As Austin Capital Metro looks toward the future in an attempt to stabilize its budget, one area that is particularly touchy is that of labor disputes. Already, the transit authority has faced a three day labor strike. Although the strike didn’t cause the transit to shut down completely, it certainly caused some issues. Furthermore, while a contract was hammered out through June 30, 2011, some of the proposed changes are not expected to go over too well with labor unions – particularly the proposal to reduce services in order to reduce costs.
As history shows, proposed labor changes do not go over too well with laborers in Austin. In fact, it was a proposed two-tier wage system that helped precipitate the strike that took place in November 2008. Yet, according to an audit conducted by the Sunset Commission, Capital Metro’s current labor setup “is increasingly untenable for Capital Metro in these financial times.” More specifically, the state is concerned that the current setup results in a conflict between state and federal labor laws, as state law forbids the employees from participating in collective bargaining while federal labor laws gives them the right to engage in this activity.
In order to work around this conflict, none of the drivers or mechanics working for Capital Metro are actually employed by the agency. Rather, they work for three different companies, with StarTran – which is the best paying of the three and employs the most Capital Metro workers – being a shell corporation that was actually created by Capital Metro. According to the Sunset Commission’s criticisms, StarTran “exists as a perpetual sole-source provider that offers no better performance for its higher costs than Capital Metro’s two other contracted transit providers.” As such, the commission recommends doing away with the arrangement and bidding the services out for the best deal instead. Clearly, implementing the commission’s suggestions will cause some tension with the labor force.
With the labor-friendly environment that is found within the city of Austin, Capital Metro will also need to tread lightly in order to avoid angering its customers. Not only does the majority of the public keep a close eye on labor disputes, they are also quite involved in the hiring process when it comes to hiring company executives.
“Certainly Austin is the poster child for public engagement,” said Wathen Finn at a public forum. “I think I’m going to write a story about this process, because I don’t think any of the other [transit] agencies have done it quite this way.”
How Capital Metro will work its way out of this mess is still to be seen. But, for the sake of its employees as well as the overall success of the transit authority and the city, we can only hope it finds a successful way to make it through.
Jim Olenbush is a real estate broker that sells Central Austin real estate. His team handles Tarry town Austin, and they are also very experienced with Brykerwoods Austin. Jim and his team would love to answer any questions you may have about Austin.