Strike averted: Santa Barbara County transit workers, bus system approve new three-year contract

KCLU | By Mary Olson

Published September 16, 2025 at 1:45 PM PDT

The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District Board of Directors approved the deal on Tuesday.

A months-long labor dispute that almost led to a major transit strike in Santa Barbara County has been settled.

The Santa Barbara MTD’s Board of Directors ratified a deal Tuesday with union bus operators and operations supervisors represented by the Teamsters.

The workers had already approved the agreement. It gives them an 11.25% wage and benefits increase over three years. A deal with the union representing maintenance personnel was ratified in August.

The dispute got contentious, with the union workers authorizing a strike and a state mediator being called in to help with the negotiations.

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Mary Olson

Mary is part of the original team that signed KCLU on the air in 1994. Under her leadership, KCLU has grown from single signal to a network of five stations serving the central coast from Agoura Hills northward to San Luis Obispo. She has thirty years of management and budget experience, with over twenty of them in broadcast management. Prior to signing on KCLU, she had worked in both television syndication and served as the National Marketing Director for Ticketmaster where she supervised 24 regional offices and developed strategic relationships with venues, promoters and the media nationwide.

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