Teamsters Local 533 continues its criticism of Keolis Transit North America. The latest is an audit that, union head Gary Watson said, shows the company owes union members a quarter of a million dollars.
The union represents employees of the France-based company contracted with Washoe Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) to operate buses in the Reno area.
The audit alleges Keolis failed to report hours worked and failed to report things such as all pay periods, hours for temporary employees and “other clerical errors in calculating contributions” from July 2019 through June 2021.
“Our pension fund did an audit on Keolis Transit because of their use of a large sum of temporary employees doing bargaining unit work which, per the [collective bargaining agreement], they have to pay pension payments on,” Watson told This Is Reno. “A failure to properly submit this much in worker contributions over a short period of time with a small group is very uncommon. It is no wonder the Trustees are moving so quickly to bring Keolis into compliance.”
Watson said the Teamsters’ pension fund is a separate entity from the union.
“The pension fund has its own legal counsel and will take all legal action necessary,” he added.
Keolis would not respond to the audit because company representatives said they have not received an official copy from the union. The letter was dated Jan. 31, 2022.
“At this time, we have yet to receive the official letter from the local Union leadership. With that said, our commitment remains strong to work in partnership with the Union on behalf of our shared employees,” Jenny Fahlbush with Keolis said last week.
