Employees of the Valley Transportation Authority went on strike on March 10, after months of labor contract negotiations stalled. There is currently no bus or light rail service throughout Santa Clara County, though VTA’s paratransit services are unaffected.

The strike was announced on March 6 by ATU Local 265, the San Jose branch of the Amalgamated Transit Union. The union represents drivers, mechanics and other transportation industry workers from the United States and Canada.

Despite the announcement that the strike would start at 12:01 a.m. on March 10, negotiations did not resume over the weekend. According to VTA’s website, the agency has been around for 53 years; this is the first time that its bus and light rail operators have gone on strike.

The shutdown of services has affected students at San Jose City College who rely on public transit to get to their classes. Leslie Perdomo, a 22-year-old business major, regularly takes light rail to get to SJCC.

“I had to Uber, and I was almost late for class today because my Uber was taking forever,” she said. “There was a long wait because a lot of people are taking Uber right now, that’s the only thing that they can really do.”

Perdomo also said that one of her co-workers had to walk several miles due to the shutdown.

“He had to walk from north side San Jose all the way to Valley Fair, and that’s about a three hour to four hour walk,” she said.

However, not all students are familiar with the context behind the strike.

 “I really don’t know why they’re going on strike, to be honest,” said Tiffany Echeverria, a 19-year-old business major.

Drivers at VTA work on a three year contract, the most recent of which went into effect in March 2022 and expired on March 3, 2025. When the union and the agency agree on an increase in pay, it’s split into smaller percentages which are paid out over the years that the contract is valid for.

For example, the contract signed in 2022 included an overall pay increase of 10%, which was paid out in a 2% increase the first year, a 4% increase the second year, and a 4% increase the third year.

“I don’t think we can really put a price on fair compensation when we’re talking about personal health and safety,” said Armando Barbosa, an ATU Local 265 board member who has been a bus driver for eight years. “We were [initially] asking for 8%, 8%, 8%, [24% in total], for ATU working families.”

VTA initially offered a 0% overall wage increase, though they eventually offered a 9% overall increase (4%, 3%, and 2%), while ATU lowered their request to an 18% overall increase (6%, 6%, and 6%).

Drivers with VTA are among the highest paid in the nation; however, many of them still can’t afford to live in Santa Clara County. Some live as far away as the Central Valley, commuting multiple hours to and from work. Not only does this give them less time to spend with loved ones, it also poses a safety concern.

“There’s this really nice thing called sleep,” Barbosa said. “If folks are traveling to work … and then they’re spending a full day driving here at VTA, and then they’re spending a little more time driving home from work … how many hours are we able to sleep?”

Barbosa explained that the workplace has also been a source of pain for many employees.

“In the past few years, our worksites have been traumatizing to a lot of folks,” he said, referencing the 2021 shooting at the Guadalupe Division light rail yard, and the murder of an employee at the Chaboya Division bus yard last fall. “We are trauma bonding here at this agency.”

After the strike was announced, VTA released statements on their website advising customers to seek alternative means of transportation. On March 7, they held a press conference to address the situation, which was also livestreamed to their social media.

“Number one, we want to provide a fair and competitive wage to our workers,” said Greg Richardson, VTA’s Deputy General Manager, during the press conference. “Two, we need to maintain fiscal responsibility for the agency in light of current and projected economic conditions.”

Richardson stated during the press conference that ATU had made “unreasonable demands” that the agency could not accommodate. Barbosa shared his thoughts on VTA’s statements to the public.

“I think that it [Richardson’s statement] was not very honest when reporting to the community,” he said. “I think that it was an attempt to regain the community’s support, and possibly an attempt to make the union out as greedy.”

On March 9, the day before the strike began, VTA updated customers on the situation via a blog post on their website.

“The two parties [ATU and VTA] met today, but there were no meaningful negotiations,” the post read. However, Barbosa said that nobody at the meeting had the legal power to negotiate a new contract.

“We got invited to a table where anyone that was sitting at that seat could not have the authority to make a decision,” Barbosa said.

With contract negotiations in limbo, it’s unclear how long the strike will last for, and how long customers will be without a ride.

VTA addresses this in their blog post, saying, “This is devastating news for the tens of thousands of riders who rely on our buses and light rail trains to get to schools, workplaces, medical appointments, and events.”

Barbosa is aware of the impact that the strike is having on customers.

“I want to be very clear that the union does recognize and understand that we serve our public,” he said “A lot of times, the public that we serve could be low-income, underprivileged, folks that don’t have the ability to move around.”

At the same time, though, he said, “We want to be treated humanely, we do not want to be at-will workers, we want to have the right to arbitrate any discipline.”

Barbosa described the moment as “bittersweet”. “We understand that we have our sense of duty to provide transportation,” he said, “and as soon as VTA is willingly and faithfully ready to really sit down and arbitrate a contract, we can get back to serving the community.”