Chicago Transit Workers Threaten to Walk the Picket Lines

Chicago Transit Authority union workers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to authorize a strike against the nation´s second-largest transit system over work rules that affect bus drivers´ routes and salaries.

No date was set for a walkout. Jack Bayer, financial secretary for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, said union president Darrell Jefferson is scheduled to meet with CTA officials Friday to discuss contract issues.

CTA counts 1.5 million daily bus and train riders. Of that total, about 1 million ride the roughly 2,000 buses that follow 151 routes.

The union has filed unfair labor grievances over a procedure called “rostering,” which determines bus drivers´ routes and salaries. Bayer said the CTA eliminated the practice for its train operators last year.

The local´s members voted 1,029 to 11 to authorize Jefferson to declare a strike, Bayer said. The union represents about 6,000 bus drivers and mechanics.

The union last authorized a strike in 2001, but a deal was reached before workers walked out. The last strike at the CTA was in March 1979, and lasted four days.