Santa Barbara’s Transit District and Teamsters Local 186 Agree to Temporary Contract Extension

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District and Teamsters Local 186 have agreed to a 45-day contract extension and bus service will continue to operate during that time.

Negotiators agreed to a state-mediated contract proposal and members of the Teamsters Local 186 are expected to approve the temporary extension stated the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District in a press release Thursday.

A previously negotiated contract extension was set to expire at midnight Thursday and Teamsters Local 186 indicated that they had authorization from its members to strike if an agreement was not made shared the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District.

This was not the first extension for the extended negotiations that started in May of this year.

A one-day extension was reached in early June before an additional extension was agreed to until July 31.

"[Santa Barbara] MTD remains committed to reaching a fair agreement, and wants all bus service to operate normally for the community that relies on it," read a statement part of a press release from the city-based transportation organization earlier this week.

Your News Channel has reached out to Teamsters Local 186 Thursday in anticipation of the looming deadline and its response will be added to this article when it is received.