they’re having a clock in clock out i mean this is going to be something that that could impact them dramatically and uh… it’s not something that we want to see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:09:18] The other thing that Greg Richardson and VTA spokespeople have noted is that there simply in their view is not enough money in the piggy bank, so to speak, to meet the union where they are asking to be met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Greg Richardson \u003c/strong>[00:09:33] ATU’s demand is for a 19 .1 % increase over three years. The reality, with a wage increase at this level, or anything close to it, would be service cuts throughout our system and the likely elimination of positions across VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:09:50] Richardson has said, you know, it’s going to be a little bit of a fiscal challenge for the agency to be able to meet the offer that they’ve already made at 9%, but they’re willing to do that and they are committed to doing that without having to cut, first of all, any employees or cut any service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Greg Richardson \u003c/strong>[00:10:06] You know, do we want to keep the ridership going? Of course. I mean, the momentum that VTA has gained over the last 18 to 24 months has been dramatic, but it’s more important about the impact it’s going to have on those riders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:21] And as we’re talking Joseph, it’s day two now of the strike. How has it gone so far?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:10:27] Yeah, day one was interesting. Spirits were high, a lot of strikes with labor unions often start early in the morning, and there’s no exception here. You had workers kind of in line with their shifts, right? Because bus drivers and train operators, they get up before the crack of dawn in some cases. And so you had folks picketing outside of five locations that are run by the VTA, including their headquarters in North San Jose, and you had folks out there in the dark of night, essentially around four in the morning. beginning their picketing and their chanting of slogans and, you know, basically just making a public show of force that they won’t be ignored and that their demands are serious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">There was an incident in the morning at the Cerone yard where there’s this pickup truck driven by what ATU says was a VTA supervisor that kind of made contact with a couple of the picketers. And there was a dispute about whether he collided with them on purpose or what was happening. But it was a really messy situation. A couple of people got sent to the hospital just to make sure they were okay with some minor injuries. but overall that incident really increased the tensions. VTA, for its side, is saying that the picketing workers were at fault, essentially blocking the car’s way, the pickup truck’s way, and kind of getting in the way of the car on purpose. So there seems to be a lot of disagreement, but either way, nobody is happy about this incident with the pickup truck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:53] I mean, what impact is this having so far on riders in the county, Joseph? I mean, because obviously no one, it seems like, is driving the busses. So are none of the trains or busses operating right now? I mean, what does this all mean for riders?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:12:14] Yeah, not a single bus or train, light rail train, from VTA is running right now and has not been running since just after midnight on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Sheila Mirrielees \u003c/strong>[00:12:23] And so there’s a strike that I didn’t listen to the news this morning. So now I have to take an Uber out to Mountain View.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:12:32] Sheila Mirrelees of Mountain View took Cal Train and BART into work in Oakland in the morning but was coming back through BART and planned to take a VTA light rail train back home in the afternoon and she found out after walking the footbridge over to the light rail station that there were going to be no trains this week or that day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Sheila Mirrielees \u003c/strong>[00:12:53] I saw people walking back but they didn’t tell me so yeah, I walked all the way over there, so\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:12:58] A lot of people have mixed feelings about when a public agency workforce like this goes on strike and affects so many people on a daily basis. But some of those people who were directly affected, like Sheila, still have empathy and understanding for this workforce and what they’ve chosen to do here to get a better contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Sheila Mirrielees \u003c/strong>[00:13:19] People just don’t go on strike for the fun of it. There’s something going on in their lives or they really need to for the most part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:30] Joseph, you’ve talked to both the union and the VTA at this point. Any sense on how long this could last?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:13:40] That’s the million dollar question, but the short answer is no. There’s no big insight or secret here. The VTA says, hey, we’re ready for the union to come back to the table. And the union says, hey, we’re waiting for the VTA to improve its offer and call us back to the table. So there’s a little bit of finger pointing and a little bit of inaction, it seems, at this moment. It’s unclear how long that’ll last. You know, the union has not said if there’s a limit on how long they plan to strike. And the agency itself has not said, you know, if they would change their approach after a certain amount of time of the strike continuing. So it’s really unclear.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Monday, more than 1,500 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drivers, light rail operators and other employees went on strike for the first time in the agency’s history after more than six months of failed negotiations over wages and other issues.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1945432953\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:33] It’s about nine a .m. on Tuesday, and we’re talking about the VTA strike. But first, I mean, just sort of stepping back here, how big of a role does the VTA play in getting people around the South Bay?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:02:10] Vta, the Valley Transportation Authority, runs a ton of busses and light rail all around Santa Clara County. They serve, according to the agency right now, about 100,000 people per day. They are the transit agency for this region. And so that means they serve the most heavily populated and dense areas and do all kinds of bus and light rail transfers at really popular places like Diridon Station in downtown San Jose or at these various BART stations. They also serve the outer reaches of the county, like Morgan Hill and Gilroy with bus service, and light rail extending into the eastern foothills and into different regions all around big and small cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:04] Okay, so we’re talking about 100,000 people across Santa Clara County who rely on the VTA every day. Now I wanna talk about the strike, which is affecting all of those folks who rely on this agency. Who exactly is on strike right now and what jobs are we talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:03:25] The Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 265, it’s a long name for a union, but that is the local chapter of a very large national transit union. And at VTA, Local 265 represents more than 1 ,500 currently, bus drivers and light rail train operators, as well as a series of other critical functions like maintenance workers who keep those trains and busses operating. as well as customer service agents and dispatchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Rodriguez \u003c/strong>[00:03:58] A lot of us here don’t want to, but we have to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:04:00] Melissa Rodriguez is a bus driver, and she’s been doing it for years with VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Rodriguez \u003c/strong>[00:04:06] It’s hard to live. A lot of people, a lot of drivers live really far away. They drive two to three hours just to get here, just to go to work, and it’s hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:04:16] And I talked to her outside of the Cerone yard. It’s a bus depot in North San Jose. And she’s essentially one of hundreds of workers yesterday who were taking shifts on picket lines and protesting essentially what they believe is an unfair contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Rodriguez \u003c/strong>[00:04:32] People that I’ve had on my bus, they were supportive. They said they had to find other avenues to go ahead and get to where they needed to get to. I feel really bad, but if we don’t do anything about this now, we’re just gonna continue to fight like this back and forth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:54] Yeah, let’s talk about that a little bit more, Joseph. Why exactly is this strike happening? And I guess how did we get here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:05:01] It’s been months and months of negotiations. ATU members were negotiating for a new contract. Their current contract expired in early March, but they’ve been negotiating with the agency to hammer out a new contract since August. Despite that, you know, more than six month negotiation period where for most weeks they were meeting twice a week, they were unable to get the contract completely figured out. And the two sides, the agency and the union, they remain really far apart on these critical issues like wages, as well as how employee grievances are handled and a couple of other issues that are important to the union right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:50] What exactly are these VTA workers asking for? What are their demands?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:05:57] Yeah, the biggest one right now, at least in terms of, you know, on paper, where they’re farthest apart is wages. So the VTA made its most recent offer to the union in late February, on February 28th, and they were offering a 9 % raise to these drivers, operators, and other workers over a period of three years. Meanwhile, on the other hand, you’ve got the union on that same day making their most recent ask. And for wages, they are asking for 18%. So they want a 6 % raise in each of the three years that this contract would cover. The union is asking for double what the agency is offering. So that is one of the biggest chasms, I guess, you could say. One of the bigger sticking points is the arbitration issue. So essentially, this is the way that the union and the agency work out disputes. When there is a problem with the way a worker was treated in the view of the union, they can bring a grievance to the agency. and that can sometimes go into the arbitration process. The ATU and the VTA have been meeting for months and negotiating multiple times a week up until this strike occurred. And the negotiation team for the union includes its president, Raj Singh, and he has been characterizing these negotiations in a really negative light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Raj Singh \u003c/strong>[00:07:13] Negotiations have not been in good faith, you know, the communication was very poor. The agency has stuck to their normal routine that it’s, you know, it’s used for every single negotiations that I’ve seen in my 17 years of employment here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:07:29] He said that the agency is wasting the union’s time for the first several months of the negotiations and not addressing real issues and not making what the union considers to be real substantive offers in terms of wages. He has kind of lambasted the agency and claimed that they are the reason this strike is happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Raj Singh \u003c/strong>[00:07:49] We’re asking for the agency to, you know, present something that they believe is fair. We want to get this done sooner rather than later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:01] Wow, strong words there. And also seems like there’s just a lot going on here. The union and the agency being very far apart on wages and this sort of conflict resolution process. I mean, how has VTA responded to all of this and especially these demands?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:08:24] Yeah, I mean, I think there’s been some nearly equally strong words coming from the VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Greg Richardson \u003c/strong>[00:08:32] Let me first start by saying how disappointed we are with the action taken last night by ATU Local 265 with their communication to our board of their intent to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:08:45] you’ve got the deputy general manager of VTA, his name’s Greg Richardson, and he has, you know, been interviewed a million times by local media as well as held press conferences where he has decried what he calls a decision, a choice by the union to basically abandon a hundred thousand people every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Greg Richardson \u003c/strong>[00:09:05] you know these are folks who are trying to get to their job and if they’re not aware of it and they’re having a clock in clock out i mean this is going to be something that that could impact them dramatically and uh… it’s not something that we want to see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:09:18] The other thing that Greg Richardson and VTA spokespeople have noted is that there simply in their view is not enough money in the piggy bank, so to speak, to meet the union where they are asking to be met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Greg Richardson \u003c/strong>[00:09:33] ATU’s demand is for a 19 .1 % increase over three years. The reality, with a wage increase at this level, or anything close to it, would be service cuts throughout our system and the likely elimination of positions across VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:09:50] Richardson has said, you know, it’s going to be a little bit of a fiscal challenge for the agency to be able to meet the offer that they’ve already made at 9%, but they’re willing to do that and they are committed to doing that without having to cut, first of all, any employees or cut any service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Greg Richardson \u003c/strong>[00:10:06] You know, do we want to keep the ridership going? Of course. I mean, the momentum that VTA has gained over the last 18 to 24 months has been dramatic, but it’s more important about the impact it’s going to have on those riders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:21] And as we’re talking Joseph, it’s day two now of the strike. How has it gone so far?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:10:27] Yeah, day one was interesting. Spirits were high, a lot of strikes with labor unions often start early in the morning, and there’s no exception here. You had workers kind of in line with their shifts, right? Because bus drivers and train operators, they get up before the crack of dawn in some cases. And so you had folks picketing outside of five locations that are run by the VTA, including their headquarters in North San Jose, and you had folks out there in the dark of night, essentially around four in the morning. beginning their picketing and their chanting of slogans and, you know, basically just making a public show of force that they won’t be ignored and that their demands are serious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">There was an incident in the morning at the Cerone yard where there’s this pickup truck driven by what ATU says was a VTA supervisor that kind of made contact with a couple of the picketers. And there was a dispute about whether he collided with them on purpose or what was happening. But it was a really messy situation. A couple of people got sent to the hospital just to make sure they were okay with some minor injuries. but overall that incident really increased the tensions. VTA, for its side, is saying that the picketing workers were at fault, essentially blocking the car’s way, the pickup truck’s way, and kind of getting in the way of the car on purpose. So there seems to be a lot of disagreement, but either way, nobody is happy about this incident with the pickup truck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:53] I mean, what impact is this having so far on riders in the county, Joseph? I mean, because obviously no one, it seems like, is driving the busses. So are none of the trains or busses operating right now? I mean, what does this all mean for riders?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:12:14] Yeah, not a single bus or train, light rail train, from VTA is running right now and has not been running since just after midnight on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Sheila Mirrielees \u003c/strong>[00:12:23] And so there’s a strike that I didn’t listen to the news this morning. So now I have to take an Uber out to Mountain View.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:12:32] Sheila Mirrelees of Mountain View took Cal Train and BART into work in Oakland in the morning but was coming back through BART and planned to take a VTA light rail train back home in the afternoon and she found out after walking the footbridge over to the light rail station that there were going to be no trains this week or that day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Sheila Mirrielees \u003c/strong>[00:12:53] I saw people walking back but they didn’t tell me so yeah, I walked all the way over there, so\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:12:58] A lot of people have mixed feelings about when a public agency workforce like this goes on strike and affects so many people on a daily basis. But some of those people who were directly affected, like Sheila, still have empathy and understanding for this workforce and what they’ve chosen to do here to get a better contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Sheila Mirrielees \u003c/strong>[00:13:19] People just don’t go on strike for the fun of it. There’s something going on in their lives or they really need to for the most part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:30] Joseph, you’ve talked to both the union and the VTA at this point. Any sense on how long this could last?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Joseph Geha \u003c/strong>[00:13:40] That’s the million dollar question, but the short answer is no. There’s no big insight or secret here. The VTA says, hey, we’re ready for the union to come back to the table. And the union says, hey, we’re waiting for the VTA to improve its offer and call us back to the table. So there’s a little bit of finger pointing and a little bit of inaction, it seems, at this moment. It’s unclear how long that’ll last. You know, the union has not said if there’s a limit on how long they plan to strike. And the agency itself has not said, you know, if they would change their approach after a certain amount of time of the strike continuing. So it’s really unclear.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As South Bay transit workers continue \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">a historic strike\u003c/a> for a second day over stalled contract talks, halting bus and train service in the region, the agency that employs them is suing to force them back to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> filed a complaint late Monday night against the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, alleging the strike is a breach of contract and an act of bad faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This abrupt disruption in service has created substantial uncertainty for VTA’s tens of thousands of daily riders and other members of the public who rely on VTA to transport their employees, students, and loved ones throughout the county and beyond,” reads the complaint filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,500 ATU workers have walked off their jobs as bus drivers, train operators, maintenance technicians, dispatchers and customer service agents. The VTA is asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the strike, the first in the 30-year history of the transit agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This strike is having an overwhelming impact on the community, and we are working on all efforts to support our riders getting to work, school, medical appointments, and events,” VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot said in a statement. “Getting our buses and trains rolling is imperative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency’s complaint alleges that the collective bargaining agreement with the ATU prohibits a strike or work stoppage not only during the life of the previous contract, which expired on March 3 but also during ongoing negotiations for a new contract.[aside postID=news_12029584 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240409-VTAfile-02-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']“VTA recognizes that ATU employees have the right to strike so long as they comply with the law and the collective bargaining agreement,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “However, ATU has failed to meet those requirements prior to initiating their strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of ATU Local 265, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit on Tuesday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency and the union began new contract negotiations in August and even went through a round of mediation at the start of this year, but the two sides are still far apart on the critical issue of wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA’s latest offer, made on Feb. 28, includes a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same day, the union requested an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials have also said they are seeking a fairer arbitration process for workers who file grievances with the VTA and other deal points, including long-term leave due to injury and illness, which the agency is seeking to cut from two years to one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the strike, VTA Deputy General Manager Greg Richardson \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030160/south-bay-transit-workers-call-strike-set-to-halt-vta-bus-and-rail-service\">characterized the union’s wage demands\u003c/a> as “unreasonable” and said the agency can’t afford that level of pay increases without reducing services and possibly cutting jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a developing story, and it will be updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As South Bay transit workers continue \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">a historic strike\u003c/a> for a second day over stalled contract talks, halting bus and train service in the region, the agency that employs them is suing to force them back to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> filed a complaint late Monday night against the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, alleging the strike is a breach of contract and an act of bad faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This abrupt disruption in service has created substantial uncertainty for VTA’s tens of thousands of daily riders and other members of the public who rely on VTA to transport their employees, students, and loved ones throughout the county and beyond,” reads the complaint filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,500 ATU workers have walked off their jobs as bus drivers, train operators, maintenance technicians, dispatchers and customer service agents. The VTA is asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the strike, the first in the 30-year history of the transit agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This strike is having an overwhelming impact on the community, and we are working on all efforts to support our riders getting to work, school, medical appointments, and events,” VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot said in a statement. “Getting our buses and trains rolling is imperative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency’s complaint alleges that the collective bargaining agreement with the ATU prohibits a strike or work stoppage not only during the life of the previous contract, which expired on March 3 but also during ongoing negotiations for a new contract.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“VTA recognizes that ATU employees have the right to strike so long as they comply with the law and the collective bargaining agreement,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “However, ATU has failed to meet those requirements prior to initiating their strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of ATU Local 265, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit on Tuesday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency and the union began new contract negotiations in August and even went through a round of mediation at the start of this year, but the two sides are still far apart on the critical issue of wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA’s latest offer, made on Feb. 28, includes a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same day, the union requested an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials have also said they are seeking a fairer arbitration process for workers who file grievances with the VTA and other deal points, including long-term leave due to injury and illness, which the agency is seeking to cut from two years to one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the strike, VTA Deputy General Manager Greg Richardson \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030160/south-bay-transit-workers-call-strike-set-to-halt-vta-bus-and-rail-service\">characterized the union’s wage demands\u003c/a> as “unreasonable” and said the agency can’t afford that level of pay increases without reducing services and possibly cutting jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a developing story, and it will be updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>More than 1,500 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> employees walked off the job on Monday, bringing transit in the South Bay to a halt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bus drivers, light rail train operators, maintenance workers, dispatchers and other members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 began picketing in the dark, early morning hours outside of five VTA yards and offices. The strike comes after a monthslong contract dispute with the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though there have been close calls before, Monday’s strike marks the first work stoppage in VTA’s 30-year history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While spirits among striking workers were high most of the day, a collision between a pickup truck and union members near a bus yard around 9 a.m. put some on edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials say the strike is meant to show the agency that workers are serious about their demands for a better contract, after negotiating for more than six months over wages, benefits and other issues, such as how employee grievances are handled in arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people are very appreciative that we’re putting up a fight against the agency that’s mistreated us for decades now,” Raj Singh, the union’s president, said Monday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Baypointe light rail platform in San José is vacant on Monday, March 10, 2025, the first day of a strike by the union representing VTA’s bus drivers and light rail train operators. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The strike’s first day meant roughly 100,000 transit riders who depended on trains and buses to get around the county had to find alternative transportation. The union authorized a strike in early February and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030160/south-bay-transit-workers-call-strike-set-to-halt-vta-bus-and-rail-service\">late last week warned\u003c/a> it would begin the work stoppage if a deal wasn’t reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s affecting a lot of people, it’s affecting the community,” Melissa Rodriguez, a striking bus driver, said Monday while picketing outside the VTA’s Cerone Yard bus depot in North San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the strike is a big step, one she didn’t anticipate would come to pass, but it’s needed to gain what workers deserve in a high-cost area such as Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12030160 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-33-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel really bad. But if we don’t do anything about this now, we’re just gonna continue to fight like this back and forth,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though some deal points have been settled in negotiations that began in August, the two sides are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029584/south-bay-transit-strike-threat-looms-over-vta-talks-after-contract-expires\">still far apart\u003c/a> on the critical issue of wages, even as the union’s previous contract expired last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA negotiators offered their last offer to the union on Feb. 28, which included a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same day, the union requested an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA has made multiple modifications in the proposal it’s made in the last couple of weeks, while ATU appears to refuse to make any changes whatsoever to its demand,” Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said Monday. “There’s no way that VTA can meet the specific wage increase demands that the union is asking for without having to cut service or cut jobs, and that’s just not a tenable option.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said the agency must improve its offer by increasing wages and granting the union more favorable arbitration terms in worker disputes with VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030673\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striking VTA workers picket acknowledge a passing honking car outside the agency’s headquarters on North First Street in San José on March 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re waiting on the agency to call us to start these discussions again. We want to get this done sooner rather than later,” Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tensions increased when a low-speed collision occurred outside the Cerone Yard. Singh said a pickup truck leaving the yard was driven by a VTA supervisor who became impatient with picketers in the crosswalk. The driver accelerated as he turned onto the street, and union members who were in the road made contact with the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A partial video of the incident, shared with KQED by union members, shows two people in bright vests falling after colliding with the truck in traffic lanes, with several others close by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross said she couldn’t confirm whether the driver was a VTA employee, and said the San José Police Department is investigating the collision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said two people were taken to the hospital — one for injuries to their foot and the other due to swelling on their neck.[aside postID=news_12029843 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240620-AffordableHousingPresser-10-BL_qed-1-1020x680.jpg']“People are already infuriated by the fact that the agency’s been mistreating them,” Singh said. “That’s only going to escalate things and make things worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross said the agency is concerned about picketers blocking the entrances of VTA work locations to other employees and being in traffic lanes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We respect the union’s right to strike and to protest and to picket, but we would hope that they would do it in a safe manner and not be unlawfully blocking people from coming to work, unlawfully blocking traffic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside VTA headquarters on North First Street, picketers chanted slogans just across the street from the empty River Oaks light rail stop while passing cars blared their horns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corena Medina, a striking VTA customer service agent, said striking workers have empathy for the riders they serve daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before we can be of service to anyone else, we must be able to take care of ourselves and be well,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Negotiators for the agency and the union met Sunday to try and avert the strike, but the meeting was brief and nothing meaningful was settled, according to the agency and the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medina said workers want a solution but are resolved to strike as long as they need to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The biggest hope we have right now is that we can come back to the table with VTA,” she said. “We can try to figure out how we can come to some type of an agreement so that we can get back out there and keep this county rolling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>More than 1,500 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> employees walked off the job on Monday, bringing transit in the South Bay to a halt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bus drivers, light rail train operators, maintenance workers, dispatchers and other members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 began picketing in the dark, early morning hours outside of five VTA yards and offices. The strike comes after a monthslong contract dispute with the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though there have been close calls before, Monday’s strike marks the first work stoppage in VTA’s 30-year history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While spirits among striking workers were high most of the day, a collision between a pickup truck and union members near a bus yard around 9 a.m. put some on edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials say the strike is meant to show the agency that workers are serious about their demands for a better contract, after negotiating for more than six months over wages, benefits and other issues, such as how employee grievances are handled in arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people are very appreciative that we’re putting up a fight against the agency that’s mistreated us for decades now,” Raj Singh, the union’s president, said Monday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Baypointe light rail platform in San José is vacant on Monday, March 10, 2025, the first day of a strike by the union representing VTA’s bus drivers and light rail train operators. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The strike’s first day meant roughly 100,000 transit riders who depended on trains and buses to get around the county had to find alternative transportation. The union authorized a strike in early February and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030160/south-bay-transit-workers-call-strike-set-to-halt-vta-bus-and-rail-service\">late last week warned\u003c/a> it would begin the work stoppage if a deal wasn’t reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s affecting a lot of people, it’s affecting the community,” Melissa Rodriguez, a striking bus driver, said Monday while picketing outside the VTA’s Cerone Yard bus depot in North San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the strike is a big step, one she didn’t anticipate would come to pass, but it’s needed to gain what workers deserve in a high-cost area such as Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel really bad. But if we don’t do anything about this now, we’re just gonna continue to fight like this back and forth,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though some deal points have been settled in negotiations that began in August, the two sides are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029584/south-bay-transit-strike-threat-looms-over-vta-talks-after-contract-expires\">still far apart\u003c/a> on the critical issue of wages, even as the union’s previous contract expired last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA negotiators offered their last offer to the union on Feb. 28, which included a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same day, the union requested an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA has made multiple modifications in the proposal it’s made in the last couple of weeks, while ATU appears to refuse to make any changes whatsoever to its demand,” Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said Monday. “There’s no way that VTA can meet the specific wage increase demands that the union is asking for without having to cut service or cut jobs, and that’s just not a tenable option.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said the agency must improve its offer by increasing wages and granting the union more favorable arbitration terms in worker disputes with VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030673\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striking VTA workers picket acknowledge a passing honking car outside the agency’s headquarters on North First Street in San José on March 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re waiting on the agency to call us to start these discussions again. We want to get this done sooner rather than later,” Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tensions increased when a low-speed collision occurred outside the Cerone Yard. Singh said a pickup truck leaving the yard was driven by a VTA supervisor who became impatient with picketers in the crosswalk. The driver accelerated as he turned onto the street, and union members who were in the road made contact with the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A partial video of the incident, shared with KQED by union members, shows two people in bright vests falling after colliding with the truck in traffic lanes, with several others close by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross said she couldn’t confirm whether the driver was a VTA employee, and said the San José Police Department is investigating the collision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said two people were taken to the hospital — one for injuries to their foot and the other due to swelling on their neck.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“People are already infuriated by the fact that the agency’s been mistreating them,” Singh said. “That’s only going to escalate things and make things worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross said the agency is concerned about picketers blocking the entrances of VTA work locations to other employees and being in traffic lanes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We respect the union’s right to strike and to protest and to picket, but we would hope that they would do it in a safe manner and not be unlawfully blocking people from coming to work, unlawfully blocking traffic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside VTA headquarters on North First Street, picketers chanted slogans just across the street from the empty River Oaks light rail stop while passing cars blared their horns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corena Medina, a striking VTA customer service agent, said striking workers have empathy for the riders they serve daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before we can be of service to anyone else, we must be able to take care of ourselves and be well,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Negotiators for the agency and the union met Sunday to try and avert the strike, but the meeting was brief and nothing meaningful was settled, according to the agency and the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medina said workers want a solution but are resolved to strike as long as they need to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The biggest hope we have right now is that we can come back to the table with VTA,” she said. “We can try to figure out how we can come to some type of an agreement so that we can get back out there and keep this county rolling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated at 3:22 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,500 South Bay transit workers plan to strike beginning Monday, disrupting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> bus and rail service, if a new contract deal cannot be reached, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, informed the VTA Board of Directors of the decision at its meeting on Thursday evening, more than six months after the two sides began negotiations over a new pay and benefits contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No ATU member will be rolling buses, or the light rail, or any other service provided by ATU members,” Singh said. “We hope, either today or in the near future, you guys give us something that is fair and equitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union’s bus drivers, train operators, maintenance workers and dispatchers make up about 70% of VTA’s total workforce, and a strike could effectively grind the entire agency’s services to a halt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strike is scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday. VTA officials said Friday that bus and light rail service will not run starting Monday morning if the strike occurs, and some routes may be interrupted if they are normally scheduled to run past midnight on Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030165\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030165\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority card machine at the Ohlone/Chynoweth Light Rail Station in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Greg Richardson, VTA’s deputy general manager, said during a Friday press conference that the agency is disappointed with ATU for its decision to announce an intent to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regret the impact this will have on the tens of thousands of our passengers and customers who rely on our service every day to get to school, to get to work and medical appointments,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is warning riders to begin making alternative transportation plans like carpooling, ridesharing, taking regional rail, walking and biking. VTA paratransit services are staffed by workers of another union and would not be affected, the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ATU and VTA began contract talks in August, and while several deal points have been hammered out since then, the two parties \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029584/south-bay-transit-strike-threat-looms-over-vta-talks-after-contract-expires\">remain far apart\u003c/a> on the critical issue of wages. There are also disputes about how the agency should handle employee grievances in arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12006407 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240925-VTARRAIGN-JG-2-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA negotiators offered their “last, best and final” offer to the union on Feb. 28, which included a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years. When compounded over time, agency officials said the total increase is 9.3%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union, on the same day, made its most recent ask of the agency, which is for an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year, according to Singh. When compounded over time, agency officials said the union’s ask would amount to 19.1%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richardson said the offer VTA has made to the union will maintain their status as the second-highest paid transit employees in the Bay Area, and could be put into place without any cuts to service or layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ATU’s demands are simply too high of a cost for the agency to meet, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality — with a wage increase at that level or anything close to it — would be service cuts throughout our system and the likely elimination of positions across VTA,” he said. “This is not a direction that we are willing to go. We will not cut service to accommodate unreasonable demands.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the board meeting Thursday night, Singh said the union has “not had any meaningful conversation with the agency in regards to reaching terms on a new deal” since Feb. 28.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Singh characterized communication from the agency as “very poor” and accused VTA of not acting in good faith, which an agency spokesperson contested. Singh did not respond to requests for comment Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drives on Meridian Avenue in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how many of the estimated 100,000 daily riders that use VTA’s bus and light rail services are already aware of the potential strike. Richardson said the agency has been notifying riders with signage at stations and sending notices to schools and cities in Santa Clara County to try and reach as many people as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are folks who are trying to get to their job. And if they’re not aware of it and they’re having to clock in, clock out, this is going to be something that could impact them dramatically. And it’s not something that we want to see,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adele Cuevas of Santa Clara stepped off a light rail stop near Levi’s Stadium Friday afternoon on her way home from work. She’s an in-home caretaker and relies on the VTA’s light rail and buses to get to her clients all over the South Bay. She was notified about the possible strike on the VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m probably gonna lose a lot of clients because I can only do ones that are closer to me,” Cuevas said about the possible strike. “I don’t think it should happen, because it does help those of us out that have to use the transportation. It does suck, but it is what it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Friday afternoon, Richardson said no talks were scheduled over the weekend between the union and the agency but didn’t rule out that the strike could still be averted with a last-minute deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have always maintained that we are open to having those conversations with [ATU] to find a solution,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated at 3:22 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,500 South Bay transit workers plan to strike beginning Monday, disrupting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> bus and rail service, if a new contract deal cannot be reached, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, informed the VTA Board of Directors of the decision at its meeting on Thursday evening, more than six months after the two sides began negotiations over a new pay and benefits contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No ATU member will be rolling buses, or the light rail, or any other service provided by ATU members,” Singh said. “We hope, either today or in the near future, you guys give us something that is fair and equitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union’s bus drivers, train operators, maintenance workers and dispatchers make up about 70% of VTA’s total workforce, and a strike could effectively grind the entire agency’s services to a halt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strike is scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday. VTA officials said Friday that bus and light rail service will not run starting Monday morning if the strike occurs, and some routes may be interrupted if they are normally scheduled to run past midnight on Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030165\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030165\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority card machine at the Ohlone/Chynoweth Light Rail Station in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Greg Richardson, VTA’s deputy general manager, said during a Friday press conference that the agency is disappointed with ATU for its decision to announce an intent to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regret the impact this will have on the tens of thousands of our passengers and customers who rely on our service every day to get to school, to get to work and medical appointments,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is warning riders to begin making alternative transportation plans like carpooling, ridesharing, taking regional rail, walking and biking. VTA paratransit services are staffed by workers of another union and would not be affected, the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ATU and VTA began contract talks in August, and while several deal points have been hammered out since then, the two parties \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029584/south-bay-transit-strike-threat-looms-over-vta-talks-after-contract-expires\">remain far apart\u003c/a> on the critical issue of wages. There are also disputes about how the agency should handle employee grievances in arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA negotiators offered their “last, best and final” offer to the union on Feb. 28, which included a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years. When compounded over time, agency officials said the total increase is 9.3%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union, on the same day, made its most recent ask of the agency, which is for an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year, according to Singh. When compounded over time, agency officials said the union’s ask would amount to 19.1%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richardson said the offer VTA has made to the union will maintain their status as the second-highest paid transit employees in the Bay Area, and could be put into place without any cuts to service or layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ATU’s demands are simply too high of a cost for the agency to meet, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality — with a wage increase at that level or anything close to it — would be service cuts throughout our system and the likely elimination of positions across VTA,” he said. “This is not a direction that we are willing to go. We will not cut service to accommodate unreasonable demands.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the board meeting Thursday night, Singh said the union has “not had any meaningful conversation with the agency in regards to reaching terms on a new deal” since Feb. 28.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Singh characterized communication from the agency as “very poor” and accused VTA of not acting in good faith, which an agency spokesperson contested. Singh did not respond to requests for comment Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drives on Meridian Avenue in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how many of the estimated 100,000 daily riders that use VTA’s bus and light rail services are already aware of the potential strike. Richardson said the agency has been notifying riders with signage at stations and sending notices to schools and cities in Santa Clara County to try and reach as many people as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are folks who are trying to get to their job. And if they’re not aware of it and they’re having to clock in, clock out, this is going to be something that could impact them dramatically. And it’s not something that we want to see,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adele Cuevas of Santa Clara stepped off a light rail stop near Levi’s Stadium Friday afternoon on her way home from work. She’s an in-home caretaker and relies on the VTA’s light rail and buses to get to her clients all over the South Bay. She was notified about the possible strike on the VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m probably gonna lose a lot of clients because I can only do ones that are closer to me,” Cuevas said about the possible strike. “I don’t think it should happen, because it does help those of us out that have to use the transportation. It does suck, but it is what it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Friday afternoon, Richardson said no talks were scheduled over the weekend between the union and the agency but didn’t rule out that the strike could still be averted with a last-minute deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have always maintained that we are open to having those conversations with [ATU] to find a solution,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>More than 1,500 bus drivers, train operators and maintenance workers in the South Bay could go on strike over wage negotiations, though how soon is unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After six months of contract talks between the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> and workers represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, a new contract is still not signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So far, the two sides have just not been able to agree,” Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union workers last month authorized a strike if necessary, and with the previous contract expired as of Monday night, the strike threat is looming over the ongoing discussions. Workers represented by ATU make up nearly 70% of the agency’s employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday afternoon, VTA officials issued a warning to transit riders that they may need to make alternative transportation plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drives on Meridian Avenue in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we’re concerned about at this point, now that the union has taken a strike vote, is that 100,000 customers a day have a way to get to work and school and wherever they need to go,” Hendler Ross said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so it’s our responsibility that if we are not able to provide service, we need to give them adequate time to prepare,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the union president, said there is no date picked for a strike, and it’s unlikely workers would strike in the next few days. The union’s members will meet on Friday to discuss the negotiations and the potential for a strike, Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the talks, at no point in time has the union ever said, ‘Hey, come March 4, we’re walking out.’ And even to this very moment, we don’t have a hard set date on when there might be a possible strike,” Singh said. “We’re hoping that they reach out, and maybe we can go back to the table and try to see if something can be done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12028615 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/GettyImages-1150473913-1020x765.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest offer from VTA to the union is a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years. The union’s most recent ask is for an 18% raise over the same time period, with 6% raises each year, according to Singh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the negotiations are not just about the numbers but about fairness. For most of the talks, the agency offered union workers a total 3% raise, with 1% given each year, claiming it couldn’t afford more, Singh said. However, workers were angered to then see General Manager Carolyn Gonot given a 4% raise at a January board meeting, increasing her base compensation to $386,900 annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following a February board meeting where hundreds of ATU workers spoke out demanding a better contract, the transit agency upped its offer to the current one, Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Negotiations have not been in good faith. The communication was very poor,” Singh said. “The beginning is usually just a waste of time, and that’s what they essentially did for five months when they were off-putting that 1% on the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hendler Ross rebuffed that assertion, saying the agency is negotiating in good faith. VTA’s frontline workers are the second-highest paid transit workers in the region, she said, and the agency’s current offer would maintain that status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA is trying to balance two very important interests here. On one hand, for our employees, we want to be as supportive and fair as possible. On the other hand, for our customers, we want to make sure that we can provide the service that they depend on,” Hendler Ross said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh also said the agency, in recent years, has been avoiding arbitration to settle some disputes or grievances with workers, going against decades of established practice. Putting clearer rules on paper about when arbitration could be used is one of the sticking points in the talks, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross declined to comment in detail about the arbitration issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I can tell you is that VTA is negotiating in good faith and that we have put across a very competitive and strong and supportive offer for our employees,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>More than 1,500 bus drivers, train operators and maintenance workers in the South Bay could go on strike over wage negotiations, though how soon is unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After six months of contract talks between the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> and workers represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, a new contract is still not signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So far, the two sides have just not been able to agree,” Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union workers last month authorized a strike if necessary, and with the previous contract expired as of Monday night, the strike threat is looming over the ongoing discussions. Workers represented by ATU make up nearly 70% of the agency’s employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday afternoon, VTA officials issued a warning to transit riders that they may need to make alternative transportation plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drives on Meridian Avenue in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we’re concerned about at this point, now that the union has taken a strike vote, is that 100,000 customers a day have a way to get to work and school and wherever they need to go,” Hendler Ross said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so it’s our responsibility that if we are not able to provide service, we need to give them adequate time to prepare,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the union president, said there is no date picked for a strike, and it’s unlikely workers would strike in the next few days. The union’s members will meet on Friday to discuss the negotiations and the potential for a strike, Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the talks, at no point in time has the union ever said, ‘Hey, come March 4, we’re walking out.’ And even to this very moment, we don’t have a hard set date on when there might be a possible strike,” Singh said. “We’re hoping that they reach out, and maybe we can go back to the table and try to see if something can be done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest offer from VTA to the union is a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years. The union’s most recent ask is for an 18% raise over the same time period, with 6% raises each year, according to Singh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the negotiations are not just about the numbers but about fairness. For most of the talks, the agency offered union workers a total 3% raise, with 1% given each year, claiming it couldn’t afford more, Singh said. However, workers were angered to then see General Manager Carolyn Gonot given a 4% raise at a January board meeting, increasing her base compensation to $386,900 annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following a February board meeting where hundreds of ATU workers spoke out demanding a better contract, the transit agency upped its offer to the current one, Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Negotiations have not been in good faith. The communication was very poor,” Singh said. “The beginning is usually just a waste of time, and that’s what they essentially did for five months when they were off-putting that 1% on the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hendler Ross rebuffed that assertion, saying the agency is negotiating in good faith. VTA’s frontline workers are the second-highest paid transit workers in the region, she said, and the agency’s current offer would maintain that status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA is trying to balance two very important interests here. On one hand, for our employees, we want to be as supportive and fair as possible. On the other hand, for our customers, we want to make sure that we can provide the service that they depend on,” Hendler Ross said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh also said the agency, in recent years, has been avoiding arbitration to settle some disputes or grievances with workers, going against decades of established practice. Putting clearer rules on paper about when arbitration could be used is one of the sticking points in the talks, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross declined to comment in detail about the arbitration issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I can tell you is that VTA is negotiating in good faith and that we have put across a very competitive and strong and supportive offer for our employees,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>South Bay authorities arrested a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority employee on Sunday on suspicion of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005814/santa-clara-vta-bus-driver-shot-and-killed-in-san-jose\">fatally shooting another VTA employee\u003c/a> on Friday night in a South \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> bus yard parking lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Duc Minh Bui, 33, of San José was taken into custody just after noon on Sunday near his home, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which said in a statement that “evidence suggests Bui is solely responsible for the victim’s death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bui was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on a charge of first-degree murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The killing comes a little less than three and a half years after a VTA employee \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11875404/official-multiple-people-killed-in-shooting-at-san-jose-vta-railyard\">shot and killed nine of his coworkers\u003c/a>, and then himself, at a VTA rail yard in downtown San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA officials identified the man who was killed as Regulus Teotico, a bus driver who worked for VTA for 10 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are fortunate to have him as part of our staff for 10 years. He was a kind, hardworking driver who was well known amongst his colleagues,” VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot said at a Monday afternoon press conference, noting Teotico went by the nickname Regis. “Regis was a father to two teenage children and everyone at VTA extends their deepest condolences to his family and friends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12001366 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the investigation is ongoing, on Monday authorities said the shooting appeared to be motivated by a gambling debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both the victim and suspect were VTA employees, both employed as bus drivers and assigned to the Chaboya yard,” Capt. Sugey Jaimez of the sheriff’s office said during the news conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were known to participate in the same activities outside their VTA employment,” Jaimez continued. “Although this investigation is still ongoing, we believe the motive had to do with money owed between the two from their betting activities, which had nothing to do with their employment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 9:40 p.m. Friday, the San José Police Department received a 911 call from someone reporting that a person was shot at the VTA Chaboya bus yard parking lot. The transit agency confirmed the victim was a VTA employee but did not release their identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County Bob Jonsen referred to the fatal shooting as a “senseless crime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And while it was an isolated, targeted event, we recognize the profound impact it has had on all of us,” Jonsen said. “Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and the VTA community during this difficult time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials did not elaborate on what might have happened in the lead up to the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation. Jaimez said authorities are not looking into any other people as possible suspects at this time. Officials said law enforcement presence would be stepped up at VTA yards and facilities for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, San José Mayor Matt Mahan applauded the sheriff’s office, as well as the San José’s police and fire departments for their quick response to the shooting and steadfast work to arrest Bui.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m grateful to Sheriff Johnson and his entire team, who I know have had very little sleep over the last 72 hours,” he said. “I think that level of collaboration and coordination between all of our agencies is exactly what you expect and deserve from your government.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immediately after learning about the shooting, Gonot said the agency “made grief counselors available to employees and provided access to other resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA leaders, along with the unions, quickly joined our employees on site to lend physical and emotional support,” she continued. “These efforts will continue as long as needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez alluded to the May 2021 mass shooting at the VTA rail yard, acknowledging Friday night’s shooting could be a painful time for some VTA employees and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were rebuilding after the tragic incident of three years ago, and so for many people this is reliving one of the worst experiences they’ve ever had in their life,” Chavez said. “And that’s why the mental health services. And that’s why us really wrapping our arms around each other is so important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>South Bay authorities arrested a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority employee on Sunday on suspicion of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005814/santa-clara-vta-bus-driver-shot-and-killed-in-san-jose\">fatally shooting another VTA employee\u003c/a> on Friday night in a South \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> bus yard parking lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Duc Minh Bui, 33, of San José was taken into custody just after noon on Sunday near his home, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which said in a statement that “evidence suggests Bui is solely responsible for the victim’s death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bui was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on a charge of first-degree murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The killing comes a little less than three and a half years after a VTA employee \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11875404/official-multiple-people-killed-in-shooting-at-san-jose-vta-railyard\">shot and killed nine of his coworkers\u003c/a>, and then himself, at a VTA rail yard in downtown San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA officials identified the man who was killed as Regulus Teotico, a bus driver who worked for VTA for 10 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are fortunate to have him as part of our staff for 10 years. He was a kind, hardworking driver who was well known amongst his colleagues,” VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot said at a Monday afternoon press conference, noting Teotico went by the nickname Regis. “Regis was a father to two teenage children and everyone at VTA extends their deepest condolences to his family and friends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the investigation is ongoing, on Monday authorities said the shooting appeared to be motivated by a gambling debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both the victim and suspect were VTA employees, both employed as bus drivers and assigned to the Chaboya yard,” Capt. Sugey Jaimez of the sheriff’s office said during the news conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were known to participate in the same activities outside their VTA employment,” Jaimez continued. “Although this investigation is still ongoing, we believe the motive had to do with money owed between the two from their betting activities, which had nothing to do with their employment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 9:40 p.m. Friday, the San José Police Department received a 911 call from someone reporting that a person was shot at the VTA Chaboya bus yard parking lot. The transit agency confirmed the victim was a VTA employee but did not release their identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County Bob Jonsen referred to the fatal shooting as a “senseless crime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And while it was an isolated, targeted event, we recognize the profound impact it has had on all of us,” Jonsen said. “Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and the VTA community during this difficult time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials did not elaborate on what might have happened in the lead up to the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation. Jaimez said authorities are not looking into any other people as possible suspects at this time. Officials said law enforcement presence would be stepped up at VTA yards and facilities for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, San José Mayor Matt Mahan applauded the sheriff’s office, as well as the San José’s police and fire departments for their quick response to the shooting and steadfast work to arrest Bui.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m grateful to Sheriff Johnson and his entire team, who I know have had very little sleep over the last 72 hours,” he said. “I think that level of collaboration and coordination between all of our agencies is exactly what you expect and deserve from your government.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immediately after learning about the shooting, Gonot said the agency “made grief counselors available to employees and provided access to other resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA leaders, along with the unions, quickly joined our employees on site to lend physical and emotional support,” she continued. “These efforts will continue as long as needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez alluded to the May 2021 mass shooting at the VTA rail yard, acknowledging Friday night’s shooting could be a painful time for some VTA employees and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were rebuilding after the tragic incident of three years ago, and so for many people this is reliving one of the worst experiences they’ve ever had in their life,” Chavez said. “And that’s why the mental health services. And that’s why us really wrapping our arms around each other is so important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>South Bay transit officials notched a major milestone on Friday, announcing that the federal government will commit nearly $5.1 billion to the project bringing BART through downtown San Jose and into Santa Clara.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major backing from the Federal Transit Administration was celebrated by officials from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which is responsible for planning and building the 6-mile BART extension — though a major funding gap still exists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project is currently estimated to cost $12.7 billion and is expected to be completed in 2037.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA’s origins estimate, in 2014, pegged the cost at $4.7 billion and aimed for a completion date in 2026. As recently as spring 2022, VTA still touted a $6.9 billion estimate before facing multiple schedule delays and ballooning cost increases to the current figure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the second-largest investment that the federal government has made in any single transportation project in the country’s history,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who also chairs the VTA board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the figure from the feds falls about $1.2 billion short of what VTA officials and project boosters have been calling for from feds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent campaigns advocating for the project, Chavez and other advocates have been calling on the FTA and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to support the project to the tune of nearly $6.3 billion — about 49% of the total cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the project is currently slated to be paid for using billions from local tax measures, including 2000’s Measure A and 2016’s Measure B, as well as through major contributions from regional and state transportation funds.[aside postID=news_11990508 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240614-VTAGROUNDBREAKING-JG-01_qut-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We would have loved to have gotten the $6.2 billion. But there are a lot of projects across the country that are competing for the same amount of money, and the Federal Transit Administration has to balance that all out,” Carolyn Gonot, VTA’s general manager, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonot said her staff was keeping a close eye on other projects around the country and regionally that were getting funding at lower levels than requested, including the Transbay Downtown Rail Extension Project, which will extend Caltrain in San Francisco. That project was funded at about 41% by the FTA, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Working with FTA, we were aware that probably our number was not going to come in at 49.4%,” she told KQED. “So we took a preemptive step,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA board voted in late June to approve allocating an additional $500 million from Measure A funds to the BART extension project, Gonot said. The money would come out of revenues that are expected to flow to the agency throughout the remaining life of that measure, which expires in 2036.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reshuffling those funds means VTA is left with a $700 million gap for the extension’s overall funding, something Gonot and other supporters said they are confident can be closed without major cuts to the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been working on this project for 30 years, and we have persevered, and I believe that we will figure out a way to close this funding gap. Either through efficiencies, cost savings, minor scope changes, those types of things,” Gonot said. “So, I believe it will get done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As currently planned, the project will extend BART from its current end of the line at Berryessa Station in North San José and will run west to create four new stations: 28th Street/Little Portugal near East San José, Downtown San José, Diridon Station and Santa Clara. Much of the trackway will be underground, with stations and lines dug by a massive $76 million tunnel-boring machine being assembled in Germany.[aside label=\"More VTA Coverage\" tag=\"santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\"]Chavez, speaking during a press conference announcing the funding on Friday, said the VTA will put a 60-day freeze on any new professional spending at the agency to help close the $700 million gap. She added the agency plans to renegotiate current contracts, though she didn’t offer details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to ask everybody to help,” she said. “I am so confident that as a community, we’re going to be able to wrap our arms around this project and make it happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tom Maguire, the head of megaprojects for VTA, said he believes the project will still be able to meet the current time and cost estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s undoubtedly a challenge, but the $5.1 billion is great news,” Maguire said. “Now we know what we can count on. And now our funding plan, it’s a lot more concrete. We know the problem we’re trying to solve right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan, who, along with Gonot, received the call from federal officials on Thursday letting them know about the funding commitment, said it represents a historic investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a national bet on Silicon Valley, on the innovation economy,” Mahan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But more than anything, it’s a bet on the ingenuity and hard work of the people of Santa Clara County,” Mahan said. “And that’s fitting because it’s the people of Santa Clara County who got us to this point and enabled us to go secure this historic federal match.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>South Bay transit officials notched a major milestone on Friday, announcing that the federal government will commit nearly $5.1 billion to the project bringing BART through downtown San Jose and into Santa Clara.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major backing from the Federal Transit Administration was celebrated by officials from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which is responsible for planning and building the 6-mile BART extension — though a major funding gap still exists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project is currently estimated to cost $12.7 billion and is expected to be completed in 2037.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA’s origins estimate, in 2014, pegged the cost at $4.7 billion and aimed for a completion date in 2026. As recently as spring 2022, VTA still touted a $6.9 billion estimate before facing multiple schedule delays and ballooning cost increases to the current figure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the second-largest investment that the federal government has made in any single transportation project in the country’s history,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who also chairs the VTA board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the figure from the feds falls about $1.2 billion short of what VTA officials and project boosters have been calling for from feds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent campaigns advocating for the project, Chavez and other advocates have been calling on the FTA and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to support the project to the tune of nearly $6.3 billion — about 49% of the total cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the project is currently slated to be paid for using billions from local tax measures, including 2000’s Measure A and 2016’s Measure B, as well as through major contributions from regional and state transportation funds.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We would have loved to have gotten the $6.2 billion. But there are a lot of projects across the country that are competing for the same amount of money, and the Federal Transit Administration has to balance that all out,” Carolyn Gonot, VTA’s general manager, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonot said her staff was keeping a close eye on other projects around the country and regionally that were getting funding at lower levels than requested, including the Transbay Downtown Rail Extension Project, which will extend Caltrain in San Francisco. That project was funded at about 41% by the FTA, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Working with FTA, we were aware that probably our number was not going to come in at 49.4%,” she told KQED. “So we took a preemptive step,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA board voted in late June to approve allocating an additional $500 million from Measure A funds to the BART extension project, Gonot said. The money would come out of revenues that are expected to flow to the agency throughout the remaining life of that measure, which expires in 2036.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reshuffling those funds means VTA is left with a $700 million gap for the extension’s overall funding, something Gonot and other supporters said they are confident can be closed without major cuts to the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been working on this project for 30 years, and we have persevered, and I believe that we will figure out a way to close this funding gap. Either through efficiencies, cost savings, minor scope changes, those types of things,” Gonot said. “So, I believe it will get done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As currently planned, the project will extend BART from its current end of the line at Berryessa Station in North San José and will run west to create four new stations: 28th Street/Little Portugal near East San José, Downtown San José, Diridon Station and Santa Clara. Much of the trackway will be underground, with stations and lines dug by a massive $76 million tunnel-boring machine being assembled in Germany.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Chavez, speaking during a press conference announcing the funding on Friday, said the VTA will put a 60-day freeze on any new professional spending at the agency to help close the $700 million gap. She added the agency plans to renegotiate current contracts, though she didn’t offer details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to ask everybody to help,” she said. “I am so confident that as a community, we’re going to be able to wrap our arms around this project and make it happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tom Maguire, the head of megaprojects for VTA, said he believes the project will still be able to meet the current time and cost estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s undoubtedly a challenge, but the $5.1 billion is great news,” Maguire said. “Now we know what we can count on. And now our funding plan, it’s a lot more concrete. We know the problem we’re trying to solve right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan, who, along with Gonot, received the call from federal officials on Thursday letting them know about the funding commitment, said it represents a historic investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a national bet on Silicon Valley, on the innovation economy,” Mahan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But more than anything, it’s a bet on the ingenuity and hard work of the people of Santa Clara County,” Mahan said. “And that’s fitting because it’s the people of Santa Clara County who got us to this point and enabled us to go secure this historic federal match.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Santa Clara County’s public transit agency needs to make a series of improvements to strengthen its project management and financial oversight, according to a new state audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA, also needs to more frequently report key metrics to its board of directors, and lay out a new strategic plan based on specific performance goals, Grant Parks, the state auditor, said in his report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2023-101-santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority/\">The 84-page report\u003c/a> was released Tuesday, a little more than a year after Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) asked the state to look into the VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When requesting the audit, Berman noted the agency has been the subject of three critical civil grand jury reports since 2004 and was previously audited by the state in 2008. The most recent report found that the agency had made but not sustained many of the changes recommended in the 2008 audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the auditor’s report provides a really helpful roadmap for VTA to improve their operations, improve their financial management and to improve their governance,” Berman said. “I was encouraged to see the VTA board agreed with the vast majority of the recommendations from the state auditor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, VTA officials did not agree with two key recommendations in the report. One suggests requiring local government officials to publicly explain the reasoning behind the board members they’ve chosen to represent their region and why they think those appointees are qualified. Currently, some groups of cities appoint their representatives in private meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA countered that a more expedient solution would be to require each appointee to fill out a questionnaire attesting to their experience before they are sworn in, an option the auditor dismissed on the grounds that it would not appropriately hold officials accountable for their appointment decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The auditor also suggested lawmakers increase VTA board-member term lengths from two to four years to boost experience and strengthen stability. The report noted that “VTA’s directors continue to average shorter tenures compared to their peers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA has countered that its current two-year terms work well because they offer more flexibility to the cities that select appointees to the board. The agency also said it would continue encouraging those cities to reappoint members for consecutive terms whenever feasible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berman said he was “surprised and disappointed” that VTA is resisting those changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be honest, I found their arguments against those two recommendations to be laughably weak,” he said. “It makes no sense from a good governance standpoint, either in how you appoint the board members or for how long you appoint the board members.[aside label=\"More public transit coverage\" tag=\"public-transit\"]In a statement, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, chair of the VTA board, didn’t directly address those points of disagreement but said she thought the report was thorough, fair and thoughtful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA has a strong commitment to continuous improvement and takes every independent evaluation very seriously,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent audit comes four years after a county grand jury investigation found the agency operated one of the “most expensive and least efficient” transit systems in the country and accused it of making many service decisions for political reasons rather than those in the best interest of quality transportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Operating costs increase continuously, and taxpayers subsidize 90% of these costs, to the tune of about $5.50 per rider for each bus trip and $10.75 per rider for each light rail trip,” the 2019 grand jury report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent audit noted that VTA should — but does not — conduct cost-benefit analyses of its projects, nor does it consistently estimate the costs of project operations and maintenance. It also does not regularly inform its board about cost increases or schedule changes, it said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And though the report said that VTA has generally followed best practices when selecting which capital improvement projects to pursue, it found that the agency neglected to do a cost-benefit analysis before pursuing the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector, a project that broke ground earlier this month to extend light rail service about 2.4 miles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a result, it is not clear whether one of these projects — an extension of VTA’s light rail system — is the best use of the $653 million cost VTA plans to incur,” the report said, recommending that the agency set a monetary threshold to determine when cost-benefit analyses are worthwhile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit recommended that VTA officials report detailed information to the board with greater frequency, including changes in project costs and scheduling, and key performance metrics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also found that VTA’s total operating costs per passenger trip and per service hour were higher than any of the five other comparable transit agencies the auditor looked at — including those in Los Angeles, Orange County and Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These high operating cost metrics indicate that VTA is not operating as efficiently as its peers, which warrants VTA’s further review to assess the causes,” the auditor said. “However, because VTA staff do not regularly report these types of data to the board, the board has a limited ability to monitor VTA’s performance and direct VTA staff to identify and address causes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Greg Richardson, VTA’s chief financial officer, said the agency has been working to improve its reporting to the board while also ensuring information is easily digestible and concise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just hasn’t been happening on a routine basis and we’ve recognized that, and it’s work that we’re putting in place right now to begin doing,” Richardson told KQED. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job of keeping the board informed on a quarterly basis of what I would call the basic financial performance, but what we really haven’t dived into is metric-type information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent audit also noted that while VTA is in a “relatively good financial condition,” about 60% of its revenue has come from four sales tax measures, three of which will sunset within the next three decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA should begin planning to identify and generate its replacement revenue sources now,” the auditor said, noting that replacement tax measures take a long time to draft and get on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Santa Clara County’s public transit agency needs to make a series of improvements to strengthen its project management and financial oversight, according to a new state audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA, also needs to more frequently report key metrics to its board of directors, and lay out a new strategic plan based on specific performance goals, Grant Parks, the state auditor, said in his report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2023-101-santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority/\">The 84-page report\u003c/a> was released Tuesday, a little more than a year after Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) asked the state to look into the VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When requesting the audit, Berman noted the agency has been the subject of three critical civil grand jury reports since 2004 and was previously audited by the state in 2008. The most recent report found that the agency had made but not sustained many of the changes recommended in the 2008 audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the auditor’s report provides a really helpful roadmap for VTA to improve their operations, improve their financial management and to improve their governance,” Berman said. “I was encouraged to see the VTA board agreed with the vast majority of the recommendations from the state auditor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, VTA officials did not agree with two key recommendations in the report. One suggests requiring local government officials to publicly explain the reasoning behind the board members they’ve chosen to represent their region and why they think those appointees are qualified. Currently, some groups of cities appoint their representatives in private meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA countered that a more expedient solution would be to require each appointee to fill out a questionnaire attesting to their experience before they are sworn in, an option the auditor dismissed on the grounds that it would not appropriately hold officials accountable for their appointment decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The auditor also suggested lawmakers increase VTA board-member term lengths from two to four years to boost experience and strengthen stability. The report noted that “VTA’s directors continue to average shorter tenures compared to their peers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA has countered that its current two-year terms work well because they offer more flexibility to the cities that select appointees to the board. The agency also said it would continue encouraging those cities to reappoint members for consecutive terms whenever feasible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berman said he was “surprised and disappointed” that VTA is resisting those changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be honest, I found their arguments against those two recommendations to be laughably weak,” he said. “It makes no sense from a good governance standpoint, either in how you appoint the board members or for how long you appoint the board members.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a statement, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, chair of the VTA board, didn’t directly address those points of disagreement but said she thought the report was thorough, fair and thoughtful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA has a strong commitment to continuous improvement and takes every independent evaluation very seriously,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent audit comes four years after a county grand jury investigation found the agency operated one of the “most expensive and least efficient” transit systems in the country and accused it of making many service decisions for political reasons rather than those in the best interest of quality transportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Operating costs increase continuously, and taxpayers subsidize 90% of these costs, to the tune of about $5.50 per rider for each bus trip and $10.75 per rider for each light rail trip,” the 2019 grand jury report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent audit noted that VTA should — but does not — conduct cost-benefit analyses of its projects, nor does it consistently estimate the costs of project operations and maintenance. It also does not regularly inform its board about cost increases or schedule changes, it said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And though the report said that VTA has generally followed best practices when selecting which capital improvement projects to pursue, it found that the agency neglected to do a cost-benefit analysis before pursuing the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector, a project that broke ground earlier this month to extend light rail service about 2.4 miles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a result, it is not clear whether one of these projects — an extension of VTA’s light rail system — is the best use of the $653 million cost VTA plans to incur,” the report said, recommending that the agency set a monetary threshold to determine when cost-benefit analyses are worthwhile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit recommended that VTA officials report detailed information to the board with greater frequency, including changes in project costs and scheduling, and key performance metrics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also found that VTA’s total operating costs per passenger trip and per service hour were higher than any of the five other comparable transit agencies the auditor looked at — including those in Los Angeles, Orange County and Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These high operating cost metrics indicate that VTA is not operating as efficiently as its peers, which warrants VTA’s further review to assess the causes,” the auditor said. “However, because VTA staff do not regularly report these types of data to the board, the board has a limited ability to monitor VTA’s performance and direct VTA staff to identify and address causes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Greg Richardson, VTA’s chief financial officer, said the agency has been working to improve its reporting to the board while also ensuring information is easily digestible and concise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just hasn’t been happening on a routine basis and we’ve recognized that, and it’s work that we’re putting in place right now to begin doing,” Richardson told KQED. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job of keeping the board informed on a quarterly basis of what I would call the basic financial performance, but what we really haven’t dived into is metric-type information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent audit also noted that while VTA is in a “relatively good financial condition,” about 60% of its revenue has come from four sales tax measures, three of which will sunset within the next three decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA should begin planning to identify and generate its replacement revenue sources now,” the auditor said, noting that replacement tax measures take a long time to draft and get on the ballot.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "South Bay’s VTA Says It Can’t Back Regional Transit Tax Measure",
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"content": "\u003cp>The South Bay’s main transit agency has come out against a state Senate bill that would pave the way for a 2026 regional tax measure to raise money for the Bay Area’s bus, train and ferry operators and other transportation needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In voting last week to oppose \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1031\">SB 1031, known as the Connect Bay Area Act\u003c/a>, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority board cited the possibility that putting the measure on the ballot in 2026, which other transit agencies and legislators are pushing for to plug expected budget gaps, could undercut the county’s efforts to get voters to reauthorize existing transportation sales taxes, among other concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jim Lawson, the VTA’s chief of external affairs, said Santa Clara County sales taxes raise about $900 million a year for transit and transportation in the Bay Area’s most populous county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do not have the ability to say whether or not this is the right time to put something (new) on the ballot, we have a serious existential problem,” Lawson told the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawson did not clarify the district’s concerns about the potential election date, and a VTA representative said Monday that the agency “is not prepared to address an election date at this time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area transit agencies, advocates and legislators pushing for a vote in November 2026, responding to potentially catastrophic budget deficits caused by declining ridership and the slow return of daily work commuters, have argued that that’s the latest date a vote could help BART, Muni and other operators get the cash needed to avoid major service cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Metropolitan Transportation Commission estimates that regionwide transit deficits will total at least $700 million a year starting in 2026. Total deficits over the next five years are expected to top $2 billion.[aside postID=\"news_11981195,news_11971332,news_11956833\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measure outlined by SB 1031 would raise $1.5 billion a year in the region’s nine counties, likely in the form of a half-cent sales tax possibly coupled with a parcel tax or another type or levy, but VTA management and South Bay officials say the bill fails to guarantee that new tax revenue raised in Santa Clara County would be funneled back to the county for use there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than half of the overall revenue would go to pay for transit operations and initiatives to help coordinate fares, schedules, signage and other operational needs among the region’s 27 transit agencies. Part of the revenue would also go to street safety and highway improvement projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The MTC would administer the proceeds, and the bill requires at least 70% of the money raised in each county to be spent on projects benefiting county residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That percentage is too low for Santa Clara County officials, who want the cash returned directly to the counties without the San Francisco-based MTC’s involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Dave Cortese, the San Jose Democrat who chairs the state Senate Transportation Committee, summarized that position during a hearing that approved SB 1031 on April 23.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County residents already account for 30% of all sales taxes in the region, he said, adding that asking them to tax themselves further but not have control of the proceeds is “not going to fly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You could see why that would be problematic … if you took one county with 30% of the sales taxes and said, ‘Put it in an envelope, send it in a check to San Francisco, and we’ll figure out how to redistribute it for you.’ It’s a hit piece waiting to happen,” Cortese said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, SB 1031’s sponsor, San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener, stressed the need for regional cooperation to get a transit funding measure done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we all work together to address the needs of different counties, we need to never forget that we’re not just our county, that we all depend on each other, and we all rise or fall together,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind-the-scenes negotiations on the legislation are ongoing, including the VTA, MTC and Cortese. It gets its next hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 13.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The plan would raise much-needed money for Bay Area transit, but the Santa Clara County agency says it could hurt its ability to reauthorize existing local sales taxes.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The South Bay’s main transit agency has come out against a state Senate bill that would pave the way for a 2026 regional tax measure to raise money for the Bay Area’s bus, train and ferry operators and other transportation needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In voting last week to oppose \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1031\">SB 1031, known as the Connect Bay Area Act\u003c/a>, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority board cited the possibility that putting the measure on the ballot in 2026, which other transit agencies and legislators are pushing for to plug expected budget gaps, could undercut the county’s efforts to get voters to reauthorize existing transportation sales taxes, among other concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jim Lawson, the VTA’s chief of external affairs, said Santa Clara County sales taxes raise about $900 million a year for transit and transportation in the Bay Area’s most populous county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do not have the ability to say whether or not this is the right time to put something (new) on the ballot, we have a serious existential problem,” Lawson told the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawson did not clarify the district’s concerns about the potential election date, and a VTA representative said Monday that the agency “is not prepared to address an election date at this time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area transit agencies, advocates and legislators pushing for a vote in November 2026, responding to potentially catastrophic budget deficits caused by declining ridership and the slow return of daily work commuters, have argued that that’s the latest date a vote could help BART, Muni and other operators get the cash needed to avoid major service cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Metropolitan Transportation Commission estimates that regionwide transit deficits will total at least $700 million a year starting in 2026. Total deficits over the next five years are expected to top $2 billion.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measure outlined by SB 1031 would raise $1.5 billion a year in the region’s nine counties, likely in the form of a half-cent sales tax possibly coupled with a parcel tax or another type or levy, but VTA management and South Bay officials say the bill fails to guarantee that new tax revenue raised in Santa Clara County would be funneled back to the county for use there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than half of the overall revenue would go to pay for transit operations and initiatives to help coordinate fares, schedules, signage and other operational needs among the region’s 27 transit agencies. Part of the revenue would also go to street safety and highway improvement projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The MTC would administer the proceeds, and the bill requires at least 70% of the money raised in each county to be spent on projects benefiting county residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That percentage is too low for Santa Clara County officials, who want the cash returned directly to the counties without the San Francisco-based MTC’s involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Dave Cortese, the San Jose Democrat who chairs the state Senate Transportation Committee, summarized that position during a hearing that approved SB 1031 on April 23.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County residents already account for 30% of all sales taxes in the region, he said, adding that asking them to tax themselves further but not have control of the proceeds is “not going to fly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You could see why that would be problematic … if you took one county with 30% of the sales taxes and said, ‘Put it in an envelope, send it in a check to San Francisco, and we’ll figure out how to redistribute it for you.’ It’s a hit piece waiting to happen,” Cortese said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, SB 1031’s sponsor, San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener, stressed the need for regional cooperation to get a transit funding measure done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we all work together to address the needs of different counties, we need to never forget that we’re not just our county, that we all depend on each other, and we all rise or fall together,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind-the-scenes negotiations on the legislation are ongoing, including the VTA, MTC and Cortese. It gets its next hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 13.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Families of VTA Shooting Victims Sue Transit Agency for Failing to Stop Gunman",
"title": "Families of VTA Shooting Victims Sue Transit Agency for Failing to Stop Gunman",
"headTitle": "KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#anchor\">This report contains a correction.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One year after an employee shot and killed nine co-workers in a rampage at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San José, the families of at least eight of the victims filed lawsuits Thursday alleging negligence and wrongful death by the VTA, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and a private security firm in failing to address the gunman's history of violent threats or provide adequate security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samuel James Cassidy, 57, shot nine men one by one inside the rail yard after he arrived for work on May 26, 2021, with three 9 mm handguns and 32 high-capacity magazines. He fired a total of 39 bullets, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11875686/my-heart-is-broken-remembering-the-nine-victims-of-the-vta-shooting\">killing all nine workers\u003c/a> before he turned the gun on himself as deputies closed in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Nick Rowley, attorney and co-founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice\"]'The civil lawsuit is really the only vehicle left where regular, ordinary people can call out and hold the power structure responsible for things like this and get their attention and impose a consequence that results in change.'[/pullquote]The agency later released more than 200 pages of emails and other documents that showed Cassidy was the subject of four investigations into his workplace conduct and that, after one verbal altercation, a colleague worried that Cassidy could “go postal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transit agency “knew, and had experienced, Cassidy’s repeated pattern of insubordination. They were also aware of numerous verbal altercations Cassidy had with coworkers on at least four separate occasions, in which SCVTA failed to adequately investigate and/or discipline Cassidy for any of these separate incidents,” said one of the lawsuits, filed by the family of Lars Kepler Lane, 63, who had worked at the VTA since 2001 and had three children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In two separate suits, the families of victims Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63; Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 35; Timothy Romo, 49; Alex Fritch, 49; Paul Delacruz Megia, 42; Michael Rudometkin, 40; and Taptejdeep Singh, 36, similarly allege that VTA failed to carry out proper security and risk mitigation measures that could have prevented the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We’re living in a time where we’re not safe as Americans,\" said Nick Rowley, attorney for the Lane family and co-founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice. \"Our children aren’t safe in their schools. Our loved ones aren’t safe at work. These are scary times. It’s not going on in other countries. This is an American problem.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the shooting, co-workers described Cassidy as an outsider who did not talk to others or fit in. His \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-shootings-022a10f1ce378c68c9425d5501551323\">ex-wife\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>told The Associated Press\u003c/a>\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>that Cassidy used to come home from work resentful and angry over what he perceived as unfair assignments more than a decade before and had even talked about killing people at work.[aside postID=\"news_11889092,news_11879635,news_11902602\" label=\"Related Posts\"]\"\u003cspan data-pm-slice='1 1 [\"paragraph-wrapper\",null,\"paragraph\",{\"id\":\"p0-0\"}]'>Many politicians have vowed to do nothing. So it then becomes the responsibility of the citizens, the people, to do something,\" said Rowley. \"The civil lawsuit is really the only vehicle left where regular, ordinary people can call out and hold the power structure responsible for things like this and get their attention and impose a consequence that results in change.\u003c/span>\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuits, filed in Santa Clara Superior Court, also name the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and Universal Protection Service, both of which were contracted with the VTA to provide security at the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA, sheriff’s office, and Allied Universal, the parent company of Universal Protection Service, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under California law, defendants can require that employees injured on the job, or the family of employees killed on the job, file a workers' compensation claim, but the lawsuit argues that the VTA shooting doesn't apply because of the employer's “intentional and outrageous misconduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers' compensation “doesn’t include getting shot in a mass shooting. In this case the defendants had an obligation to provide security,” said Rowley. “It wasn’t just inadequate, they had no actual trained security officers or policies or procedures in place. This was preventable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rowley said as mass shootings continue to occur but officials make few changes to protect the public, \"this is really the only way to make substantive change at this point.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassidy had stockpiled weapons and 25,000 rounds of ammunition at his house before setting it on fire to coincide with the bloodshed at the workplace.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>May 27: The original version of this story noted only one lawsuit filed against VTA, by the family of Lars Kepler Lane. At least two additional lawsuits also were filed on behalf of the families of Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, Timothy Romo, Alex Fritch, Paul Delacruz Megia, Michael Rudometkin and Taptejdeep Singh. The story has been edited to correct that omission.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED's Sara Hossaini contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The families of at least eight workers who were shot and killed one year ago when a co-worker opened fire at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San José have filed civil lawsuits against the transit agency, alleging negligence and wrongful death.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#anchor\">This report contains a correction.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One year after an employee shot and killed nine co-workers in a rampage at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San José, the families of at least eight of the victims filed lawsuits Thursday alleging negligence and wrongful death by the VTA, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and a private security firm in failing to address the gunman's history of violent threats or provide adequate security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samuel James Cassidy, 57, shot nine men one by one inside the rail yard after he arrived for work on May 26, 2021, with three 9 mm handguns and 32 high-capacity magazines. He fired a total of 39 bullets, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11875686/my-heart-is-broken-remembering-the-nine-victims-of-the-vta-shooting\">killing all nine workers\u003c/a> before he turned the gun on himself as deputies closed in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'The civil lawsuit is really the only vehicle left where regular, ordinary people can call out and hold the power structure responsible for things like this and get their attention and impose a consequence that results in change.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The agency later released more than 200 pages of emails and other documents that showed Cassidy was the subject of four investigations into his workplace conduct and that, after one verbal altercation, a colleague worried that Cassidy could “go postal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transit agency “knew, and had experienced, Cassidy’s repeated pattern of insubordination. They were also aware of numerous verbal altercations Cassidy had with coworkers on at least four separate occasions, in which SCVTA failed to adequately investigate and/or discipline Cassidy for any of these separate incidents,” said one of the lawsuits, filed by the family of Lars Kepler Lane, 63, who had worked at the VTA since 2001 and had three children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In two separate suits, the families of victims Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63; Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 35; Timothy Romo, 49; Alex Fritch, 49; Paul Delacruz Megia, 42; Michael Rudometkin, 40; and Taptejdeep Singh, 36, similarly allege that VTA failed to carry out proper security and risk mitigation measures that could have prevented the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We’re living in a time where we’re not safe as Americans,\" said Nick Rowley, attorney for the Lane family and co-founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice. \"Our children aren’t safe in their schools. Our loved ones aren’t safe at work. These are scary times. It’s not going on in other countries. This is an American problem.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the shooting, co-workers described Cassidy as an outsider who did not talk to others or fit in. His \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-shootings-022a10f1ce378c68c9425d5501551323\">ex-wife\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>told The Associated Press\u003c/a>\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>that Cassidy used to come home from work resentful and angry over what he perceived as unfair assignments more than a decade before and had even talked about killing people at work.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\"\u003cspan data-pm-slice='1 1 [\"paragraph-wrapper\",null,\"paragraph\",{\"id\":\"p0-0\"}]'>Many politicians have vowed to do nothing. So it then becomes the responsibility of the citizens, the people, to do something,\" said Rowley. \"The civil lawsuit is really the only vehicle left where regular, ordinary people can call out and hold the power structure responsible for things like this and get their attention and impose a consequence that results in change.\u003c/span>\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuits, filed in Santa Clara Superior Court, also name the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and Universal Protection Service, both of which were contracted with the VTA to provide security at the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA, sheriff’s office, and Allied Universal, the parent company of Universal Protection Service, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under California law, defendants can require that employees injured on the job, or the family of employees killed on the job, file a workers' compensation claim, but the lawsuit argues that the VTA shooting doesn't apply because of the employer's “intentional and outrageous misconduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers' compensation “doesn’t include getting shot in a mass shooting. In this case the defendants had an obligation to provide security,” said Rowley. “It wasn’t just inadequate, they had no actual trained security officers or policies or procedures in place. This was preventable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rowley said as mass shootings continue to occur but officials make few changes to protect the public, \"this is really the only way to make substantive change at this point.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassidy had stockpiled weapons and 25,000 rounds of ammunition at his house before setting it on fire to coincide with the bloodshed at the workplace.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>May 27: The original version of this story noted only one lawsuit filed against VTA, by the family of Lars Kepler Lane. At least two additional lawsuits also were filed on behalf of the families of Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, Timothy Romo, Alex Fritch, Paul Delacruz Megia, Michael Rudometkin and Taptejdeep Singh. The story has been edited to correct that omission.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED's Sara Hossaini contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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"reveal": {
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"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
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},
"science-friday": {
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