Yesterday’s talks broke off late last night. The union and O’ahu Transit Services (OTS) both agreed to a wage freeze during the first year of the strike. However, union representatives are asking for raises during the second and third years. OTS said they may be willing to discuss a third-year raise. The city maintains that there is absolutely no money for a pay raise.

OTS is also only offering a one-year guarantee of no benefit reductions, rather than the three years drivers want.

Both sides continued to have harsh words for the other. “It’s ludicrous,” complained union leader Mel Kahele. OTS chief negotiator Perry Confalone countered that negotiating with the Teamsters was “like trying to hit a ‘moving target’.”

On Mayor Harris’ live, weekly program on ‘Olelo (public access TV), the mayor praised Hawai’i’s residents for coping so well. He also described Honolulu’s state-of-the-art traffic management center. Engineers at the facility can see more than 90 live traffic cameras and control over 700 networked traffic signals from a single location. This week, they’ve increased the length of green lights on major thoroughfares to keep the increased number of cars on the road moving along.