BUTTE — Recently Butte-Silver Bow County machinists from the Local 88 union said that they were on the brink of a strike when their contract got sent to the state for mediation. Now, members of the local transit union say that they are in a similar situation with Butte-Silver Bow.
"Right now we’ve been in a labor dispute with the city. We went into negotiations back in June, had a tentative agreement, last best and final offer from the city that the drivers all voted on and ratified," says Mark Varcoe, a transit driver and the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 381.
Varcoe represents 12 bus drivers operating city bus routes and paratransit services in the Mining City. Varcoe says after he and the drivers signed their labor contract, the city wanted to reopen the negotiations.
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"So we went in in June, went in, we’re discussing trying to figure out what we can do to get this settled. They went out to caucus, came back in and then the lead for the negotiation team for Butte-Silver Bow got all mad, yelling, screaming, hollering and then walked out and the meeting was only 45 minutes long,"
Varcoe says negotiations between the transit union and the city have to do with health insurance and the money that is used to pay the insurance.
"The drivers have been having issues with Butte-Silver Bow, you know, paying the insurance late. Not paying it at certain times. We’ve been contacted a couple of times—they were going to cancel the insurance. So the drivers feel strongly about, you know, trying to get this taken care of so that we can move forward and have a smooth transition with all of the insurance," says Varcoe.
I spoke with Jim Kambich, the chief of staff for the Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive's Office, who has been negotiating with the union, and he says the case has moved to mediation with the state.
Varcoe says that a strike could still be on the table if the issue isn’t cleared up in December.
