An ongoing contract dispute between bus drivers, and Santa Cruz Metro Transit officials has reached a breaking point. Drivers have threatened to walk off the job September 8 if no deal is reached.

FRSC reporter Vinny Lombardo has more.

Audio: Download the mp3 (4 minutes)

see also: Santa Cruz METRO | METRO's page on the Labor Situation || United Transportation Union Local 23

Santa Cruz Metro workers, are ramping up pressure for a fair deal after their contract talks reached a stalemate. The contract for bus drivers, mechanics, and other workers, expired this week, but was extended for one week while the talks continue. The workers maintained a three hour picket line at the downtown bus station Wednesday, after talks with management broke off.

Transit workers around the nation have been facing off with employers over health care and wages. In Oakland, CA a strike of 2,300 Bay Area Rapid Transit workers was derailed early Wednesday morning, after union officials, and BART management agreed to contract terms. Elsewhere, union officials in Phoenix, AZ put the brakes on a June 30 bus strike, and in Philadelphia last month, SEPTA (transit) workers agreed to stay on the job without a contract until Sept 5.

Audio: Santa Cruz Transit Workers Rally for Health Care & Wages

Photos: Bus Drivers Picket at Santa Cruz Metro Transit Center

Audio: Rockin' the Boat: Metro Labor Dispute Continues

See also: BART's A Mess, But Don't Blame The Workers

In a vote-by-mail election set for August, 2005, Santa Cruz residents will be asked to approve another utility tax. Of all the things to tax, essentials are the worst possible choice. Whether you're rich or poor, you still have to flush the toilet.

The proposed 3 to 12% utility tax comes on top of a 7% utility tax and is made worse by a massive, multi-year, 124% increase in city water rates, not to mention a backward water pricing scheme that already has small users paying up to 580% more per gallon than big users.

As usual, Santa Cruz City Council calls itself progressive but doesn't behave that way. Please join me in voting no on Measure X.

[ No on X ]

So far, Santa Cruz County has managed to keep out ultra-evil Wal-Mart from its communities. Wal-Mart is now trying to come into Santa Cruz County... by locating themselves just outside of county lines in the small, unicorporated area of Pajaro. Please help fight the corporate monster!

Sometimes a moment comes when what we do, individually and together, MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE in what happens, for better or for worse, in our communities here on the Central Coast. If we respond, we win. If we fail to respond, we lose. A moment like that has arrived NOW.

At 9:30 AM on Monday morning June 20 the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will hear public comment on whether the county should regulate the development of big box superstores-- combining huge discount grocery sales with cheap consumer goods-- like the WalMart superstore proposed for the unincorporated rural area of Pajaro.

Some 16,500 clerical workers at the University of California's nine state campuses, began a three-day strike June 13, to demand higher pay. The Coalition of University Employees, or CUE, is unaffiliated with other unions, and consists largely of women and people of color. Ninety-four percent of its members voted to strike after talks reached an impasse this spring. Vinny Lombardo reports from Santa Cruz, where 150 people held a lunch time rally. Audio

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3

[ 3-Day CUE Statewide Strike of UC June 13-15 || Coalition of University Employees (CUE) ]

The SPFPA is the LARGEST, OLDEST and FASTEST GROWING 9(B)3 Security Police Union in the World Today !

What's going on at UGSOA ? It seems President Jim Vissar is once again trying to deceive the members into thinking that the UGSOA International union is financially sound, when it reported Total Net Assets of Just $56,969 dollars or .17 cents per member. This Financially Broke Storefront Union is in Serious Trouble!

A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio. With times and freqs for listening at home. 2 files- broadcast and slow-modem streaming. Free to rebroadcast. Netherlands, Russia, and Cuba.

While the Capitola Mall is still restricting protest unlawfully, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in August against Capitola Malls' content-based policies, and limited time, place, and manner restrictions.