November 26, 2014
By Neal Tepel
Washigton, DC – The National Labor Relations Board Region 16 office in Fort Worth agreed with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1091 that Travis Transit Management Inc. has failed to properly pay it's members benefits owed. According to the NLRB the employer violated the National Labor Relations Act when, it unilaterally implemented changes to its employees' health insurance benefits and retirement plan in 2012.
As a result of the Amalgamated Transit Union appeal to the NLRB, over 600 employees and former employees of Travis Transit Management Inc., will receive $655,000 as compensation for losses of retirement contributions and health insurance premiums. Travis is a wholly-owned subsidiary of McDonald Transit Associates, Inc. who provides fixed route bus service to Capital Metro in Austin, Texas.
On November 7, 2014, McDonald, the employer and ATU 1091 entered into a settlement agreement resolving the dispute. The negotiations were monitored by the NLRB and signed off by their Administrative Judge. McDonald agreed to compensate over 600 union members and retirees of Local 1091 as a result of the changes to the plans that were implemented without the approval of the union. In addition, notices were posted in all workplace locations addressing the alleged violations and a description of employee rights was included on every company bulletin board as required by the NLRB.
