This week many Oakland citizens became the victims of a bitter contract dispute between AC Transit drivers and their unions. Several “sick outs” were staged during the week which effected people’s commutes.

After imposing a cost-slashing contract about 20 percent of the drivers called in sick. In total 190 drivers didn’t show up for work this week, while people who wanted to go to work had to deal with longer than expected wait times on different bus lines.

Drivers are being asked to take cuts to their overtime, and health insurance to help balances AC Transit’s budget. Their also being asked to learn new bus routes without the proper training that was protocol in the past.

AC Transit is giving drivers videos of their new routes as learning tools instead of taking the driver on training sessions to learn the routes.

Though all 110 bus lines were not effected this week, this dispute gives some commuters an excuse for wanting to stay in bed. I’m taking summer classes at Laney College and fortunately didn’t experience what other commuters had to go through.

AC Transit has tired a lot of different methods to help their expenses like increasing fare for riders, eliminating underutilized bus routes and changing the times that certain buses stop running. All of these methods may save them a few millions of dollar but it also makes life even harder for commuters.

What do think of the contract dispute? Sound off with your comments or email me at Stephen@OaklandLocal.com