Judge denies request to delay Kansas City streetcar public opening

A Jackson County circuit judge on Thursday denied a request from the Kansas City bus drivers union to temporarily delay the streetcar’s public opening, planned for May 6.

Judge W. Brent Powell heard arguments Wednesday on the request to postpone the public streetcar operation until a labor dispute involving the union against the city and Streetcar Authority is resolved.

Attorney Doug Taylor, representing Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1287 and its president, J.P. Walker, asked Powell to issue a preliminary injunction. That would have temporarily delayed offering streetcar service for public transportation, pending completion of an arbitration process.

But Powell ruled Thursday that the union had failed to establish “irreparable harm” if the streetcar project opens to the public.

“Any harm the union and its members may experience if the streetcar project is allowed to commence operations can be remedied in arbitration and/or with an award of monetary damages,” Powell ruled.

Powell also said that if he had issued the injunction, the city and the Streetcar Authority would be harmed.

“The planned streetcar service is a significant public infrastructure, transportation and economic development project,” Powell wrote.

“The citizens of the city of Kansas City, Mo., and the surrounding communities, in addition to the local downtown businesses, have patiently endured the construction and planning phases of this significant project. It is time for this patience to be rewarded with the operation of this public project.”

Streetcar Authority executive director Tom Gerend praised the ruling, saying it “recognizes the contributions downtown stakeholders have made as we work diligently towards the opening of this public project.”

Taylor and the union said that because the $100 million downtown streetcar system got $37 million in federal grants, the city as a condition of those grants must ensure the existing bus drivers are protected and not adversely affected by this new transit system, which will run from River Market to Union Station.

The union argues the streetcar operation is obliged to give its union drivers priority for those streetcar jobs. The city disagrees.

The union wanted the project’s public kickoff delayed until an arbitrator rules. An arbitration hearing is scheduled for April 21, but the streetcar system is in testing and other drivers have already been hired.

“It’s to protect labor and the process, not just employees,” Taylor said in urging the judge to grant the preliminary injunction.

George Ingham, an attorney representing the city and the Streetcar Authority, urged the judge not to grant the request.

The city believes the streetcar operation will not harm the bus drivers but will in fact enhance their opportunities, including additional bus overtime on nights and weekends to complement the streetcar schedule.

In the unlikely event some bus driver layoffs or pay cuts occur in the future, Ingham said those can be addressed with monetary compensation.

The more important decision on the union’s members and collective bargaining power with the streetcar project will come from the arbitrator after April 21. Ingham doubted the arbitrator could rule by the May 6 scheduled opening but said it might not come too long after that.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Judge denies request to delay Kansas City streetcar public opening."