Members Expected to Return to Work Thursday

(RENO, Nev.) —Teamsters Local 533 has reached a tentative agreement with RTC Contractor Keolis Transit on scheduling, time off and a number of other issues. The members begin to return to work tomorrow after going on strike for the second time in three months, but will continue to negotiate the remaining open contract articles as they work towards finalizing a new collective bargaining agreement.

“Our members have stood strong on the line for 35 days and they are ready to pound the pavement again if provoked,” said Gary Watson, Local 533 President. “They educated the passengers and public, they testified at the RTC Board Meetings and most importantly they took care of each other when a fellow brother or sister was down and out.”

Local 533 hopes to complete negotiations with the company on compensation, disciplinary rules and other issues within the next two to three weeks; RTC Chair and Reno City Councilmember Neoma Jardon will continue to sit in on the remaining bargaining sessions. Michael Lansborough is a Local 533 Driver and Shop Steward who serves on the negotiating committee.

“Working class people need to know: it’s time for us to unite,” Lansborough said. “Not only unite individually into unions, but unite as a whole to beat down this corporate attitude that they can just walk all over everybody.”

Chartered in 1934, Teamsters Union Local 533 represents about 2,200 workers in various trades throughout northern Nevada and eastern California, including about 200 RTC/Keolis employees. For more information, go to http://teamsters533.org/.

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