Professional Transit Management, a private Cincinnati-based company hired by the city of Tucson to manage the city's buses, is the immediate target of the strike. They offered the unionists a three-year contract with an hourly raise of 8 cents in the first year. Annual raises of 54 cents and 52 cents were to follow. The workers rejected the offer in a 237--7 vote on August 26. Management claims they can't afford the workers' demands because of the high cost of health care, and because the city has allotted only $3.6 million for the Sun Tran system.

Bus driver Les Martínez, a former member of the United Auto Workers and a veteran of two previous strikes, told the Militant that the workers have been preparing for the walkout for a year. The unionists are very unified, he said. "Of the workers that are still driving some are new drivers still on probation and strikers don't harbor any bad feelings towards them," he noted.

The strikers are picketing three transit stations and Sun Tran's headquarters. Among those walking the picket line are Denise and Valerie, two veterans of a strike in 1997. This strike is more disciplined and better organized than the previous one, they said. Other strikers described how their fight for parity and dignity is inspiring other workers in Tucson to stand up for their rights.

Sun Tran is attempting to maintain a limited bus service on only a few routes, using inexperienced replacement drivers and management personnel. During the second day of the strike a pedestrian was struck by a bus.  
 
Previous strikes
A number of workers mentioned the previous stoppage in 1997. In August of that year, 369 drivers and mechanics at the company went on strike, demanding parity with city workers with comparable jobs. "Workers were fed up," said Jeff Miller, chief steward for Local 104, explaining that they had received no wage increase over the previous six or seven years.

The workers stayed out for a week. At the end of the successful stoppage they voted to approve a one-year contract that included raises of 51 cents for drivers and 58 cents for mechanics, along with other gains in heath-care coverage. At the time the City Council promised the workers that parity would be reached by the next contract.

A strike deadline loomed once again in August 1998. The workers again demanded the parity they had been promised but had not received. The day before the deadline, the workers voted to approve a three-year contract with a $1.40 per hour raise in the first year and 4 percent raises in the following years.  
 
 
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