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# Council consent agenda includes three-year contract raising Big Blue Bus drivers' pay
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-big-blue-bus-drivers-will-receive-a-raise-for-the-next-three-years-under-a-new-contract-set-to-be-approved-by-the-city-council-tonight/
- Published: 2008-07-15T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:10:47.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

(Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures appearing on upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agendas. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.) Representing all drivers with the local public transportation agency, the United Transportation Union Local 1785 (UTU) was able to negotiate a three-year contract that will grant a series of salary increases starting in the current fiscal year in which employees will receive a nearly 4 percent raise. The schedule will continue next year with a 3.56 percent raise and subsequently, a 3.64 percent increase. The union’s current contract expired on June 30.

The UTU is one of two employee associations expected to receive new contracts, both of which are part of a more than $3 million spending package that could be approved at the council meeting. Both contracts are good through June 2011.

The bus drivers’ contract also includes paid long-term disability insurance coverage, a higher vacation accrual rate for employees who have between five and 10 years of service, and a sick leave buy-back program that allows the union members to cash-in on unused sick leave at the end of the fiscal year. The UTU membership has already ratified the proposal.

The Santa Monica Municipal Employees Association (MEA), one of the largest in City Hall, will also receive a three-year contract that provides a 4 percent cost of living increase for the current fiscal year and future annual adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange County areas.

The contract also gives employees one additional leave day that is non-cashable. The leave day, which is provided in the final year of the contract, must be used or forfeited.

The MEA contract is estimated to cost City Hall $2.6 million in the current fiscal year.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 15, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071508.pdf?ref=smdp.com)