Orange County bus drivers go on strike

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SANTA ANA, Calif, July 7 (AP): Bus drivers in Orange County went on strike early Saturday after the union representing them and the bus agency failed to agree on a new contract.
The strike means about 50 of over 80 Orange County Transportation Authority bus routes will not be running, promising to create headaches for more than 200,000 people in the county who use the system.
Picket lines had gone up and buses were being parked, said Patrick Kelly, the secretary-president of Teamsters Local 952.
"It's a shame," he said. "But we are not going to shepherd through a process that screws our people out of pensions or a living wage."
Ted Nguyen of the OCTA said the transit agency was ready to continue negotiating and that drivers have been offered a "fair and strong wage and benefits package."
The two sides were apparently only 1 percentage point apart on a wage increase. But last-minute wrangling over the financing of drivers' pensions had also emerged as a sticking point, said Kelly.