CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CATS bus operators voted down a contract Friday night.
Channel 9 learned 90 percent of the bus drivers were not in agreement with the offer from Transit Management of Charlotte.
The two sides have been deadlocked and the current contract ends Monday night.
They are expected to come back to the table again to try to work things out.
It could avoid a strike that would interrupt service for thousands of riders.
After months of negotiating, a federal negotiator was called in to help the two sides come up with the contract.
The contract took nearly 17 hours to hammer out.
A federal mediator came to Charlotte last week to help the drivers and transportation management of Charlotte reach an agreement.
The two sides have been deadlocked for months.
The drivers are currently operating under a contract extension which ends Monday night.
To sign up for breaking news alerts, click here.
WSOC
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/CPEHEMYETVGMXPGPMRCU32QFJM.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/SSADAFRW7JEYJMTUK5GOCB4AJE.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/SANODGXKIRDXBIFTOFJNLP4BHA.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/WJVERMTCKFHFPBF2LNONHSDB4M.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/KI2HPN6BIVBDHLZSXQIEDIJB2Y.jpeg)