This strike is no longer about fair wages or working conditions. It’s about pay demands that would force route cuts, fare increases and layoffs.

The Valley Transportation Authority is hopeful its offer of more pay and improved benefits will end the regional transit strike.

The court decision Monday wasn’t the only rejection that hit the transit agency. Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a request from the VTA to intervene in the labor dispute and asked the two sides to resume negotiations on a three-year contract.