HAVERHILL — The action ebbs and flows on the picket line walked by bus drivers outside MeVa transit’s gated headquarters, and that goes for Haverhill police details paid to maintain order.
MeVa, the Merrimack Valley’s regional transit authority, hired the police, who are paid $55 an hour and $82.50 for any hours over 40, said Noah Berger, administrator for MeVa.
Police are on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, typically four officers per shift.
The strike was in Day 7 on Tuesday.
Detail responsibilities include making way for MeVa’s management team and others to cross the picket line and enter headquarters or the yard filled with idle buses.
Mini-dramas take place 10 to 20 times a day on the picket line at the end of Railroad Avenue, an off-the-beaten-path location.
Invariably, they play out like a dance, whether in rain, as on Tuesday, or broiling sun, last week.
The walking or resting strikers spring into action when a vehicle approaches the electronic gate to enter MeVa’s yard.
Tuesday at 1 p.m. when two vehicles approached the picket line, a business agent, Ken Bergen, hollered out for the crew to circle up.
Local 170 members marched counter-clockwise toting signs and, as the spirit moved them, hollered short rallying cries.
Sometimes the group chants as one, usually the rhythmic “no transportation wthout negotiaitions.”
Meanwhile, police officers in bright lime-green shirts stationed nearby under a canopy enter the fray if necessary.
They didn’t have to intercede in this instance, since the marchers held their circle for two minutes and then formed a hole, allowing the vehicles to pass.
The situation can be tricky, depending on whose vehicle is approaching the gate — a management member’s, a nonunion contractor’s, or the truck or vehicle belonging to another union.
Local 170 bus union steward Michael Durso said when MeVa management approaches the gate, the strikers block their entry for the two minutes and then let them pass.
The same goes for a nonunion contractor.
For instance, a nonunion garage door repair company needed access to the site Tuesday and after the two minutes the strikers let the vehicle pass.
Members of other unions typically choose not to cross the picket line. Fellow Teamsters are forbidden from crossing.
There have been occasional minor incidents at the gate over the course of the last week, one of them involving a trash truck operator who strikers said was bearing down on them and reprimanded by a police officer.
Jim Marks, Local 170 business agent, said the detail officers on site have been impartial in their role as gatekeeper.
“I mean, everything they’re doing is in line with every other strike that we get, and that we go on,” he said.
Martz said the police and a union representative typically set the ground rules for how long the strikers can impede traffic.
“The two minutes is pretty much what you get,” Martz said.
The picket line’s purpose is to slow the operations of the company, he said.
“So, you know, you can get them back to the table and get a contract that benefits both parties,” he said.