Optimism Fails to Produce End to MTA Strike

LOS ANGELES -- Contract talks that could end Los Angeles County's 16-day-old transit strike failed to produce an agreement Sunday, frustrating hopes of a settlement after Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation he thought would help end the stalemate, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"We are still talking. We are still smiling at each other, but quite honestly we have not made a lot of progress," said Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

By 9:30 p.m., hopes had faded as the talks broke into small caucuses and both sides said that no breakthroughs would occur Sunday night.

Contract discussions had continued Sunday morning amid guarded optimism at the Pasadena Hilton when United Transportation Union leader James A. Williams, who represents about 4,400 striking bus and rail operators, met for almost two hours with Brenda Diederichs, the MTA's chief labor relations officer.

The talks continued off and on throughout the afternoon as MTA negotiators met separately with representatives of three unions that represent drivers, clerks and mechanics.

Officials said they expected the discussions to expand Sunday night after the MTA board conferred by conference call at 5 p.m. for an hour and provided further direction for Diederichs and other MTA officials. But the parties failed to work out a new labor contract as talks pushed further into the night.

Williams said he was encouraged by a proposal he received from the MTA late in the evening. He said he would study it and discuss it with his colleagues, and they would offer a counterproposal.

But he was not sure how long the process would take. He would not elaborate, but said he expected better news this morning. Even so, Williams said buses probably won't be running until the end of the week at the earliest.

Riordan, who controls four seats on the 13-member MTA board, attended the negotiations this weekend along with MTA Chief Executive Julian Burke. The mayor, who says he hopes to facilitate the discussions, has been criticized by the transit union for not taking a more prominent role in the talks.

"I think the board and the union want to get the drivers back on the road in the next day or so," Riordan said. But "trying to overturn rules and habits that have been going on for many years is not easy."

Although some headway has been made, Burke and the mayor indicated that it was not as much as they and others had hoped for.

Both sides declined to discuss the specifics of the talks, citing an agreement not to reveal their differences at this stage of the negotiations.

MTA officials have offered the United Transportation Union a $43-million wage-and-benefit increase over three years, including an 8.1% pay hike. The transit agency also wants to create a two-tiered work force by hiring more part-time drivers, who would earn lower, entry-level wages and would not be eligible for benefits such as health coverage.

The MTA is under pressure to reduce annual operating expenses by at least $23 million and is seeking concessions from its bus and rail operators, including a 15% reduction in overtime. In that effort, the MTA has proposed a four-day workweek with pay for 10 hours, although drivers would have to spend up to 13 hours at work.

Union officials, however, are trying to protect as many full-time positions as possible because they pay better than part-time work. The wage increase, they contend, is not enough to compensate drivers for the proposed reductions in overtime.

In addition, the bus and rail operators want to end the MTA practice of paying workers on split shifts for eight hours of work although they are required to put in 10 to 11 hours per shift. Union officials basically want 10 hours' pay for 10 hours' work.

"Beyond cautiously optimistic, I would not say a word," said Goldy Norton, a spokesman for the United Transportation Union, whose picket lines are being honored by the MTA's clerks and mechanics.

Contract negotiations broke off Tuesday amid serious disagreements between the union and the MTA. They resumed for a few hours Saturday after the governor signed pro- union legislation that dealt with a major source of contention in the talks.

The bill, SB 1101, calls for a four-year period in which the MTA must recognize existing collective bargaining agreements if it reorganizes into small suburban transit zones. The measure by Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) "will protect MTA employees' rights if MTA reorganizes into proposed transit zones in the San Fernando Valley or elsewhere," the governor's office stated.

After he signed the bill Saturday, Davis called on the MTA and United Transportation Union to end the strike that has idled the nation's second-largest bus system for more than two weeks.

Williams and Miguel Contreras, the chief of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, vowed earlier this month to end the strike within 24 hours if Davis signed the bill. But they also said Saturday they wanted to see how the negotiations progressed before making a final decision.

Contreras contended Sunday that further movement in the negotiations over the weekend depended on the MTA board, which apparently had difficulty getting enough members together for a quorum.

He noted that the board was going to meet at noon Saturday, but rescheduled the meeting for 5 p.m. Sunday. Until the board gave the chief negotiator her marching orders, he said, the talks were all exploratory.

"The unions are all here. The mediators are here. We have the chief negotiator, who is lacking the authority of the MTA board of directors," Contreras said. "I think there is more than meets the eye here. I think that there is a lot of politics going on."

MTA officials maintain that their negotiators, including Diederichs, have always had the authority to reach a settlement.

Out on the picket lines Sunday, striking bus and rail operators said they hope negotiators will reach a satisfactory agreement soon so they can return to work and their personal lives.

"I'm kind of disappointed, but I trust in the union and I know they're doing the best for us," said bus driver Avtar Singh Chattha, 40, of Canoga Park as he picketed near Canoga Avenue and Nordhoff Street in Chatsworth.

"You have to stick with the union," said Parmjit Singh Grewal, also 40, of Canoga Park, who has been a bus driver for 12 years.

Grewal, who has a wife and two children, has joined the picket line every day since the strike began. He says he is living off his savings and has reduced his family's expenses by cutting out such things as going out to dinner with his wife.

"We want the strike to be over," Grewal said. "I hope they work out something. We need to go back to work."

MTA spokesman Marc Littman said that even if a deal were reached immediately, the strike would probably continue for several days because union members were unlikely to return to work until they ratified the new contract.

It would take a day or two to resume all service, he said. Buses would have to be fueled and inspected, and electricity would have to be restored to 60 miles of train track. The MTA has about 2,000 buses on 200 routes, as well as subway and light rail lines.

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Talks Resume in L.A. Transit Strike

LOS ANGELES -- After nearly 12 hours of talks, transit authorities handed union negotiators a proposal aimed at ending a strike that has shut down most bus and rail service and stranded some 450,000 people who rely on public transportation, the Associated Press reported.

James Williams, president of the United Transportation Union, representing 4,300 bus and rail operators, said he planned to review the proposal by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and submit a counterproposal Monday.

"I am encouraged by the progress we made,'' Williams said Sunday night. He declined to give details about the proposal's content.

Brenda Diederichs, MTA's chief negotiator, said Sunday's talks in Pasadena were among the most fruitful.

The transit strike began Sept. 16, idling most of the MTA's bus and rail routes throughout Los Angeles County.

Mayor Richard Riordan met individually with negotiators, conducting shuttle diplomacy between rooms of the hotel where the talks were underway, MTA spokesman Marc Littman said.

Riordan, who put in his first appearance to advance the talks Saturday, said he was "cautiously optimistic'' an agreement would be reached.

Gov. Gray Davis weighed in as well, signing a bill union leaders said could remove one obstacle to a contract agreement. The new law keeps workers' collective bargaining agreements intact for at least four years if the MTA decides to split up into smaller transit zones.

The strike has hit mainly the county's working poor who cannot afford cars, students, the disabled and the elderly. The MTA says it is forfeiting about $2 million per day in fares and tax receipts.

"Everyone's hurting,'' Littman said. "The common chord today is that everyone wants to end the strike.''

Littman said that even if a tentative agreement was immediately reached, the strike would probably continue at least until Tuesday because rank-and-file union members were unlikely to return to work until they had ratified it.

It would take a day or two after that to resume service. Buses would have to be fueled and inspected, and electricity would have to be restored to 60 miles of train track, Littman said.

MTA officials have offered the union a $43 million wage-and-benefit increase over three years. The agency also proposes creating a two-tier work force by hiring more part-time drivers, who would earn lower, entry-level wages and would not be eligible for benefits such as health coverage.

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Talks resume in L.A. transit strike amid new optimism

LOS ANGELES -- The union representing striking Los Angeles transit workers resumed talks with transit officials on Sunday, amid boosted optimism that a new agreement could be reached in the near future, both sides said, Reuters reported Sunday.

Stalled talks between the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Union Transportation Union resumed on Saturday, and started up again Sunday morning, said UTU spokesman Goldy Norton.

The strike has left an estimated 450,000 commuters stranded each working day over the last two weeks.

About 4,300 bus and subway drivers walked off the job, forcing some of the region's poorest residents scrambling to find rides. Some 2,000 buses plus 59 miles (95 km) of light rail and subway lines have been left idle by the dispute.

MTA spokesman Marc Littman said "some key economic issues'' have yet to be resolved, but negotiators appear to be making progress.

A major sticking point is the MTA's desire to require some drivers to work four, 10-hour work days a week and reduced overtime. Union members say that such a plan would mean a 15 percent pay cut for its senior members.

Negotiations had been at an impasse until Saturday, when California Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation requiring that union contracts be honoured if the MTA is broken into smaller transit zones in the future. Union members welcomed the move, fearing the MTA might try to split off several smaller suburban transit zones in a bid to cut costs.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan had opposed the legislation, but was upbeat nevertheless after David signed it.

Speaking to reporters, Riordan said on Saturday he was "cautiously optimistic'' that an agreement could be reached soon to end the 16-day-old strike, and that drivers could be back at work as early as Tuesday.

Riordan, who controls four seats of the 13-member MTA board and helped forge the agency's hardline stance in the contract talks, also attended the Sunday negotiations, said MTA spokesman Jose Ubaldo.

Union leaders declined to speculate on when idle MTA buses and subway cars might resume operations if an agreement is reached.

Upon signing the bill, Davis said he expected to see progress in resolving the strike.

A major sticking point is the MTA's desire to require some drivers to work four, 10-hour work days a week and reduced overtime. Union members say that such a plan would mean a 15 percent pay cut for its senior members.

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Davis Signs Pro-Union Bill; Strike's End May Be Near

LOS ANGELES -- Gov. Gray Davis signed pro-union legislation Saturday that eliminates a major source of contention between the MTA and its striking workers, bringing a guarded air of optimism to the table Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

For the first time in the 16-day transit strike, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan--the most influential member of the MTA's governing board--showed up at the labor talks in Pasadena, helping to spur a resumption of contract discussions that had been called off earlier last week.

"I think both sides want to get the strike over," said Riordan, who has been criticized for being absent from the bargaining sessions. "The transit-dependent in our city really need it, and the leaders and union leaders owe it to them."

The mayor said he was "cautiously optimistic" that an agreement could be reached soon and that buses could be back in service as early as Tuesday.

James Williams, general chairman of the United Transportation Union, would say only: "We are so pleased the governor signed [the legislation]. We will be here all day and all night until this is resolved."

Neil H. Silver, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, echoed the sentiment, adding, "We could wrap this up by Monday morning. I am very optimistic."

Union leaders declined to predict when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's idle buses might start rolling again.

Leaders on both sides planned to resume negotiations this morning. Also, the full MTA board is scheduled to meet at noon.

The bill Davis signed into law erases among the thorniest issues that has been looming over the negotiating table. Under SB 1101, by state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City), the MTA must abide by all existing labor contracts if it decides to create smaller suburban transit zones.

A veto would have strengthened the ability of the MTA management to create transit zones, weakening the unions--and probably prolonging the bargaining talks.

Davis vetoed a similar proposal last year, saying the matter should be resolved locally--but that if it were not, he would reconsider the issue.

Davis made it clear that he expected to see movement in the strike, which has left 450,000 weekday bus riders without transportation for more than two weeks.

"With this signature, I have done what is in my power to get Los Angeles back on the road," the governor said after signing the union-backed bill. "I am calling on the MTA and their employees to do the same."

Julian Burke, the MTA's chief executive, also said the bill passage would go a long way toward breaking the deadlock.

"A week ago," Burke said, "the United Transportation Union leaders explicitly stated that the governor's signature . . . would lead to the resolution of the strike within 24 hours. "With this legislative matter now behind them," he said, "we implore the three labor unions representing MTA employees to negotiate with us in good faith and quickly resolve this labor dispute."

Burke also urged the unions to allow their members to return to work while negotiations proceed.

Riordan's appearance at the Pasadena Hilton on Saturday came one day after 2,000 striking bus drivers and a phalanx of state and local officials urged him to become actively involved in the negotiations. Last week he came under heavy criticism for being on a bicycling vacation in France.

"I think the mayor's presence here is a great help," said Miguel Contreras, chief of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. "We are really here to get the job done."

He said the signing of the bill puts the negotiations "in the court of the MTA board of directors."

Advocates of smaller transit zones argue that the legislation signed by Davis will make it too expensive to establish the zones.

San Fernando Valley proponents of forming a separate transit zone there said the governor's action probably spells the death of the proposed Valley transit zone--and inflames secessionist fervor among residents fed up with their lack of local control.

"I really thought that the governor was beyond the threat of that union thug mentality," said Bruce Ackerman, president of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. "It's a sad day for the San Fernando and the San Gabriel valleys because it literally takes local control of transit out of their hands."

"If there's anything that fuels the fire [for secession], it's something like this," he said. The concept of a breakaway transit zone is backed by a coalition of Valley cities--plus parts of Los Angeles city and county--that would run the new bus system. Included are Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando, La Cañada Flintridge, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Hidden Hills.

To win the required MTA approval, proponents must show that the new system could provide more efficient service. But with a fledgling zone forced to honor existing labor contracts, the promise of saving money and improving service is uncertain at best, zone supporters said.

"There will be no cost savings, and therefore service cannot be improved," said Richard Close, chairman of the pro-secession group Valley VOTE. "Setting up a separate city may be the only way now that the Valley can get its own transit system."

David Fleming, a prominent attorney who heads the Economic Alliance and heads the city's Fire Commission, blasted Davis.

"Last year," Fleming said, "Gray Davis said it's a local issue. This year apparently it's not a local issue anymore. [The unions] have given him enough money and he signed it. And the people who are going to get hurt are the poor."

In a statement released by his office, Davis said that when the transit zone issue was not resolved in September, he sent in his top mediators and a cabinet member to facilitate negotiations.

"For two weeks 450,000 Los Angeles residents that depend upon public transportation have suffered every day. Millions of dollars in economic damages have been experienced by businesses small and large throughout the Southern California area."

"Children need to get to school. Seniors need to get to their doctors' offices. People need to get to work," Davis emphasized. "This cannot be allowed to continue."

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Pressure Is on To End Transit Strike

LOS ANGELES -- Public pressure to end Southern California's 2-week-old transit strike is building, but that pressure has yet to have a significant impact on ending the strike, the Associated Press reported.

Fewer than 8 percent of county commuters use bus or rail lines, and those who do tend to be low-wage earners with little political clout.

"Most of the huge voting public doesn't ride,'' said Catherine Burke, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Southern California.

"The people who have more influence are not being directly affected,'' she said. "Indirectly, yes. Some Beverly Hills people are concerned about their nannies getting to work.''

Negotiators for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the union representing 4,300 bus and rail operators were back at the bargaining table Saturday, but there was no word on whether an end to the strike was near.

In an effort to move talks forward, Gov. Gray Davis on Saturday signed a bill that striking bus drivers had said would erase one obstacle to their return to work. The new law keeps workers' collective bargaining agreements intact for at least four years if the MTA decides to split up into smaller transit zones. The United Transportation Union supported it; MTA opposed it.

Davis last year vetoed a similar measure, saying the issue should be settled locally. He signed this year's version after a 60-day cooling-off period between MTA and the union failed to lead to a contract resolution.

"The transit zone issue was one of the major issues discussed, but not the only one,'' MTA spokesman Ed Scannell said Saturday night.

Issues of overtime pay and part-time workers still divide the MTA and the union. Union spokesman Goldy Norton wouldn't comment Saturday on what effect if any the signing of the law might have on the negotiations, which were expected to resume Sunday morning.

"It sounds to me as if both sides are digging themselves into a hole that will be really hard to come out of,'' Burke said. "My gut feel is it's gonna last awhile.''

Riders generally have backed the union, but a long strike jeopardizes public support.

"All the people really want is their bus,'' union spokesman Norton said. "The pressure should be building on both parties.''

The strike has cost at least $37 million to date in lost wages, lost sales and business disruptions, estimated Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

"Right now there's a lot of spirit, camaraderie,'' Kyser said. "But after a while, that gets old.''

Carlos Morales, 19, was fired from his $50-a-day job packing hair dye chemicals because he was late. He was walking four hours a day to reach it because he couldn't afford a taxi.

"Why do they have to negotiate this much?'' he asked of the stalled talks.

Burke speculated that rank-and-file wage losses may actually push union leaders to take a harder line.

"If the work force at the end of this feels that the union leadership has cost them a lot of money the officers may get voted out,'' she said. "That is one of the reasons they feel they have to win something. Their workers have taken a lot of pain.''

The MTA is forfeiting about $2 million a day in fares and tax receipts. It is losing money even though it doesn't have the expenses of running about 2,000 buses, spokesman Marc Littman said.

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LA Is Ground Zero for Labor Movement

LOS ANGELES -- Actors may play bus drivers on television, but rarely do they stand with them on sidewalks, holding placards and shouting for economic justice, the Associated Press reported.

Such are the forces at work transforming Los Angeles from a town historically hostile to organized labor to one nearly paralyzed by unions that have brought buses, office buildings and even TV commercials to a screeching halt.

At a rally Friday, actors, postal workers and teachers joined striking bus drivers and rail operators to pressure transit officials to settle a strike that began Sept. 16.

"Los Angeles is truly becoming a union town,'' Miguel Contreras, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, told the crowd. "It will be a union town because we will make it be a union town.''

More than 92,000 workers in Los Angeles County were organized into the AFL-CIO last year.

In April, the union representing janitors left downtown office buildings unswept during a three-week strike. Janitors won most of the wage hikes they were seeking, plus job guarantees and one-year bonuses.

Soon after, commercial actors took to the picket lines. The city's 4,300 bus and rail operators followed. The union representing 47,000 Los Angeles County employees has said it will begin a series of one-day strikes at hospitals, jails and welfare offices this week unless a contract settlement is reached. A countywide walkout would start Oct. 11.

And 43,000 teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District have authorized a walkout if their contract talks fail to progress.

Contreras, the first person of color to hold his position, along with Mike Garcia, head of the janitor's union, and other labor leaders reflect broad demographic shifts that have made Los Angeles ground zero for a revitalized national labor movement.

"I don't think it's an accident we're witnessing so much activism here in Los Angeles,'' said Kent Wong, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Center for Labor Research and Education.

Wong said the city's simmering labor movement reached full boil this year in part because of the growing immigrant work force, the area's diversified economy and tremendous disparities between rich and poor. Leaders such as Contreras also are key to understanding labor's new strength, Wong said.

"We are seeing a new generation of leaders who view their world in broader social terms,'' he said. "They see the need to address issues such as immigrant rights, a living wage for all workers and developing alliances with religious leaders and community organizations.''

During the janitor's strike, for instance, the union was able to bring to its side both Mayor Richard Riordan and Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of the Los Angeles County Archdiocese.

The union even bypassed the cleaning contractors and appealed directly to building owners - a strategy that allowed the union to set the public agenda and win support from key building owners, who then pressured contractors to meet union demands.

That ability to influence the public perception of the union's side also has contributed to organized labor's new clout, and even the striking actors describe their struggle as one for a bigger piece of a growing economic pie.

"What resonates with people is the fact this is really an attack on the middle class working actor,'' said Greg Krizman, a spokesman for the Screen Actor's Guild. "Why can't we share in the wealth we have helped to create?''

Contreras sees the union's role as preserving the middle class in a town that is home both to great wealth and great poverty, and he believes labor's new muscle will far-reaching effects.

"You'll see labor being able to extend its influence in the political community,'' he said. "The strike gives them a class struggle and it's our job to maintain that class consciousness, not only on the picket line and the negotiation table, but at the ballot box.''

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L.A. Workers Lay Out Strike Plans

LOS ANGELES -- The union representing 47,000 Los Angeles County employees vowed to start shutting down government offices one by one beginning Monday after negotiations for a new contract broke down, the Associated Press reported.

The walkout, which would come amid a 2-week-old strike by bus and rail operators that has shut down the nation's second-largest public transit system, will begin with animal control facilities and the county Registrar-Recorder's office.

"We are kind of starting slowly and we want to escalate,'' said Annelle Grajeda, general manager of the Service Employees International Union Local 660.

The union's declaration Friday came as the transit strike was in its 14th day, with talks having broken off earlier in the week.

On Thursday, members of the union representing 43,000 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers also voted to authorize a strike if talks with the Board of Education are unsuccessful. The union didn't set a date for a walkout.

The SEIU said Monday's action would be the first of several one-day "rolling'' walkouts designed to get the union's point across without crippling county services. Jails, libraries and the district attorney's office would be targeted on Wednesday. Hospitals would be hit on Thursday.

If negotiations for a new contract are still unresolved by Oct. 11, however, the union has said it would call a countywide strike. The current contract expires at midnight Saturday.

The union has rejected the county's offer of a 9 percent wage hike over three years, saying it wants at least 15.5 percent.

"I am disappointed that the union has chosen to leave the bargaining table,'' said county Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen.

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