Day 7 Of DeCamp Bus Strike — And Still No Progress

Montclair commuters might as well give up hope of catching a DeCamp bus to the city any day this week, according to union officials.

"Negotiations were bad," said Amalgamated Transit Union chairman John Costa on Wednesday, referring to Tuesday's meeting between the company and striking union employees aimed at resolving pay and benefits' issues. "The (DeCamp) company requested that we regroup tomorrow and possibly Friday. As of now, we're still out there on strike."

On Wednesday, the union's executive committee for DeCamp was meeting other union officials in Costa's office at the Amalgamated Transit Union Council in Kennilworth. "We expect to have about 15 local ATU unions and other unions present, including the UTU and TNU," he said, referring to the United Transportation Union and the Teamsters National Union. "The local New York and New Jersey unions are coming in to support the strikers. They want to make sure the company doesn't try to break the union."  

With the strike in its seventh day, Costa says he was "shocked" by the lack of progress at the bargaining table. "(DeCamp) wants to take the workers' pensions away. We gave them a good proposal. They refused to consider it." 

When asked about DeCamp's stance, Costa replied: "We had asked them if this was a money issue. We asked them to open their books and show them to us. They won't do that. They won't come out and say they're having financial difficulties because then they have to prove it. My understanding is that the company has been sold and there's a $6 million deficit.  We think they want to pay that mortgage deficit on the backs of the workers."

DeCamp officials declined to comment on the negotiations.