Governor Acts to Avert RTD Strike, Chides Both Sides

Gov. George Deukmejian on Monday acted to avert a threatened bus strike this week despite what he called the “inexcusable” conduct of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the bus drivers’ union in seeking his intervention in the dispute.

Both the RTD and the United Transportation Union, which represents nearly 5,000 drivers, had asked Deukmejian to invoke a state law that empowers him to name a special panel to investigate labor disputes in public transit systems. After that panel makes its report, the governor can then ask the state attorney general to seek a court order halting a strike for a 60-day cooling off period. Both sides said they welcomed the governor’s action.

But in identical letters to RTD President Nikolas Patsaouras and union chairman Earl Clark, the governor said he was “greatly disturbed” by their request for government intervention. He noted that since the law permitting such intervention was enacted in 1981, only the RTD and its unions have asked for its use. There are 16 other transit districts in the state.

Deukmejian also noted that the latest request for intervention was the third made by the RTD management and unions in four years, and that there have been five strikes in the last 15 years against the district.

“The intended purpose of the 1981 law was to resolve disputes, not prolong them. Yet it appears this act is being used by the parties to further delay and avoid good-faith negotiations,” Deukmejian wrote.

The 1.5 million bus passengers who rely on RTD services daily “deserve better,” he said, and “they shouldn’t have to go through the uncertainties and disruptions of a strike or a threatened strike time and time again.”

The union, which had threatened to walk out as early as Wednesday, is asking for a 4% pay hike in addition to some work rule changes. Management has proposed a freeze on wages and benefits unless increases in productivity justify some special “bonus” raises.

The drivers’ top pay now is $12.72 a hour. The average is $11.90.

Named to the panel by Deukmejian were Roy Brophy of Sacramento, a member of the California State University Board of Trustees, who will serve as the chairman; Jerome Prewoznik, a Santa Monica attorney; William Orozco, president of Orozco Travel Agency in Los Angeles; Julius Draznin, a Los Angeles arbitrator, and retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Arthur Marshall. The panel members will hold a public hearing on the contract proposals on Wednesday beginning at 1 p.m. That hearing will be at the State Building in Van Nuys.