BAKERSFIELD, CA -- It's been a week since the union and GET last tried to make a deal. On Thursday, the union said they came back with concessions offering a longer contract with lower pay increases.
After an hour, GET officials walked out of the meeting, with no deal on the table. With the help of Leticia Perez's office the two sides scheduled the meeting.
This is day seventeen of the strike. The 250 drivers and mechanics were asking for 4 percent raise each year for the next three years. The union says they backed down from that increase.
However GET bus says they don't have the ridership to merit any significant raise. "We have a limit we can go to because of our financial uncertainties and we don't seem to be able to get to a point that is agreeable to both sides," says Gina Hayden, GET spokesperson.
"We've given a whole lot of stuff that we started out originally in negotiations we basically pulled a lot of I would say a lot of it off the board and just to get to the numbers we needed to be and it's just not happening," says Chester Suniga, with the Teamsters Union.
So how are drivers faring? Well GET says while some are still getting paychecks, they're running out. GET says last Friday drivers got their last week of pay. Next week on Friday most drivers will run out of vacation pay. By the end of the month health benefits will expire, putting pressure on the out of work drivers.
GET is requesting an alternative, arbitration, meaning drivers would go back to work while the negotiations continue but the union is adamatly opposed.
After an hour, GET officials walked out of the meeting, with no deal on the table. With the help of Leticia Perez's office the two sides scheduled the meeting.
This is day seventeen of the strike. The 250 drivers and mechanics were asking for 4 percent raise each year for the next three years. The union says they backed down from that increase.
However GET bus says they don't have the ridership to merit any significant raise. "We have a limit we can go to because of our financial uncertainties and we don't seem to be able to get to a point that is agreeable to both sides," says Gina Hayden, GET spokesperson.
"We've given a whole lot of stuff that we started out originally in negotiations we basically pulled a lot of I would say a lot of it off the board and just to get to the numbers we needed to be and it's just not happening," says Chester Suniga, with the Teamsters Union.
So how are drivers faring? Well GET says while some are still getting paychecks, they're running out. GET says last Friday drivers got their last week of pay. Next week on Friday most drivers will run out of vacation pay. By the end of the month health benefits will expire, putting pressure on the out of work drivers.
GET is requesting an alternative, arbitration, meaning drivers would go back to work while the negotiations continue but the union is adamatly opposed.