The RTD strike is over.

On April 7, 2006, ATU 1001 Union members voted to return to work. The proposal brought a good raise in contributions for our Health Insurance. It passed by 81%, though there was still considerable disgruntling about the lack of respect.

I was originally going to say that nobody won in the strike, and that is true (as is true of every strike), but perhaps I can put a positive swing on it: everybody won something.

RTD won their $200,000 extra pay for every day we were out. RTD was also able to save face by maintaining their budget: still a $1.80 raise over 3 years. And hopefully they won because they can now improve their dialogue with the union.

Union members won because we helped lower our out-of-pocket Health Insurance contributions, and we did get a higher raise up front. We won because we saw very gracious customers supporting us, and thanking us for returning so soon. We won because the RTD Board members learned that they were kept in the dark during negotiations, and they will insist on better communications in the future. They, after all, are supposed to be the ones running the company. We also got free coffee and doughnuts when we returned to work.

Governor Bill Owens won with the the memorable quote that will secure his place in history: "This union reminds me of the youngster who murders his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's now an orphan." Only a lame duck politician could compare 1750 of his constituents to murderers.

The Transit-Riding public won with new appreciation of what the RTD employees do for them. Thank you very much for your support! We hope to never allow you to be put out again.