More than 60 JTRAN workers will go on strike starting at 4 a.m. on Monday, July 14, if the union and MV Transportation do not reach a new deal, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local-1208 said in a statement issued Friday. That gives the two sides around 72 hours to reach an agreement.
“We care about our riders whom we transport each day and do not want this strike to happen,” Charles Tornes, Jr., president of the local ATU chapter, said in the press release. “The Union does not tolerate companies that try to bully workers by bad faith bargaining at the table. Throughout the negotiations there has been only one party, the Union, that’s been operating in good faith and actually wants to reach a deal.”
This strike comes after months of negotiations between JTRAN contractor MV Transportation and Amalgamated Transit Union Local-1208, with no contract to show for it. Jackson’s bus system is publicly funded, but privately managed by MV Transportation.
The most recent negotiations happened at a meeting that spanned between 10:15 a.m. on June 27 through 1 a.m. the next morning, Tornes said at a Friday press conference.
“Pretty much, they proposed the same contract that they proposed previously on June 9th and 10th, and we countered with what we thought was a fair agreement,” Tornes said at the press conference. “They turned it down, and we left without a proposal.”
Meanwhile, MV Transportation alleges the local ATU chapter is refusing to return to negotiations.
“Local union leadership has refused to return to the table or move in their latest position while continuing to spread wild misinformation about our proposals and the negotiation process,” MV Transportation said in a statement released to the Mississippi Free Press on Friday. “We again urge union leaders to stop threatening to deprive passengers of essential transportation service and return to good-faith negotiations for the benefit of team members, riders, and the Jackson community.”
JTRAN driver and ATU member Marquie Johnson also spoke at the press conference.
“We hate how the city is being impacted because we have a connection with a lot of people that we pick up, we have connection with a lot of our passengers, so it hurts us just as much as it hurts them,” Johnson said at the July 10 press conference. “…We understand it hurts them more… this is the only means transportation for a lot of the people in the city”
Despite the potential disruption of transit services, JTRAN riders have shown their support, Johnson said.
“We deal with a lot, and the people that ride with us, they deal with it– they see it,” Johnson said. “A lot of them, they’re for the strike.”
MV Transportation has “made extensive preparations to provide as much service as possible in the event of a strike, so that the actions of local union leadership do not hurt our valued passengers,” the company said in its Friday statement.
Communication Workers of America local chapter president Jermaine Travis also joined the press conference, lending his support and promising his union members would be present at the strike as well. Both CWA and ATU local chapters led strikes in 2024.
“(MV Transportation has) until Sunday to present a new proposal or counter,” Tornes said at the Friday press conference. “If they do not, we’ll be proceeding with a strike 4 o’clock a.m. Monday morning.”
The City of Jackson declined to comment.
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