Muni Worker 'Sickout' Causes Delays With Two-Thirds Of Vehicles Out Of Service

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- San Francisco Municipal Railway service continues to operate at about a third of its normal capacity Monday  due to a contract dispute that prompted a "sickout" by a large number of Muni workers.

UPDATE: Hour Long Muni Delays As Worker 'Sickout' Continues For Second Day

Only about 200 of Muni's roughly 600 vehicles were in service Monday morning. Cable car service was shut down and express buses were making local stops, adding to the major delays that occurred across the Muni system after a large portion of workers called in sick.

Many commuters, including San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, took to Twitter this morning to vent their frustrations about the sickout.

"Walking from Castro to City Hall due to Muni driver illegal sickout. Thank you to the Muni drivers who actually showed up to do their jobs," Weiner wrote, referring to a law passed by voters in 2010 that prohibits Muni workers from striking.

Muni operators voted Friday on a proposed labor agreement. Officials with the employee union Transport Workers Union Local 250-A made no recommendation on the contract proposal, but it's clear they're unsatisfied with SFMTA's offer.

Under the proposal, Muni operator's pay would be raised to about $32 an hour on July 1--making them the second-highest paid transit workers in the country, according to the SFMTA. The outcome of the vote was not immediately being released, but TWU Local 250-A president Eric Williams said on the union's website that it was an "unfair contract" and that the "city devalued our service as they proposed unreasonable take aways."

KCBS, KPIX-5 and Chronicle Insider Phil Matier said that because they while operators aren't allowed to strike, Muni can't replace the drivers either.

"This isn't an organized effort; it's unofficial but they're not happy about it and the Muni drivers, from past history, are pretty efficient about this," he said. "When they want to go out sick and they wan to let their feeling be known; they are not shy about," he said.

The last time there was a sickout in 2010, 20 percent of workers failed to show up for work.

Transportation Alternatives:

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BART is honoring Muni fare within San Francisco and Daly City, according to the SFMTA. Riders can follow updates on Twitter @sfmta_Muni and sign up for email and text alerts on the SFMTA's website.

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