Golden Gate Transit workers spared from layoffs for now in anticipation of coronavirus relief funds
1of2Lisa Reed, with her husband, Chris, daughter, Arissa, 8, and son Alonzo, 6, at the Berkeley Marina. Reed this week received word that she will be laid off January 4 from her job as a driver for Golden Gate Transit due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of riders on public transportation.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle
The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District board voted to stop the planned layoffs of 146 workers on Wednesday in anticipation of a new $900 billion stimulus package becoming law.
The transit district called an emergency meeting for Wednesday to rescind the layoffs, scheduled for Jan. 4 because of a looming budget shortfall, after Congress passed the bill Monday. The district is one of around two dozen Bay Area public transportation agencies expected to receive an estimated $975 million, although each agency doesn’t know how much yet.
“Today is a long-awaited happy holiday gift to our employees,” board President Barbara Pahre said during the meeting.
Shelter-in-place nearly emptied the transit district’s buses and ferries and cleared traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. Revenue from tolls and fares dropped $2 million a week. By the end of November, when the first round of stimulus funds — $51.6 million from the Cares Act — ran out, the district faced a $48 million shortfall. The board voted to lay off 146 workers, eliminate 59 vacant jobs and implement a 10% pay cut for management to cut costs, instead of raising revenue by hiking tolls.
Golden Gate Bridge
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With the news this week of more likely funding, staff recommended the board stop planned layoffs and pay cuts. The board did not retract a $2.1 million severance package. General Manager Denis Mulligan said some employees had already taken it and others volunteered to leave to “save colleagues.”
The original motion to rescind layoffs was conditioned on President Trump signing the bill into law — which he threatened to veto on Tuesday. Directors covered their bases by rephrasing the resolution to say they would rescind layoffs when he signs it “or when the bill becomes law.”
Mulligan said he hoped new federal stimulus funds will get the transit district through the spring, but uncertainty remains about when the pandemic will be over and riders will return. If bridge toll traffic doesn’t rebound or no more federal relief comes, the board will have to cut costs or raise revenue again.
“What this does is buy us time,” said board First Vice President Michael Theriault. “It’s absolutely essential we continue to look at ways of working with our employee unions to stretch out the funds as long as they can go and to have a way of dealing with the end of them when they finally do run out.”
Workers who were slated to lose their jobs in January expressed immediate relief mingled with future trepidation at the news.
JorDann Crawford, 29, poses for a photo at the beginning of her morning shift as a bus driver at the San Rafael Transit Center. She will get to keep her job after layoffs were rescinded.
Sarahbeth Maney / Special to The Chronicle“I’m very, very thankful that layoffs aren’t happening now,” said JorDann Crawford, a bus driver and mother of three who had been job searching since she got a layoff notice in November. “I’ll stay because I love my co-workers and I enjoy what I do.”
But she added, “I’m not looking forward to possibly having to do this again in the next few months.” Crawford said a couple of drivers left for other jobs because they couldn’t take the uncertainty.
Shane Weinsten, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575, which represents about 250 bus operators, told the board on Wednesday that employees are grateful.
“This ends a four-month struggle that our members have endured, dealing with the threat of layoffs hanging over their heads,” Weinstein said.
Fallout from the planned layoffs resulted in the ouster of Director Brian Sobel, who voted for the cuts initially. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted instead to appoint union-backed Chris Snyder to fill the post after unprecedented debate, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported. A couple of transit district directors lamented the move and urged a better future relationship with labor.
Director Sabrina Hernández, who voted against the layoffs originally, thanked employees for enduring the hard process.
“There’s been a lot of unfortunate and bad news for them at different times that has put them in positions, particularly during a pandemic, particularly during the holiday season, that have been really, really horrible,” Hernández said. “We respect our employees, we believe in our employees, we value our employees.”
Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench