Phoenix New Times won 30 journalism awards, including first-place awards for investigative reporting, immigration coverage, news and opinion blogging and design, from the Arizona Press Club on Saturday night.

Staff writer Paul Rubin received a first place Don Bolles Award for Investigative Reporting for "Hell Hole," (September 1, 2011), described by judges as "a deeply disturbing picture, meticulously and thoroughly reported, written with clarity and purpose."

Columnist Stephen Lemons' "Feathered Bastard" took a first place in the News Blog category. Judges wrote that Lemons' blog was "fueled by a strong sense of outrage, buttressed by firsthand reporting and presented in an easily digestible, straightforward style."

More >>

Buses in Phoenix are expected to start rolling again on Friday.

Phoenix gave Veolia Transportation executives what they wanted today, a steep reduction in poor-performance fees and a reimbursement of nearly $800,000 worth of fees to the French-based transit company. And now, Veolia is giving the union what it wants.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton brokered the tit-for-tat deal, effectively ending the Phoenix bus strike that started midnight on March 9. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433 and Veolia execs are expected to reach a deal and resume bus service Friday morning.

More >>

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton announced today that a bus strike that has disrupted service throughout the Valley will likely come to a close on Friday.

Both sides -- the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433, which represents bus drivers in Phoenix and Tempe, and Veolia Transportation, the transit company that employs the drivers -- are once again at the negotiating table trying to hammer out a contract deal for drivers.

"Late last night, they reached a handshake agreement on their contract, and we believe that bus service ... is going to be beginning again very, very soon," Stanton said during a press conference this morning. "If everything works out today it looks like service to the people of Phoenix will be provided Friday morning."

Phoenix drivers went on strike midnight on March 9, and were later joined by Tempe drivers.

But why is the week-long strike expected to end on Friday?

More >>

For nearly two years, Veolia executives have sat across the table from union representatives for Phoenix bus drivers in an attempt to hammer out an employment contract for workers.

No deals have been reached, and finally, union officials called for a strike on Friday night.

Tempe bus drivers -- who are also Veolia employees represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union -- joined the strike because they have also not reached a contract agreement with the French-based transit company.

Veolia reps say that are surprised by the strike.

Surprised? After two years of failed negotiations?

More >>

valleymetro.org

The Amalgamated Transit Union just called for a bus strike -- a call that comes after nearly two years of Phoenix bus drivers transporting about 71,289 passengers daily without a contract.

Veolia Transportation, the French-based company that nabbed a $388 million contract to operate city buses, has not reached any contract agreement with union leaders representing about 640 Phoenix bus drivers.

More >>

Bloomberg View

Anti-union sentiments among Arizona's conservative politicos aren't letting up.

Four anti-union bills aimed at thwarting unions' existence in the public sector sailed out of the Senate's Government Reform committee on Wednesday.

More >>

New Times

Members of ATU Local 1433 protest

The Phoenix City Council has yet again postponed making a decision on whether to give Veolia Transportation, a company that operates city buses, a pass on fines assessed for poor performance.

Vice Mayor Michael Johnson made a motion to withdraw the item, and the council agreed 8 to 1. Councilman Jim Waring voted against withdrawing the item, asking during the meeting why the council didn't just deal with it.

The transit company has to pay fines to the city when it doesn't meet certain performance measures, including when buses are late, unkempt or simply don't show up to bus stops.

Waring said during the meeting that the only reason it wasn't getting voted on was because the "powers that be" didn't have the votes to get the measure passed. He said it was likely that item was just going to come back when Veolia execs did have the votes.

More >>

When Phoenix City Council consider on Wednesday slashing the fines for Veolia Transportation, the French company that operates city buses, the company's bus drivers will be outside protesting and picketing against it.

Union reps believe Phoenix bending over backwards to help a "foreign company," all the while that transit company is unwilling to work with union reps to hammer out a fair deal for bus drivers.

More >>

Veolia executives not willing to reach fair contract for bus drivers, union leaders say

​Union leaders trying to negotiate a contract for bus drivers in Phoenix and Tempe aren't making any progress with Veolia Transportation, the international firm that runs the cities bus operations.

"A strike appears to be inevitable," Michael Cornelius, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433 tells New Times about the Phoenix contract. "For the entire year that the union has been trying to avoid a strike, Veolia has been pushing for a strike."

While executives with Veolia Transportation keep publicly saying the want to negotiate, union leaders say that corporate representatives are uninterested in reaching any common ground.

Both sides recently sat down to negotiate terms of their Tempe city bus contract.
More >>

AFSCME President James Tierney wants an apology from Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio

​James Tierney, the president of a municipal workers' union in Phoenix has filed a claim against the City of Phoenix and Councilman Sal DiCiccio.

Tierney's claim, a prelude to a lawsuit, alleges that DiCiccio disseminated "false and misleading information" about him, placing him in a "false light," and "seriously invaded his privacy and the privacy of his family."

(Click here to read the claim)

Tierney, president of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) Local 2384, is asking for a mere $1 in damages, his attorney's fees (about $3,500) and a public apology from the District 6 councilman.

Tierney says he's only asking for $1 in damages because "it's about accountability, it's not about the money."

DiCiccio sent out an e-mail blast to thousands of Phoenix residents on April 11, and it included links to police reports he filed after he says he received threatening faxes and discovered his car had been vandalized.

Tierney is listed in that police report as a person of interest in the threatening faxes incident even though the fax machine had no connection to Tierney's union. The police report included Tierney's home address, date of birth and other personal information.

DiCiccio tells New Times that he is sorry for the mistake. He said that there were links to the reports on his Website, but that he pulled them as soon as he was informed about the personal information included in the reports.

He says that he assumed that the police would have redacted any information that should not have been made public.
More >>