Las Vegas transit workers push for funding during rally

Transportation union workers rallied peaceably in downtown Las Vegas Tuesday, encouraging people riding buses to call or write lawmakers to ask for more funding for public transit.

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1637 distributed fliers for about two hours at the Bonneville Transit Center. Sixteen union officers and stewards handed out information as part of a nationwide push for Transit Action Month.

“Our message is that more people in buses means less congestion on the road,” said Jose Mendoza, president of the local union. “It also means reduced carbon emissions and cleaner air.”

Mendoza said the union, which represents bus drivers, is reaching out to their passengers to enlist bipartisan support for funding.

The union group stresses the connection between federal funding legislation and Southern Nevada bus transportation and the system managed by the Regional Transportation Commission.

Two private contractors, Keolis Transit and MV Transportation, operate Southern Nevada’s transportation system under contract. Union officials are unhappy the contract was split because transit workers now operate under different labor agreements, with different pay scales and benefits.

Union officials also were unhappy that they were not allowed to hand out literature on bus platforms at Tuesday’s event. The Regional Transportation Commission has a policy against distributing fliers in the platform areas and routinely relegates organizations to a plaza adjacent to the platforms for safety reasons.

Commission officials had no comment on the rally because they are in labor contract negotiations.

Last week, a Senate committee voted to advance a six-year transportation funding bill that maintains current spending levels, but falls short of rescuing the Highway Trust Fund, which supporters say would result in a shutdown of road projects and the loss of 700,000 jobs nationwide if allowed to run dry.

It’s unclear when the full Senate would consider the transportation bill.

Mendoza and Sam Santoria, vice president of the local union, said they have been in contact with the offices of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev.

Titus, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee, supports restoring the Highway Trush Fund, which she said would affect 6,000 jobs in Nevada.

Lawmakers have been reluctant to raise taxes, specifically an 18.4-cent-per-gallon fuel tax, in an election year.

Santoria said he is encouraging passage of a so-called “Robin Hood tax” on financial transactions involving the sale of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and trusts.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow him on Twitter @RickVelotta.