JACKSONVILLE, Fla. â The Jacksonville Transportation Authority filed a lawsuit against the union that represents the majority of its employees, accusing it of jeopardizing more than $100 million in federal funding the authority receives for services that include its Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) program, according to News4JAX partners at the Jacksonville Daily Record.
In a complaint filed in United States District Court, JTA, through its subsidiary Jax Transit Management Corp., accused Amalgamated Transit Union 1197 of breach of contract.
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According to the filing, JTM is a nonprofit Florida corporation created by JTA to provide it with bus operators and maintenance personnel.
At issue is a Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan that must be signed by JTA and the union for JTA to receive the federal funding.
In JTAâs complaint, it says Amalgamated Transit Union 1197 has refused to sign the plan based on âarbitrary and capriciousâ reasons.
In 2025, union representatives refused to sign the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan, JTA wrote in the complaint. The authority said the refusal âviolates (the unionâs) contractual obligations under the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) to engage in good-faith bargaining over workplace issues such as safety.â
The Federal Transit Administration has threatened to withhold more than $100 million in grants should the union refuse to sign the safety plan, according to the complaint. The union objected to including the U2C as a mode of service in the safety plan, saying the service was unsafe.
âYet, in the months following that initial proposal (for the PTASP), Local 1197 has not articulated a single item, or issue that it considers unsafe,â the complaint reads.
Melvin Hicks, the president of the local union, declined to comment on Amalgamated Transit Union 1197âs safety complaints, directing the Daily Record to contact international union representatives.