If a news outlet is going to bother publishing a news story about the pending VTA strike they should at a minimum provide some context permitting readers to draw informed judgments. What percentage of VTA bus and train operators are union members (most public employees in California have the agency-fee opt out alternative where they can pay the union a fee in lieu of having to become a member)? How does the average VTA bus and light train operator's compensation (cash salary and benefits) compare to other large metropolitan areas in the U.S.? Once train and bus operators pass their probation what is the turnover rate in the first 1, 2 or 5 years on the job? I understand that at some private sector employers, especially in the retail sector, it's not uncommon for 80 to 90% of employees to be gone by the end of their first year on the job.

Looks like the Bus Drivers only make around a quarter of a million a year, so definitely should strike for more:
Web Link

Nick, that's what having collective bargaining as an employee gets you: good pay and benefits. If you organized your workplace, you might have that, too! If you can't manage to convince your co-workers to get better pay and benefits, maybe you should seek out a job with VTA.

@Labor

Unions certainly do get their members more pay, however, sometimes they go a bit too far. In the private sector, unions have been on the decline for a long time, because private industry must pay for their demands via revenue, having no other source of money, and when the demands exceed revenue, the company goes out of business, or ditches the union.

In the public sector, the government raises taxes on everyone to pay the union demands, so unions have been withdrawing to the public sector, assuming the money is infinite. CA right now is in a sad financial state because of promises made to unions, promises which will never be kept, which unions accepted knowing that they will never be kept. Unfunded pension liabilities are too high to ever fund without massive tax hikes, which will never happen. The VTA union falls in this deluded category. There is no way that entry level jobs driving a bus are worth $100,000, but that's what the VTA pays. No private bus company could ever afford that, but the VTA simply passes that onto us via taxation.

Unions have their place, they've created expectations about reasonable work hours, workplace safety and benefits which are now common place, but now they've turned milking governments into an art form. Police and fire fighters do funny tricks with their last pay check to spike their pensions above what's due, school districts promote horrible teachers into administration to get them out of teaching because they can't fire them, it's gross. I would like to see balance between employer and union; by all means, unionization should be legal and not interfered with, but employers should also not be forced to hire union employees by law and should be free to fire everyone - like Reagan did with flight controllers.

Anyhow, as a tax payer who barely treads water here with the costs of living and the high taxes, I'm frustrated to see how the unions have been extorting us all.

It sounds like your big problem is that your employer isn't paying you enough, which I'd say is directly tied to your first point, the decline of private sector unions.

As I advised Nick, if you organized your workplace, you might have good wages and benefits, too! Don't begrudge your fellow workers for working together and negotiating, try to achieve that for yourself! Otherwise, try to get a job with the VTA.

It is well known in Mountain View and Palo Alto, that VTA doesn't really value those of us in the north of the county. Unfortunately, when and if the strike happens, those who ride buses are not going to be able to get to where they are going unless they use Uber or drive themselves. The consequences for us is more traffic rather than anything else as we are not served well except for perhaps school routes which will make little difference with schools being out.

VTA is likely to end up having to find more ways to cut costs by reducing service. What's the betting it will be north county riders who will feel the effects of this post strike and not those who live in San Jose.

We have a pathetic public transportation service. They call themselves a service but they don't serve the public's needs.

Time for a big overhaul of Bay Area transportation that is well integrated as opposed to competitive, and turn it into regional transport rather than all the separate agencies.