Sun Tran workers walk a picket line at Ronstadt Transit Center while on strike in August 2015.Listen:
Negotiations were under way again Tuesday between striking Tucson municipal bus workers and bus system management with the walkout in its 41st day.
Representatives of both sides in the labor dispute said they were optimistic about the outcome of the talks, but neither would give details, nor predict when they will settle.
A federal mediator was working with officials of Professional Transit Management, which runs the bus system for the city, and Teamsters Union Local 104. The Teamsters spokesman said sometimes talks have gone until midnight.
A spokeswoman for management declined comment when asked if the talks included changing the contract offer based on last week's City Council directive to management that it can use money saved by reduced bus service. She said the mediator has ordered both sides not to make details public.
The strike began at midnight Aug. 5 and has an estimated 530 drivers, mechanics and station workers off the job. They had overwhelmingly rejected management's offer a few days earlier.
Since then, the two sides have exchanged information on proposed new offers, but neither has come close to matching what the other wants.
Management officials have said there is $2.7 million on the table to be divided however the union wants. The last proposal made public by the union called for a package of at least $5.5 million.
In addition, the union has asked for worker safety improvements, including clearing up mold problems at a northwest-side bus center and on some buses and ensuring safety for drivers after nearly two dozen assaults by passengers.
The current city budget includes nearly $30 million to subsidize the bus system, which normally operates 43 routes and carries 66,000 passengers a day. Since the strike began, those numbers have been greatly reduced, and the system this week was running 14 routes Monday through Friday and five on Saturday.
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