Transit Union Rejects MCTS Contract Proposal

MCTS Administration building, 1942 N. 17th St. Photo taken July 18, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) workers voted down a labor contract proposal from the transit system Friday.

Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 (ATU) voted 91% against an offer for a one-year contact from MCTS, according to ATU Vice President Michael Brown. Typically, the union and MCTS agree to three-year contracts. After months of negotiations, looming labor unrest and new financial uncertainty, the union agreed to consider a one-year contract from MCTS.

“We’ll go back to the table and try to talk and see if they want to talk, you know, and then, if not, then we make other arrangements,” Brown said. “So we’ll try to go back for a full three-year contract.”

On July 8, members gave union leaders the authority to call a strike at any point from then on.

In a statement Friday, MCTS said it looks forward to continuing talks with the union.

“We’re disappointed that a contract has not been reached, but we respect the rights of our employees. Our goal hasn’t changed—we want a fair, sustainable agreement for our bus operators, mechanics, and cleaner/tankers that allows us to keep MCTS running smoothly for the riders who depend on us,” MCTS said.

Negotiations have been going on since the beginning of the year. In May, the union became frustrated with MCTS officials, telling Urban Milwaukee their proposals seemed to be falling on deaf ears. In June, MCTS surprised the union when it informed them of a $10.9 million budget deficit in the middle of negotiations, while simultaneously announcing it in the press. Along with the deficit, the administration informed the union, and the public, of plans to cut service in the fall by 20,000 hours.

The contract did not address workers concerns about a number of issues, a major one being security. The provisions in the proposal would have allowed MCTS to eliminate the new security force the union spent years pushing for, according to Brown. As members voted Friday, a 70-year old bus operator was seriously assaulted by a passenger he had let on the bus to ride for free, Brown said, adding that the assault was unprovoked and did not follow a fare dispute.

The contract’s wage provisions, also, did not inspire much support; and it did not even address health insurance, Brown said. The union offered some concessions on overtime, but management’s counteroffer on overtime went further and was a non-starter, Brown said.

“They want to attack all the overtime for all operators, for all hours that they work, and we weren’t gonna allow that,” Brown said.

MCTS administrators say excessive overtime is a major driver of the current budget deficit. Union leaders have argued that MCTS relies on overtime to get service out, that it is pushing operators to the point of burnout, contributing to a high rate of attrition and necessitating even more overtime.

The contract is now back in MCTS hands and the possibility of a strike has increased, Brown said.

“The talk has got to be serious,” Brown said. “It has got to be serious conversation.”

Both sides have agreed to an extension of the previous contract that lasts until July 31, providing more time to reach a deal. In 2018, negotiations lasted nearly two years and nearly ended in a strike.

The last time ATU went on strike was 2015. Since then, the union has authorized a strike three times, each time during bargaining for a new contract.