Mahony and Union Agree on New Vote to Settle 3 1/2-Year Feud : Labor: Archdiocese’s cemetery workers to decide a third time on representation by organized labor.

A bitter 3 1/2-year feud between Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and his traditional allies in organized labor appeared headed toward settlement Tuesday when both sides agreed to hold a final union representation vote for the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s 140 cemetery workers.

Since 1988, Mahony and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union have been arguing over whether gravediggers at the archdiocese’s 11 cemeteries should join the union. Workers had solicited the textile union in an effort to obtain higher pay, better medical benefits and an end to what some described as oppressive treatment by supervisors.

Cemetery workers voted 66 to 62 in favor of union representation in early 1989, but Mahony refused to begin bargaining on a labor contract, alleging that union supporters had unfairly intimidated some workers into voting for the union.

A three-member arbitration panel eventually upheld the vote, but Mahony still declined to begin contract talks, contending that the archdiocese was legally obligated to bargain for only one year after the vote.

Mahony, long regarded as a friend of the labor movement, then infuriated local labor leaders by unilaterally holding a second vote among workers in early 1990. He said he had received petitions from scores of workers saying they no longer wanted union representation. In the second balloting--branded as a sham by the union--workers voted 92 to 24 against the union.

The union sued to force Mahony to resume negotiations on a labor contract. A Superior Court trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday. However, both sides asked Judge Victor Chavez to dismiss the lawsuit in favor of a third union representation vote on Oct. 22.

The vote--like the first one--will be conducted under the auspices of the state Mediation and Conciliation Service.

As part of the settlement, the union agreed to keep its organizers off cemetery property in the weeks leading up to the October vote.

Barbara Mejia, the union’s California district manager, said the union decided it would rather settle the representation issue quickly through another vote than wait until a series of court decisions and appeals was concluded.

Earlier this year, the union and archdiocese reached a settlement in a related lawsuit filed by the union on behalf of three pro-union cemetery workers who were discharged by the archdiocese.

While Mahony has long considered himself a strong supporter of organized labor, particularly in his efforts on behalf of farm workers, the feud with cemetery workers carved a rift in that alliance.

Labor leaders so strongly accused Mahony of hypocrisy and dishonesty that in 1990 he cancelled his traditional appearance at the annual Labor Day breakfast of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Mahony insisted that he remained sympathetic to organized labor, but contended that much of the cemetery workers’ support for the textile union was coerced through improper union pressure.