91ÊÓƵ

Contract negotiations between transit agency TriMet and the Amalgamated Transit Union, Division 757, have stalled over health care, according to Mary Fetsch, Trimet spokeswoman.

“Obviously, we want a fair contract with our employees, on par with other government contractors,” Fetsch said. “At the same time, we need a package that is financially sustainable.”

About 2,000 TriMet employees have been working without a contract since fall last year. Fetsch said that over the life of the most recent contract, which expired Nov. 30, health care costs have increased 50 percent. Following the contract expiration, TriMet and the ATU entered a 150-day “good faith bargaining period.” At the end of the 150 days, the groups could not reach an agreement.

Following a 15-day mediation, both parties officially declared an impasse on July 13, at which time the State Employment Relations Board was sent a notification of the situation. If the two cannot resolve the contracts by the end of the required negotiations and mediation, an arbitrator will be chosen. Strikes by TriMet are forbidden by state statute.

“There is no chance of a strike. The last step in the process is a binding arbitrator picks one package or the other, no mixing and matching,” Fetsch said.

On July 20, both groups submitted their “final offers,” although Fetsch said, “We just put in our final bids, but for the next few weeks they will still negotiate the terms of the bid. We’re at the table until we resolve this.”

If the two groups reach an agreement before binding arbitration, members of the ATU as well as TriMet’s board of directors would have to sign off on the agreement. If the parties cannot see eye to eye, the groups will have one last chance to submit a final package, 14 days prior to a hearing. At the hearing an arbitrator will pick one of the group’s packages and that package will act as the new contract between the two groups.

Members of the ATU were out of town on at a conference on Wednesday and not available to comment.