After nearly two months of a strike, MV Transportation gave an offer that the members of Teamsters Union Local 572 are expected to consider Sunday, union officials confirmed late Friday night.
If the contract is approved, local drivers are expected to be able to return as early as the following day, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
After saying Wednesday that negotiations had stalled, Lourdes Garcia, the union’s secretary-treasurer, said the sides now had a new offer to consider.
“Negotiations have been moving forward and there has been some movement,” she wrote in a statement shared by Barbara Maynard, president of ActNow Strategies, who manages communications for the union. “Striking workers will be voting on the employer’s offer on Sunday.”
The details of the offer were not made immediately available to The Signal.
The drivers of Santa Clarita Transit walked off the job Oct. 9 after about a year of negotiations with respect to their contract with MV Transportation.
MV, which touts itself as the nation’s largest passenger-service company on its website, has provided the city’s bus services since 2008.
City Manager Ken Striplin said previously at multiple Santa Clarita City Council meetings the city has been urging MV to go back to the table. Declining to mention any specifics, Striplin said Nov. 14 the city was looking at “creating efficiencies” within the current contract, and he said Tuesday the city had provided MV with flexibility to get back to the bargaining table.
Garcia said Wednesday the discussions she’s had involve a combination of these “efficiencies” as well as the city putting up some more money.
