By Mike Sever
Record-Courier staff writer
About 35 striking bus drivers were on the picket line before dawn Monday in front of the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority. Striking drivers were waving signs and getting honks of support from passing motorists on Summit Road, near S.R. 261 in Kent.
PARTA spokesman Frank Hairston said the strike has not impacted services.
"Everything is out on the road, transportation is going well for us," Hairston said Monday afternoon.
Gene Cozart, president of the local union of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, said his members are prepared to stay on the line as long as it takes.
OAPSE represents about 66 full- and part-time drivers at PARTA, which has about 212 employees.
Cozart has been president since the local was formed three years ago. He drives a door-to-door route, taking riders to doctor's and other appointments. He and his riders get to know each other. Cozart said he's visited his riders in the hospital and attended their family funerals.
"We care for them. We provide good service. I feel bad for them, especially when you get scabs and inexperienced people driving them," Cozart said.
No new talks are scheduled. Both sides said they are open to meeting if the other side is willing to concede. Both sides said they are willing to endure the strike as long as it takes.
"We're continuing to say we're open to talks. We hope to hear something from the union or the mediator at any time. PARTA is ready to talk," Hairston said.
The issue of fair share is the primary roadblock. Under fair share, nonunion drivers would pay 2 percent of gross income to the union as an "administrative fee" to enjoy the fruits of the union contract, union officials have said.
PARTA is against imposing fair share, saying it would make it harder to recruit and retain drivers, and is an economic burden on part-time drivers.
Trina Molnar, OAPSE field representative, said PARTA has had problems retaining drivers. Of 110 drivers hired in the past two years, 50 have cycled out, she said. "The numbers speak for themselves. It's not because of fair share they're leaving," Molnar said.
"We think (fair share) is not a PARTA matter. It's a union matter. People need to decide for themselves," said Lloyd Rains, regional director of OAPSE. Rains said other issues include recognition of part-time service toward job seniority, benefits and guaranteed hours for part-time drivers.
Hairston said that is the first PARTA had heard that other issues were still in play.
Pickets were enjoying Monday's sunny, dry weather.
"The weather's cooperating more than PARTA is," Molnar joked.
Pickets weren't blocking buses or other vehicles from entering or leaving PARTA's headquarters, but were waving printed strike signs at drivers and other motorists. A few pickets had other, handmade signs, saying "scab" and "lowlife."
PARTA and OAPSE are now in their third year of negotiations. A federal mediator has been assisting, but the latest talks on Sunday broke up after about an hour and a half. PARTA wants OAPSE to offer a concession on fair share, and OAPSE was PARTA to agree as it stands.
Rains said this is the first time there has been a strike over fair share in the 100 locals in the Northeastern Ohio region of OAPSE. There are only about five locals in the Cleveland region that do not have fair share in their contract, Rains said.