Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) board members approved a new contract with its maintenance workers this week, ensuring that public buses keep running in the county.
OCTA board members voted 13–1 to approve the contract during their Dec. 12 board meeting after Teamsters Local 952, the union representing the maintenance workers, ratified the contract over the weekend. Vice Chairman Gene Hernandez dissented, while directors Don Wagner and Patrick Harper were absent.
The two sides entered a tentative agreement last week after the union held a 96-hour strike in November, forcing a shutdown in bus service.
The contract gives the agency’s 150 maintenance workers an annual 5 percent raise over each of the next three years and includes a $1,250 signing bonus, according to OCTA officials….