A one-week extension for negotiations to hash out a contract for Sun Tran employees expires Saturday night, July 8, and both sides are optimistic a deal will be reached before then.
“Sun Tran is optimistic we’ll come up with an agreement before the deadline,” marketing Vice President Pat Richter told the Star on Friday afternoon.
Karla Schumann, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 104, said negotiators will likely “work through the evening (Friday),” but that “if everything goes well, (members) will have a tentative agreement to vote on” Saturday, when the union has three separate meetings planned.
“Still working on it, getting close,” she wrote to the Star earlier in the day.
Last Saturday, bus drivers, mechanics and other union members approved a strike authorization — not a strike itself — with a 95 percent majority.
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All negotiating parties agreed to extend the current contract through 11:59 p.m. Saturday, and bus service will not be impacted during that time.
The Sun Tran bus system was stalled by a 42-day strike in the summer of 2015 after contract negotiations broke down.
For current information, riders should call Sun Tran’s Customer Service Center at 792-9222 (TDD: 628-1565).
Alerts for riders also are posted at transit centers and updates can be found at Sun Tran’s Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as at www.suntran.com
Contact: mwoodhouse@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @murphywoodhouse
