Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 are to vote Saturday on a new contract proposal from the Valley Transportation Authority, the VTA announced today.

“Contract negotiations … have reached a critical juncture,” the VTA said in a statement.

The union today was silent on the vote or the new contract offer, which if approved, could end the walkout that began March 10.

The transit agency said its negotiators have presented an enhanced wage proposal of 10.5% over three years, contingent on VTA Board approval. This a slight increase from the 9.5 increase that had been on the table when talks broke off a week ago.

“ Union leadership has publicly stressed throughout this process that their concern was NOT about money,” the VTA said in today’s statement. “VTA has gone above and beyond to accommodate union demands, including agreeing to the union's proposed arbitration language and significantly enhancing dental coverage at the union's request.”

“The current proposal is highly competitive and fair,” the agency said. “The agency’s commitment to its employees is undeniable.”

Superior Court Judge Daniel T. Nishigaya on Monday rejected the VTA request for temporary restraining order to send workers back to work while contracts continued. The judge scheduled a hearing for March 26 in his Santa Clara court of the Valley Transportation Authority’s request that he permanently end the strike by 1,500 members of the Amalgamated Transit Local 265.

The strike has halted all bus and light rail rides for 100,000 commuters daily since March 10. Paratransit services are continuing.

The VTA claims that the union is violating a “no strike” clause in its expired contract

Also Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to intervene in the labor dispute. The VTA had asked Newsom to order a fact-finding investigation to bring striking VTA frontline workers back to work while contract negotiations continued.

Three decades of journalism experience, as a writer and editor with Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Lee newspapers, as a business journal editor and publisher and as a weekly newspaper editor in Scotts Valley and Gilroy; with the Weeklys group since 2017. Recipient of several first-place writing and editing awards, California News Publishers Association.