SAN JOSE >> Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus service will resume today after striking union workers were ordered to return to their jobs by a county judge.

About 1,500 members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 returned to work Thursday to prepare for the resumption of bus service, the agency said. Light- rail service could begin as early as Monday, but it is expected to take a “little longer to resume” than buses as workers inspect the tracks and overhead lines of the 42 miles of the system.

The return to work came after 21/2 weeks of a historic strike, with workers seeking a new contract with higher pay and a new arbitration clause. The strike brought bus and light-rail service across the county to a standstill, impacting the daily travel of about 100,000 riders.

On Wednesday, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge granted an injunction that ordered the union to return to work. The judge did not issue a ruling on whether the strike was a breach of contract.

The agency had filed the lawsuit on the first day of the union’s strike, alleging that the workers were violating a “no strike” clause in their contract. The union maintained that the clause no longer applied because the contract had expired.

Judge Daniel T. Nishigaya found Wednesday that the VTA met its initial burden of showing it would likely succeed in arguing its case.

“The judge’s ruling returns affordable transportation to tens of thousands of people who rely on VTA as their main source of transportation,” the agency said in its press release. “It also allows employees to get back to work after having gone without full paychecks for more than two weeks.”

“The South Bay Labor Council and ATU Local 265 remain committed to negotiating with VTA Management in good faith to secure a contract that guarantees transit workers a fair wage, as well as the dignity, due process and safety they deserve,” Jean Cohen, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council, said in a statement released Thursday afternoon on behalf of the union and council. “And we will continue to put pressure on VTA board members who engage in regressive bargaining or who retaliate against workers for exercising their rights.”

The issue of a new contract remains unresolved after the union voted down the most recent contract proposal from the agency Monday. The offer included an 11% raise over three years, but the union expressed concern that the contract did not include a guarantee that workers who went on strike would not face retaliation and added new proposals impacting overtime that had been removed from negotiations in January.

The union and agency had not returned to negotiations as of Thursday, said Stacey Hendler Ross, public information officer for the VTA.

Hendler Ross added that the guarantee that workers would not face retaliation was not included in the two recent contract offers because it had other elements including a request that the VTA drop its lawsuit. She added that she was not sure why the union would ask for that guarantee “when it’s already something that’s protected.”

“It’s against the law to retaliate against someone for going on strike,” she said. “VTA is not planning on breaking the law.”

The workers initially walked off the job March 10 after negotiations fell apart the week before.

“VTA is hopeful ATU negotiators will return to the bargaining table with a proposal that will resolve the conflict and produce a fair and supportive contract,” the agency said.