A war of words has broken out in the Vineyard Transit Authority union contract dispute, but no strike date has been set yet. 

Though the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 32 bus drivers for the authority, voted in late July to authorize a strike, union president Charles Ryan said this week that the group is holding off for the moment while it appeals to the town select boards for help. 

Mr. Ryan said he sent select boards in each town letters detailing the drivers’ need for pay raises. In the letter, Mr. Ryan calls for VTA administrator Angie Gompert’s resignation and alleged that the VTA management misappropriated funds from the state for workforce development and retention.

After the claims from the union, Ms. Gompert wrote her own letter to the towns denying the allegations, saying the statements are “unfounded and lack any factual basis.”

The claims from Mr. Ryan revolve around $25 million provided to the regional transportation services in 2025 through the state’s supplemental budget. The current contract dispute is largely centered around pay, and the union said it had asked management to use the workforce recruitment money to offer raises to the drivers, similar to what other regional transit authorities did. 

“When we came to the VTA requesting the same type of raises we were told the money was already spent,” Mr. Ryan wrote in the select board letter, which was provided to the Gazette by the union. “My question is where was it spent? It certainly wasn’t spent where it was intended.” 

Mr. Ryan asked the towns to inquire about the funding and Ms. Gompert’s own pay raises over the years. 

“At the very least it would appear that a misappropriation of funds has taken place,” he wrote. 

Ms. Gompert said the VTA’s portion of the $25 million was just under $550,000, and the money was used to increase the frequency of routes to at least pre-pandemic service levels and to pay maintenance workers.

The transit agency heavily relies on state funding, and Ms. Gompert warned of a fiscal cliff on the horizon for many regional transit agencies unless the state continues supplemental support or increases its budget line. 

“With local funding constrained by Proposition 2 ½, it will be difficult to maintain current levels of service,” she wrote to the boards. “In my 30 years with the VTA, transit funding in Massachusetts is at unprecedented levels, but operating costs are also at unprecedented levels…”

The select boards have yet to weigh in publicly on the union dispute, and the bus drivers are not yet scheduling a strike as town leaders consider the concerns raised. 

“I am holding off calling for a strike while I see if other measures can be more effective,” Mr. Ryan wrote. “I ask that you put your constituents first and get some answers as to what is going on at the VTA.” 

If Mr. Ryan doesn’t hear back soon, he said he will call the strike. 

“Right now, the ball is in their hands,” he told the Gazette.