Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Antelope Valley Transit Workers Abandon Strike
LANCASTER — A strike against the operator of the Antelope Valley’s public transit system has ended, five months after it started.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 572 notified DAVE Transportation Inc. late Tuesday that it was abandoning the strike. No explanation was given although the union did ask the bus company to take back the workers who went on strike.
Officials with the Carson-based union could not be reached for comment.
Nathan Mackey, a bus driver who was among more than 80 drivers and mechanics who went on strike last Oct. 25, said, “We all made a stand. We did what we felt was right. We’re still going to hold our heads up.”
John Helm, a regional manager with the Santa Ana-based bus company, said jobs will be offered to the pickets who ask for them back, but only as positions become available.
The pickets had suffered a series of losses since they went on strike against DAVE Transportation, the company that operates the public transit system for the Antelope Valley Transit Authority.
The union had charged that DAVE Transportation had engaged in unfair labor practices by, among other things, failing to bargain in good faith. The charge was rejected by the National Labor Relations Board.
Bill Budlong, executive director of the Antelope Valley Transit Authority, said he was glad that the strike was finally coming to an end.
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