Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail and bus service is shut down Monday as more than 1,500 front line employees have gone on strike.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said Saturday it has asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to order striking transit employees back to work serving thousands of South Bay riders while it works out a new contract.

More than 1,500 transit workers walked off the job early Monday morning, marking the first work stoppage in VTA’s 30-year history.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has requested Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene to get striking VTA employees back to work.

Monday marks day one of a South Bay transit strike that stands to disrupt the commutes of more than 100,000 VTA riders.

VTA’s final contract offer to workers last week included a wage increase of 9% over three years, keeping the employees as the second-highest paid in the Bay Area and the fifth-highest paid in the country. The union is seeking a 6% raise per year over three years and wants to add a clause guaranteeing arbitration for contract disputes.

The VTA workers strike in Santa Clara County entered its second day Tuesday with some 1,500 workers on the picket lines demanding increased wages and improved benefits from the transit agency.

Ryan Yamamoto reports on the Santa Clara VTA filing a complaint over the current strike by transit workers. Resale values have collapsed in recent years, with the average price of a used Tesla now $10,

Both the transit agency and the union say they are open to returning to negotiations, but no meetings have been set.

The VTA operators’ union is responding after the transit agency went to court trying to get striking drivers back to work.