by Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News

...Drivers at the last of RTD's three private contractors have voted to go union, completing a campaign by the Amalgamated Transit Union to once again represent all of the transit agency's drivers...

For the first time since 1989, when the state started to require RTD to farm out some of its operations to private companies, the drivers and operators of RTD's fixed-route buses and light rail are all union. Under current law, RTD can privatize up to 55 percent of its bus services...

...In 2006, RTD was able to use drivers from Veolia and Laidlaw to substitute on the busiest routes that striking drivers handled. Now RTD said it most likely wouldn't be able to call on them to fill in again...

Read Full Story: www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/15/