Los Angeles Transit Workers Strike
Thousands of UTU members walk out

Here are reports from the Associated Press
and the Los Angeles Times
Page 1 of 2

Strike Strands 450,000 Californians Monday

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 18) -- Nearly a half-million bus and rail riders scrambled to find transportation Monday on the first work day after transit drivers in Los Angeles County walked off the job, the Associated Press reported.

The strike that began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday idled 2,000 buses as well as Metro Rail light rail lines and the subway serving a 1,400-square-mile area.

No new contract talks were scheduled between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the unions representing its drivers, clerks and mechanics.

In a public plea to the United Transportation Union, which represents 4,300 bus and rail operators, MTA officials urged them to resume bargaining on Monday.

Union officials rejected the offer, however, saying they wanted an invitation from state negotiators.

Motorists braced for increased freeway congestion, as mass transit passengers sought alternate forms of transportation.

Jacqueline Campos, 19, a sophomore at California State University at Northridge, said she would have to hitch a ride with her aunt to get to class. But for both of them to be at their 8 a.m. appointments on time, they would have to leave at 5 a.m., she said.

Representatives of the Bus Riders Union, an advocacy group for public transportation users, sided with the striking unions even though its members are among those most hurt by the strike.

Ted Robertson, an organizer with the group, wants the MTA to increase bus service overall. Robertson, however, said he opposes cost-saving measures made at the expense of drivers, who are among the highest paid in the nation.

Meantime, raising fares to meet increased demand would be "out of the question,'' he added.

MTA officials say they face a $430 million operating deficit over the next 10 years if the agency doesn't cut costs or increase fares.

Robertson, like many members in the Bus Riders Union, wants the MTA to cut back on its rail projects and use that money to meet the drivers' demands and increase the number of bus routes.

About 450,000 people use the MTA in Los Angeles County. Sixty-eight percent have household incomes under $15,000 per year, and nearly three-quarters of bus riders are black or Hispanic, according to the MTA.

County Board Supervisor and MTA board member Yvonne Brathwaite Burke called on the unions Sunday to return to the table and "stop holding our city's poor and middle-class residents hostage.''

Contracts for the United Transportation Union, the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Transportation Communications International Union expired June 30.

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MTA Strike's Full Impact to Hit Today

Work rules are the major issue in the contract dispute, and the two sides also disagree on wage and benefits increases. The MTA offered 2.7 percent raises per year for three years; the unions wanted 4 percent per year.

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 18) -- As the MTA strike paralyzed Los Angeles County mass transit for the second day Sunday, about 450,000 commuters--many of them minorities and low-wage earners with few options--prepared to bear the full impact today of the labor dispute on their jobs and families, the Los Angeles Times reported.

With contract negotiations suspended, those dependent on public transportation planned to carpool, take cabs, walk or use neighborhood entrepreneurs who charge less than taxis for a cramped ride in their personal cars or trucks.

Others who cannot afford private transit said they have canceled shopping trips, errands, even doctor’s appointments for their children. Many employees, desperate to keep their jobs, said they will call in sick or simply get up a few hours earlier this week and walk to work—some for distances of 10 miles or more.

"What else can I do?" asked Rodrigo Cabrero, 40, who said he has no other option but to set out before dawn from his home in Pico Union to get to his restaurant job in Santa Monica on time.

Meanwhile, four county supervisors and two other MTA board members called on the United Transportation Union, which represents 4,400 MTA drivers, to end the strike immediately and resume contract negotiations at 10 a.m. today.

Union officials said Sunday they will return to the bargaining table in Pasadena only when a state mediator summons them back, which might be as early as today. MTA officials said, however, that the union could restart the talks any time.

The mediator could not be reached for comment.

Talks broke off Friday night, two hours before a midnight deadline, shutting down the nation’s second-largest bus system. The MTA has about 2,000 buses on 200 routes as well as 59 miles of subway and light rail lines.

"The city and county’s neediest and poorest residents are the ones who are being affected by this strike," said supervisor and MTA Chairwoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who accused the union of "thumbing its nose at taxpayers and riders."

At a Sunday news conference in Pasadena, Burke was joined in her condemnation of the strike by Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky, Gloria Molina and Mike Antonovich as well as Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson and Duarte City Councilman John Fasana. All are MTA board members.

Union spokesman Goldy Norton rejected the demand for an end to the strike, saying the union was forced to walk out by MTA negotiators because they wanted major concessions from drivers, such as a 15% reduction in overtime.

"This union is strong in its resolve that we will do what we can to reach an agreement," he said.

The strike began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and stranded about 200,000 bus and rail riders who normally use public transportation that day. Particularly hard hit were immigrants and the poor who live and work in downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, Chinatown and Little Tokyo.

Taxi companies and other bus lines were swamped by increased demand over the weekend. But many of those who rely on mass transit could not afford the costly alternative and were forced to stay home, walk or rely on friends or relatives for rides.

At the MTA’s light rail stations Sunday, several riders, who did not know about the strike, encountered yellow police tape and notices in English and Spanish, stating that Metro Rail is not in service because of a transit strike. The signs also warned that trespassers will be arrested.

Commuters said they could get private transportation, but only at great expense. A monthly MTA bus and rail pass costs $42, but Moises Garcia says his transportation costs have risen from pocket change to one-third of his income in just two days.

The 26-year-old regularly rides the Red Line from his home in Koreatown to the Civic Center, where he works at a Chinese restaurant on Broadway.

"I’m paying $10 each way for a taxi," said Garcia, who works six days a week for $60 a day. "That’s only $40," he said of his remaining wages. "I can’t keep doing that."

Mohammed Bapi, 26, of Van Nuys was nearly two hours late for work Saturday and Sunday, but he said it couldn’t be helped. Bapi, 26, works at a gas station in North Hollywood.

On Saturday, he waited an hour for a bus that never came and then walked the five miles to work. On Sunday, Bapi did the same thing after calling for a taxi.

"I waited so long," he said. "The cabs were all full."

The young man said he did not know how he will get to work in the days ahead. "My feet hurt," he said.

The problems are expected to be far worse today as about 450,000 people who normally use public transit every day during the workweek try to get to their jobs and other destinations.

Sgt. Rhett Price of the California Highway Patrol said the CHP is gearing up for clogged freeways throughout the day.

"We expect some delays, as much as 30-minute delays, with the extra cars on the road," Price said. "We will have as many as 300 extra officers on the road to assist with the morning commute."

"It’s going to be chaos," said Albert Johnson, 45, a bus operator who was picketing Sunday at the MTA’s bus yard in West Hollywood. "We run three minutes apart, with packed buses. What are people going to do? You can put all the DASH (shuttle) buses and all the cabs out there. But it’s not going to take care of the people."

Despite the heat, scores of drivers picketed MTA facilities during the weekend.

"Believe me, we want to be working," said Johnson as drivers tooted their horns in support of the strikers. "But you can’t take us out of a ‘73 Cadillac and put us in a ‘62 Volkswagen."

At MacArthur Park on Sunday, the strike dampened the festivities of a Central American independence parade as residents in the low-income area grew more desperate about how they would get to work.

A garment worker from Guatemala said his wife, who suffers from swollen legs, had to cancel a doctor’s appointment because she had no way to get there. Others considered using bandit taxis, the unlicensed cabs that operate in many poorer neighborhoods.

Some riders condemned the strike by bus drivers, who earn about $50,000 a year with overtime. They said poor immigrants who depend on mass transit work in restaurants and manufacturing plants for minimum wage or less.

"I am very concerned, not just for me, but for all the people," said Elisia Avalos, 29, who works at a garment factory out of walking distance from her home. "I don’t know if we’ll have enough to eat."

Rosalio Mendiola said he usually leaves his home near Normandie Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard at 4 a.m. to make it to his job in the room service department of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel by 5.

During the strike, Mendiola plans to leave at 3 a.m.—and walk the six miles to work. While that is an inconvenience, he said he is more concerned about his co-workers who live as far away as El Monte and Long Beach.

"I don’t know how they’re going to come to work," he said.

Limited options are available, such as the Los Angeles DASH service and a variety of non-MTA bus lines in the county, including Montebello, Santa Monica, Torrance, Long Beach, Culver City, Foothill Transit in the San Gabriel Valley, and the Los Angeles City Department of Transportation.

Metrolink, the commuter rail service that runs trains into downtown Los Angeles from Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties, is adding eight trains a day. The additional service is limited to the Ventura and Antelope Valley lines.

Pickets, however, were successful Saturday in preventing the MTA from using private contractors to operate emergency bus service on five of its 200 routes. Drivers for the private companies, who are represented by the Teamsters union, refused to cross the United Transportation Union picket lines.

But the private firms were able to put 42 shuttle buses on lightly used routes in the county.

MTA spokesman Marc Littman said the agency was not able to get the emergency service going Sunday. He added that he was not optimistic about whether it would operate today.

"I don’t think you should count on any of the MTA service," said Allan Lipsky, the transit agency’s chief operating officer.

Caltrans has announced that it will not do highway work during peak periods while the strike lasts.

On the bargaining table are several issues, including work rules, overtime, use of part-timers, and an MTA demand for an accounting of union trust funds used to buy health insurance for union members.

An MTA proposal to cut overtime costs by 15% remains one of the critical issues. The authority wants 400 of its 4,400 drivers to accept new four-day workweeks in which they would be on duty at least 12 hours, but be paid for only 10 hours a day. The other two hours would be preparation or break time. No overtime would be paid until after 12 hours.

Tom Webb, MTA’s chief negotiator, said the transit agency needs $23 million in savings from its rail and bus operators over the next three-year contract period.

While the MTA has offered a wage increase of 8.1% over three years, union officials say the 15% reduction in overtime could cost operators far more than they would make from the wage boost.

The highest-paid operators make $20.72 an hour or about $43,000 a year. Some drivers, however, earn $10 to $11 an hour.

Norton said the union and MTA negotiators made progress Thursday and Friday before the talks broke down. But, Norton said, the MTA indicated that it wanted more concessions.

Yaroslavsky said the MTA is the costliest mass transit system in Southern California and must reduce operating expenses to afford more services in the future.

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Here are Weekend News Reports

MTA bus, rail operators strike Saturday

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 16) -- Bus and rail drivers hit the picket lines Saturday, plunging the nation's second-largest city into a strike that could affect hundreds of thousands of people who rely on public transportation, the Associated Press reported.

The walkout came a minute past midnight, about two hours after bargaining between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the United Transportation Union hit a snag.

The strike's full impact likely won't be felt until Monday, when the bulk of MTA's users return to work from the weekend. Some 450,000 people in a 1,400-square-mile area of Los Angeles County are expected to be affected.

"I'm a little angry about it actually,'' said Daniel Cretens, who uses a wheelchair and found himself stranded downtown once the strike began.

MTA security spotted him and sent one of the buses still in operation to pick him up and drop him off near his home.

At the MTA's downtown bus terminal, dozens of drivers - some still in uniform - quickly formed a picket line early Saturday morning. The raucous group cheered and shouted as drivers returned empty buses to the terminal.

"Get that bus off the streets,'' picketers chanted as drivers pulled their buses into the terminals.

The strike deadline was originally set for 12:01 a.m. Friday but the union representing 4,300 bus and rail drivers agreed to a 24-hour delay, and talks continued.

About two hours before the union's 12:01 a.m. Saturday deadline, both sides said a strike appeared inevitable.

"They will finish their assignments, turn in their equipment, leave their division and report for strike duty,'' union spokesman Goldy Norton told The Associated Press shortly before midnight.

No further talks were immediately scheduled, and Norton said he expected the union would wait to hear from a mediator before going back to the bargaining table. He declined to speculate on how long the strike might last.

"We made concession after concession after concession ... they just walked out, stranding hundreds of thousands of people. This is outrageous,'' MTA spokesman Mark Littman said after talks stalled late Friday night.

Only about 7 percent of commuters in Los Angeles County use public transit, but those who do often have few alternatives. Sixty-eight percent have household incomes under $15,000 per year, and nearly three-quarters of bus riders are black or Hispanic, according to the MTA.

"I live seven miles from the hotel and I have no car, not even a bike,'' said Rosalio Mendiosa, 62, a bus rider who works as a waiter at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Talks began in June when the MTA said it needed to cut costs.

Labor representatives said the MTA has failed to offer an improved schedule, proposing instead to increase the number of lower-paid and part-time drivers. Currently, drivers earn an average $50,000 annually, but can make an additional $20,000 in overtime.

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