Tucson is about to get millions of dollars to make its bus system safer.
At the same time, the people behind the wheel of Sun Tran buses voted Sunday to go on strike if they can't hammer out a new contract with management before the end of the month.
The vote wasn’t close: 99% of union members who voted supported going on strike.
The timing is hardly a coincidence.
As city leaders decide how to spend $2.15 million a year in new RTA Next funding earmarked for transit safety, bus drivers are arguing the city still isn't doing enough to protect them from violent passengers.
We’ve seen this before in different contexts — an employee group making a last-minute push to extract better contract terms right before the Tucson City Council locks in the budget for the year.1
And the threat by Teamsters Local Union No. 104 — the bus drivers who operate the city’s Sun Tran fleet — to strike is going to play an outsized role this month in budget talks.
A confluence of events led up to this particular fight: The union contract with the private company hired to manage Sun Tran ends on June 30; voters approved RTA Next and now millions of dollars are going to mass-transit safety; and last week there was another violent attack on a city bus, highlighting that there is more work to be done before many drivers feel the city’s mass-transit system is safe.
A reinforced plexiglass door is what divides bus drivers from riders on Sun Tran buses.
While nearly all contract negotiations include advocating for better pay and benefits, one of the biggest sticking points is additional safety infrastructure for drivers.
Which isn’t to say that the city hasn’t already poured millions into better driver enclosures, additional cameras, security personnel at transit centers and funding to put police officers on certain routes.
In fact, many of the driver safety improvements currently in place can be traced back to the Teamsters' strike in 2015, when operator safety was also a big issue.
Last Thursday, Sun Tran updated its Transit Safety and Security Action Plan website and listed recent changes over the last six months to improve security for riders and drivers.
This includes two sets of Tucson Police officers — working in pairs — riding five routes in Tucson’s urban core.
While Sun Tran is part of Tucson's public transit system, the buses are operated by Tucson Transit Management LLC, a separate management entity that negotiates labor contracts with the Teamsters representing drivers.
The biggest question is how the city will use the expected $2.15 million in annual funding from the Regional Transportation Authority for mass-transit safety as part of the voter-approved RTA Next.
The council will discuss a draft proposal this afternoon, including whether to set aside $25,000 a year for “barrier improvements” for “operator safety” — roughly 1.2% of the $2.15 million safety and security plan.
We’re not sure what that looks like, but it could be a step up from the plexiglass dividers they have now.
By comparison, the city has budgeted $700,000 for “special duty” police officers and another $187,200 for contracted security.
The council will decide tonight whether to sign off on this draft proposal to send to the RTA for approval. As part of RTA Next, there is dedicated funding for mass transit safety.
Keep in mind, there is some political friction between some council members and the union.
Last year, members of Teamsters Local Union No. 104 endorsed Republican candidate Jay Tolkoff in the Ward 6 election, holding a press conference at the Ronstadt Transit Center.
The endorsement was a rebuke of then-candidate Miranda Schubert, who continues to be one of the strongest allies of fare-free transit on the council.
Separate from political fights and preparing to strike for a better contract, union members have spent months pressuring the council to reinstate bus fares, arguing that fare-free transit has contributed to an increase in violent incidents on buses.
While there are a few council members willing to reopen the discussion, it’s unclear whether the threat of a strike will be enough to sway individual members of the council.
Just a reminder, it has been more than a decade since the last time the Teamsters went on strike.
The 2015 strike lasted 42 days and led to the installation of plexiglass dividers. Still, a Sun Tran driver who gave her name as Reyna said during the press conference last year that she was still recovering from a 2024 attack in which a passenger assaulted her with a fire extinguisher. At the time of the attack, the safety barrier was closed.
There’s a lot going on this week at the local government level today. Here is our Top 10 list, in no particular order:
Tucson City Council
The council will set the compensation plan for its employees. Well, most of them anyway. We expect some changes with bus drivers.
Raising fees at parks. Rates are going up almost everywhere, but they are keeping swimming in the pools free (unless you’re a lap swimmer).
Opposition to TEP’s rate increase. The city is formally weighing in against the 14% increase with a resolution.
Appealing a zoning decision for TEP’s Vine Substation. The Tucson Neighborhood Undergrounding Coalition is appealing the zoning administrator’s approval for TEP to use above-ground utility infrastructure.
The city is creating an Office of Community and Economic Impact. The new office is a reaction to the Project Blue debacle and residents asking for a more transparent process.
Pima County Board of Supervisors
Designate vote centers for the primary election. Hopefully, this will go better than it did in Maricopa County.
Adding a second study session. Just like their peers at the Tucson City Council, the supervisors are considering two study sessions a month.
The county’s financial forecast is looking up due to Project Blue revenue, ALCS payment, state-shared sales tax and an updated estimate on Vehicle License Tax.
Remember the fight between the assessor and the treasurer? It looks like the county will vote to declassify the county attorney’s memo about the dispute, which we wrote about last week.
The county is reexamining how and when it applies for federal grants, presumably due to new restrictions under the Trump administration.
As close to an apology as you’re gonna get: After the Republic’s reporting on his angry social media posts put him on the hot seat, Rocque Perez, a former Tucson City Council member who’s running for the Senate seat in Legislative District 20, penned an op-ed in the Star that focuses on the challenges of his childhood, what Gen Z brings to the political conversation and the voting record of his Democratic opponent, Rep. Alma Hernandez. Perez didn’t squarely address the social media posts, except for these lines.
“As someone who came of age online, I also directed anger toward the Trump administration in public. How I went about that then is not how I would do so today,” Perez writes.
Thinking small, thinking big: Now that the Tucson City Council loosened zoning rules to allow for more innovation as the city deals with unsheltered people on the streets, two local nonprofits are working on “free-standing bedroom” projects, the Tucson Sentinel’s Mia Kortright reports. The new “micro-shelters” are small, prefabricated structures with space for people to sleep, get out of the heat and keep their belongings secure. Meanwhile, city officials celebrated the groundbreaking of Amazon Flats, a housing project north of downtown that will offer 59 one-bedroom units next year for low-income residents, per the Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel.
Shared use, shared costs: The Bisbee City Council is putting up $100,000 for a shared-use path around the Lavender Pit, Matt Hickman reports for the Herald/Review. The project was organized by local residents, and they got an $8.5 million federal grant, but they ran into a snag when estimated construction costs jumped by $1 million as fuel prices rose. Rising costs also hit the Santa Cruz Humane Society, alongside fewer donations, and the animal shelter is closing its doors after 43 years, Alessandra De Zubeldia reports for the Nogales International.
Hear ye, hear ye: If you want to let everybody in the state know what you think about the measures that will be on the November ballot, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer explains how for just $75 you can put a 300-word argument in the pamphlet that goes to 4 million registered voters. But you only have until June 24 to submit your argument. And if you use swear words, your submission might get nixed.
Or you could become a paid subscriber to the Agenda and make your voice heard in the comments section.
Big names, big plans: Hughes Federal Credit Union is going to spend $5 million over the next decade on naming rights for the Fox Theatre, Thatcher Warrick Hess reports for Arizona Public Media. As part of the agreement, a new theater will be built next to the Fox Theatre.
For a Republican trying to get elected as Arizona’s governor, which is a worse insult?
You’re a Washington career politician
You’re a Tucsonan
The first one depends on your point of view. The second one is just a fact for Congressman Andy Biggs.
Biggs doesn’t tout his Tucson ties, but it looks like Republican operative Drew Sexton clearly thinks being a native Baja Arizonan is far better than being a Beltway insider.
1 The city locked in the size of next year's budget last month, but the Tucson City Council has the discretion to move some of the money around until the end of June.