https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2008-10-27/694730/

Capital Metro Strike Looms

By Lee Nichols, October 27, 2008, 12:00pm, Newsdesk

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union 1091, representing Capital Metro's bus drivers and maintenance workers, have voted overwhelmingly against accepting the final contract offer from StarTran, the subcontractor that handles Cap Metro's personnel issues. The vote was 57 for, 390 against.

"This picture is very clear that our members do not feel that the package proposal that Capital Metro and StarTran wants to force onto the workers is reasonable and fair," the union said in a press release this morning.

Rising insurance premiums are at the heart of the conflict between management on the union. The press release said that on Oct. 31, the union will alert the public as to when the strike may start.

Because state law forbids public agencies such as Capital Metro from recognizing a union, but federal law requires it, StarTran was created by the transit authority to serve as a subcontractor that is technically the workers' actual employer.