Jackson mediates L.A. strike talks

LOS ANGELES - Negotiators in a transit strike that has shut down bus and rail service across the city for a month appeared to be making progress Sunday as the Rev. Jesse Jackson shuttled between the two sides, according to the Associated Press.

When Jackson intervened Friday, he set a Monday (Oct. 16) deadline for resolving the 30-day-old strike, and he pressed both sides to negotiate around the clock.

"Mr. Jackson said he is still optimistic because there is a lot at stake," Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Marc Littman said Sunday. "We've got 500,000 people who have been stranded for 30 days."

Littman said the negotiations broke Sunday night and would resume early Monday morning.

"Let's hope the buses are rolling by Tuesday," said United Transportation Union General Chairperson James Williams.

Miguel Contreras, the County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO leader who invited Jackson to intervene, said the MTA's latest offer to the United Transportation Union was still unacceptable and "attacks our core middle class jobs. It's still a work-cheap offer."

MTA officials presented a new proposal on Sunday, one day after the drivers' union rejected what the MTA called its "last, best and final offer." Along with their rejection, the union had offered a counterproposal that gave ground on some work rule demands.

About 4,300 bus and rail operators went on strike Sept. 16, stranding an estimated 450,000 regular commuters, most of them working poor.

The drivers oppose MTA's offer to change work rules - some 25 years old - to reduce overtime and increase the use of part-time drivers in order to save a projected $23 million deficit.

Each side has accused the other of bad-faith bargaining to prolong the strike.

Adding to the tumult in Los Angeles County, most of the 47,000 county workers in the Service Employees International Union Local 660 went on strike Wednesday. They suspended the strike the following day at the behest of Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony, but no deal has been reached.

Talks between county officials and union negotiators were expected to resume on Monday. The county's last offer was a general 9 percent wage increase over three years; the union wants 15.5 percent.

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CALIFORNIA: Optimism fades as MTA strike talks stall

LOS ANGELES -- Movement toward an end to the month-old transit strike stalled Sunday (Oct. 15) as persistent differences between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and striking bus and train operators blocked progress toward settlement of the protracted dispute, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, acting as a mediator between the two sides, said the talks had hit another roadblock. "We've hit a certain impasse on the part-time workers...issue," he said. "We're in this dead zone... It is one of those deal-breaking issues."

The negotiations were scheduled to resume early this morning (Oct. 16) in Pasadena.

The air of optimism that had hung over the bargaining sessions since Jackson arrived on the scene Friday dissipated Sunday after the MTA presented a counterproposal to one offered by union negotiators.

Nevertheless, Jackson said the talks must continue. "We're closer than ever before. We're too close to give up," he said. "We will not go away. We'll get the buses back on the streets."

Despite the exchange of new proposals and counterproposals, the MTA and the United Transportation Union were still divided over the transit agency's insistence on hiring more lower-paid, part-time drivers. The MTA also wants to ease work rules that have provided the overtime that many full-time drivers have relied upon for years to boost their income.

"Their offer isn't a real offer," said Miguel Contreras, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. "The question is where do we go from here? I'm not too optimistic. It's still about taking away middle-class jobs."

The labor leader said "there isn't going to be a settlement" to the longest Los Angeles transit strike in two decades "unless there is a breakthrough on the side of the MTA."

Jackson suggested that if the issue preventing agreement is money, a final solution to the stalemate might have to involve Gov. Gray Davis and the state legislature.

Contreras said MTA officials refuse to discuss how much the transit agency has saved since the Sept. 16 walkout brought all MTA-operated bus and rail service to a halt. Union officials believe the savings already exceeds the $23 million in cost reductions that MTA had sought during the contract talks.

The MTA's chief operating officer, Allan Lipsky, countered that "at best we are breaking even. When we don't operate we don't get the revenue."

The question of the strike's impact on MTA's finances is expected to come up today when transit agency officials appear at a special legislative hearing in Los Angeles.

Concerned about the protracted strike's impact on the 450,000 bus and rail riders who depend on the MTA, state lawmakers have begun to question the flow of state funds to the agency when it is not providing transit service.

Some lawmakers are considering legislation to change the makeup of the MTA board to reduce the power of the mayor of Los Angeles, the Board of Supervisors and smaller cities.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the most influential member of the MTA board of directors, said before Sunday's talks began that he was optimistic about ultimately reaching an agreement. But the mayor added, "It's going to take a lot of work to get there."

Members of the drivers union unanimously rejected what the MTA called its "last, best and final offer" at a mass meeting Friday night. That offer would have expanded the use of part-time drivers. It would also have created a new four-day, 10-hour-a-day workweek for a small number of full-time drivers. Some of them would have a split shift spread over 12 hours with no overtime. Their weekend shifts would be filled by part-time drivers.

Goldy Norton, spokesman for the United Transportation Union, said the union was not willing to accept provisions that erode protections under the existing contract.

Before arriving at the talks Sunday, Jackson delivered a sermon at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

With United Transportation Union Chairman James Williams sitting in the front pew, Jackson told the congregation that the strike might be over by Tuesday.

"It's not a fact, but a faith I have that between now and Tuesday morning, these buses are going to roll again," said Jackson, whose appearance filled the church with a standing-room-only crowd.

"Workers deserve the dignity of jobs," he said. "You know we've got to pay those bus drivers. They can't work for free. You know poor people have to get to work."

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CALIFORNIA: Strike hurts LA County bus drivers

LOS ANGELES - Cathy Jones got her last paycheck of about $1,000 in late September, according to the Associated Press.

"I looked at it and I cried," said Jones, one of about 4,300 Los Angeles County bus and train operators who have been on strike for nearly a month. "I didn't know what I was gonna do as far as taking care of my three children."

"I have to be upbeat," she said. "The Bible says the Lord will provide. So that's what I have to believe."

The walkout that began Sept. 16 has affected as many as 450,000 regular commuters, mainly the poor, students and the elderly who cannot afford cars.

But bus drivers say they are also hurting. While drivers earn $50,000 per year on average, including generous overtime, many make far less.

Jones, 38, hasn't received the strike benefits promised by the United Transportation Union of about $600 per month yet and didn't save much before the strike. She and her husband separated in January.

Jones estimates she pays about $1,500 a month for groceries, rent to live in the converted garage behind her sister's house in Los Angeles, utilities and other necessities - money she can no longer spare.

She economizes on meals and visits food banks, picking up rice and beans, pears, yogurt and sharing what she doesn't want with other strikers.

"My oldest boy, my 16-year-old, told me he's really getting sick of macaroni and cheese," she said.

Saundra Newman, another driver, is worried about how to make the $1,100 payment on a home she bought in July. The money is due on the first of the month.

"I have nothing. Nothing," she said.

The single mother said she is using credit cards to buy groceries for herself and her 16-year-old daughter.

"I'm watching the lights, the water, the gas. Yesterday it was really cold. We were under blankets. I'm like, 'I'm not turning the heater on."'

Before the strike, Newman, who made $12 per hour, had earned about $25,000 for the year with the help of generous overtime.

"There's a big grip of fear because I'm in such a powerless situation," she said. "I'm broke. I can't cross the picket line because if I go back under these terms, I'll have nothing anyway."

Although she hopes for a quick end to the strike, "I'm not gonna give up," she said. "I have to fight for this."

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