Bus strikes have started in the Santa Clarita Transit system on Monday, October 9th. This occurred after a year of stalled negotiations over wages. Nearly 200 protesters were gathered at the Santa Clarita Transit’s central bus maintenance facility for MV Transportation.

Workers found the MV Transportation wages unsatisfactory. They wanted a 9% increase for 2022, an 8% increase this year, and an 8% increase in 2024. (Los Angeles Daily News) MV Transportation was not able to meet these demands. The protestors claim that they are paid as little as half of what the city’s maintenance workers and gardeners earn.

Despite the City of Santa Clarita receiving tens of millions of dollars in COVID-relief funding for transit operations, (KHTS Radio), the worker’s demands were never met. The workers claim that the current wages did not meet the cost of residing in the Santa Clarita Valley, and commuting from other cities became more expensive.

The City of Santa Clarita declined to explain if there were any potential resolutions to the conflict. Since October 2022, according to The Signal, MV Transportation claims that they worked in good faith to come to terms with the union. Despite this, the strikes continue, and our community is feeling the consequences.

Jarrett Caradine, a student at GV who used the buses before the strikes, says “I need the strikes to stop so I don’t have to walk home”. Jarrett used the bus to go to school and get back home. Now that these strikes are taking place, it takes an hour for him to do both.

The situation continues to develop and update as the strikes enter the 5th week. Students are still unable to use the bus for transportation, and official deals have not been made between the protestors and MV transportation.

Here is a link to information about bus routes and alternative transportation
Here is a link to The Signal, Santa Clarita’s #1 Local New Source.