Rams Offer to Settle With O.C. Musicians : Labor dispute: On the eve of a hearing with the labor board, the team proposes giving 80% in back pay and benefits. Officials of the local are delighted.

The Los Angeles Rams have offered to settle a dispute with the Orange County Musicians’ Assn., agreeing to send 80% of back pay and benefits to the 22 union musicians put out of work last season when the football team hired non-union musicians for its home games.

The last-minute offer was relayed to the union late Tuesday afternoon, averting a hearing Wednesday morning in Los Angeles before an administrative judge of the National Labor Relations Board. Under the settlement, the team makes no admission of guilt but promises to negotiate in good faith in the future.

NLRB investigator Neil Warheit said Wednesday morning that the settlement was tentative pending formal acceptance by the union. But officials of the local expressed delight with the offer.

“I’m ecstatic about it. It’s a gas,” said Bob Stava, the local’s secretary-treasurer.

The union estimates that the back pay and benefits will cost the Rams about $26,000.

“We won. They caved in at the last minute,” said union attorney David Rosenfeld. “We’re pleased, and we hope the Rams will sit down and negotiate so the fans can enjoy a live band of union musicians.”

Rams attorney Richard W. Kopenhefer could not be reached for comment.

The dispute started in July, when the union refused a Rams demand to reduce the pep band from 22 members to 15, and the Rams broke off negotiations. Rams officials said the reduction would have saved them about $1,000 a game.

The team then assembled a band of 22 non-union musicians, including some Cal State Long Beach students. Some of those musicians have said they were paid $50 a game, about half the union rates, and no benefits.

In October, the union, which had been doing business with the Rams for 10 years, charged the team with unfair labor practices. Union president Frank Amoss has said that the Rams moved to reopen negotiations after the NLRB charges were filed, but turned down a union-proposed compromise of an 18-piece band, sticking with its demand of 15 members.

In late January, the Rams failed to respond to a settlement proposed by the NLRB, which then issued a formal complaint against them. If the Rams had gone through with the hearing, the organization could have been forced to come up with 100% of back pay as well as benefits.

Stava said Wednesday that the next step is to request formal negotiations with the team over a pep band for next season. Rams officials have hinted that they may switch to taped music for future games, but Rosenfeld insists that would be a violation of a section of the state labor code.

Rams attorney Kopenhefer has said that a switch to taped music would not violate the code.

In any case, under the settlement, the team would have to negotiate with the union before any such move. Union officials have said they would like to return to the prior contractual arrangements.