DAVE DOWNEY

Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE -- Area bus drivers, who last month set the stage for the first strike in North County in two decades, plan to picket the Oceanside headquarters of North County Transit District as district board members arrive for a Thursday meeting.

But Jessie Perez, a 13-year veteran driver with the agency and union steward for its 310 coach operators, said the earliest a strike could sideline North County's 154 public buses would be early next year.

"We're not going to be going on strike during the holidays," Perez said. "But come January, we're going to have a decision to make."

The drivers are represented by the Teamsters Local Union 542 of San Diego.

The transit agency gives rides to 35,000 people daily in a territory sprawling across 1,100 square miles bounded by the ocean on the west, the Orange and Riverside county lines on the north, the mountains on the east, and the city of San Diego on the south.

NCTD also runs the popular Coaster commuter train, which travels between Oceanside and San Diego and would not be affected by a strike.

While a possible strike is months away, Perez said drivers are ready to make their displeasure known. He said 40 to 50 coach operators -- ones not driving buses at the time -- will hoist signs while walking around the block where the headquarters sits from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday. The meeting starts at 3 p.m.

"We're going to walk around 810 Mission Ave. and let them know that we're not satisfied with their last and final" offer, Perez said.

He said the union steward from Oceanside said district negotiators put on the table Friday an offer that it said was final, but one that still does not satisfy the concerns of most drivers. Perez said the two sides no longer are warring over pay, but drivers find health coverage and discipline provisions to be unacceptable.

The coach operators rejected two previous offers by large margins: 255-31 on Sept. 7, and 166-14 vote on July 5. The September vote authorized the union to call a strike when it sees fit.

A third vote is set for Oct. 26.

Phillip Farias, a lead negotiator for the Teamsters, said, "If the offer is turned down we'll take another strike vote. The law calls for a 60-day cooling off period if the governor calls for one, and we expect him to." For that reason, a strike won't be called before January, he said.

Farias said the union wants to take a second strike vote in part because some drivers may be reluctant to strike after the events of Sept. 11.

District spokesman Pete Aadland declined to discuss the labor talks that have been going on since the last five-year contract expired June 11.

"The district up to this point has not conducted any negotiations in the media, and I think we would continue to take that position," Aadland said.

He said it is not unusual for the coach operators to work without a contract; they worked several years before ratifying their last one. As for strikes, Aadland said, there was one in the early 1980s that apparently turned nasty and lasted a few months.

Perez said the two parties have agreed on a new contract spanning four years and across-the-board pay increases totaling 16.5 percent. And he said drivers are satisfied with the district's offer to increase the monthly contribution to employee health coverage from $258 to $350.

But, he said, "We want our benefits bank back."

That was something drivers enjoyed in their previous contract -- the assurance that they would continue to receive medical benefits for six months if injury or illness sidelined them, he said.

Perez said drivers also are demanding that a proposed disciplinary clause be rewritten to reflect what was in the former contract. The change, he said, would leave a mark on a driver's personnel record whenever a rider complained about his or her conduct.

"The thing is, you're guilty until proven innocent," he said. "You're always at fault. They're taking the person's word for it. We want to be able to go back and defend ourselves."

Perez said he also is unhappy that district negotiators gave drivers what he terms an insensitive deadline for accepting the contract and still receiving a bonus: Dec. 7, or Pearl Harbor Day.

"That's a smack in the face, showing disrespect for us," Perez said. "They have always shown disrespect for us. They don't believe we're going to strike."

Perez said drivers had planned to strike Sept. 16, the scheduled debut of the long-awaited $400,000 Fast Forward bus route redesign. But, with the strike threat looming, district officials postponed the startup indefinitely.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-3529 or ddowney@nctimes.com.

10/17/01