Accord Reached to End Bus Strike : Transit: Proposed agreement between mechanics and MTA officials faces union vote today. If approved, full service may not resume until end of the week.

After an all-night bargaining session, striking transit mechanics forged a tentative agreement with MTA officials early Monday that could end their eight-day walkout, but normal service for hundreds of thousands of beleaguered Los Angeles bus and train riders may not resume until the end of the week.

Although the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board unanimously approved the proposed settlement Monday evening, union leaders said the strike that has crippled the region’s transit system will continue until the 1,900 mechanics cast their votes in a closed-door meeting today.

Even if the union ratifies the agreement, MTA officials say, it could take 72 hours to summon drivers, inspect buses and dispatch the agency’s normal fleet of 1,900 buses to 200 routes--only 17% of which have been served during the strike.

“It’s great. I’ll be able to get back and forth to work at the speed I want,” said Victor Woo, a Koreatown sales manager whose round-trip bus commute during the strike has taken six hours. “It’s been a real big hassle.”

Both sides declined to discuss most details of the preliminary settlement, which was reached at 3:55 a.m. Monday over coffee at a Burbank hotel suite. The marathon 12-hour negotiating session came on the heels of a bitter breakdown in talks Friday afternoon that seemed to derail any hope of early resolution.

“I will recommend to ratify this contract, that’s all I can say,” said Mike Bujosa, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

Bujosa planned to present a summary of the 20-page pact to union members in a meeting at the Los Angeles Convention Center at 3 p.m. today. After hashing out details of the proposal, the union will pass out ballots and vote on the settlement. A simple majority is necessary for ratification and a tally is expected by early evening.

The sticking point in talks had centered on the agency’s desire to contract out work to non-union companies. Under the proposed agreement, a committee of union members and MTA officials will approve any controversial subcontracts to private companies, said Manuel Guerra, a union shop steward. The union will agree to allow the MTA to do some subcontracting, such as body work on company cars, Guerra said.

Under the proposed settlement, dozens of mechanics laid off last month will be rehired when current positions become vacant, according to MTA officials. The agreement also will allow the agency to hire some new union members at lower wages.

The MTA board unanimously approved the agreement after a 55-minute, closed-door meeting Monday.

“It is a fair and equitable agreement--fair to the union members, fair to the MTA, fair to our riders and fair to the public and taxpayers,” said Supervisor Ed Edelman, chairman of the MTA. “It is a good example of compromise. We didn’t get everything we wanted, and I’m sure the unions didn’t get everything they wanted.”

Mayor Richard Riordan said the public will benefit because “what we’re going to do is have much better and more efficient service, particularly in the transit-needy parts of Los Angeles.”

Franklin White, the MTA’s chief executive officer, said he hoped to restore full bus service by Friday. “We will be back to 100% by the end of the week,” he said.

Several picketing drivers and mechanics, who did not know the details of the newly crafted settlement, said they had begun to feel the financial pinch of a week with no pay and were ready to end the transit strike--the region’s first in 12 years and the longest in 15 years.

“I’m glad they did it--we’ve been ready to get back to work,” said Richard Danleis, who has driven a bus for 18 years. “I’ve got four kids and a wife who doesn’t work, so believe me, it hurts.”

Fred Payne, a mechanic for 17 years, spent the last week picketing the South-Central bus yard.

“If it goes through I’ll be one of the happiest guys out here,” Payne said. “I want to get out of this sun.”

When Van Nguyen learned of the joint MTA-union committee that will review subcontracting issues, he said he was concerned that it would lead to fewer union jobs.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. . . . When you subcontract, people lose their jobs,” said the 33-year-old El Monte mechanic.

Nguyen and other mechanics could return to work as early as tonight if the settlement is approved. This would allow agency officials to start up limited service on every line by Wednesday afternoon, said MTA spokeswoman Andrea Greene. But it will take several days to deploy the MTA’s usual fleet because each bus will need to be inspected before it can hit the streets, she said.

Expecting the strike to end, about 30 drivers, clerks and mechanics crossed the picket line to report to work Monday. “People are getting antsy,” Greene said. “They want their paycheck.”

The 1,900 mechanics walked off the job eight days ago after they were unable to reach an agreement on a new three-year contract.

About 5,000 clerks, bus and train drivers, whose unions had reached last-minute tentative agreements, walked out in support--creating hours of delays for about 500,000 bus passengers who struggled to reach destinations with the MTA’s skeletal bus service.

For bus riders, the prospect of a settlement meant an end to long waits at crowded bus stops. But many passengers were skeptical about the tentative agreement.

“I won’t believe it’s over until I see more buses out here,” said Maria Cedillo, 27, waiting for the first of three buses she needed to travel from her Northridge home to Downtown Los Angeles.

Since the strike began, Cedillo has walked 45 minutes in the sweltering heat each day. “Look at my feet. They’re cracking,” she said, pointing at her sandals.

At bus stops, most passengers were angry, feeling they had been the victims of the complicated wrangling at the bargaining table.

“Maybe the strike will end, maybe not,” said Carmen Cruz, 38, of Pacoima, as she waited at a Van Nuys Boulevard bus stop. “I don’t think either the bus drivers or their bosses were thinking about us. They know we have nowhere else to go.”

Others vowed that they would no longer depend on public transit--a pledge that MTA officials had predicted when they warned striking union members that ridership would drop after the walkout.

Franklin Stubblefield, a 22-year-old manager of a Van Nuys shoe store, said he hoped he had taken his last bus ride. Stubblefield cobbled together a piecemeal system of commuting by car-pooling from his Silver Lake home with his neighbors.

“I don’t want to ride another bus in my life,” he said. “(The strike) showed me there were other ways to get around than the ol’ bus. And for that, I’m thankful.”

Meanwhile, on Day 8 of the Los Angeles bus strike:

* MTA officials reported that 313 buses were on the streets Monday morning, but they expected the number to grow to 385 by the end of the day--a number they hoped to deploy today as well.

* The United Transportation Union and Transportation Clerks Union began mailing ballots to their members, apprising them of the details of the tentative agreements reached at the end of last month. It was the second mailing for the United Transportation Union because the first one contained an error. The ballots are due back later this month.

Ratification is far from assured, some observers say. Last month, union leaders for Bay Area Rapid Transit workers reached a tentative agreement only to have it soundly rejected by the rank and file.

UTU and TCU officials said their members will return to work once the mechanics ratify an agreement.

Times staff writers Nicholas Riccardi and Timothy Williams contributed to this report.

The MTA Strike: Day 8

The region’s first transit strike in 12 years began at 12:01 a.m. July 25. Here is a look at Day 8:

* THE ISSUE: Dispute between the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 1,900 mechanics and service attendants, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. About 5,000 bus and train drivers and clerks are honoring picket lines. The major sticking point is the MTA’s demand to contract out work. Union members say they believe that would eliminate jobs and result in poorer quality work.

* THE STATUS: Union leaders and MTA officials hammered out a tentative agreement early Monday. Union members are scheduled to vote on the accord today. If the union members approve, partial bus service will resume Wednesday and full service by Friday.

* WHAT’S OPERATING: The transit agency planned to run 385 buses today serving portions of the 38 busiest routes, out of the usual 1,900 buses on 200 routes. Some routes will use school buses, operated by private drivers, identified by “M” logos on the front and back. Service is continuing on the Red Line, Amtrak, Metrolink commuter rail and municipal/private operators such as Foothill Transit, L.A. city commuter express and DASH. The Blue Line is offering limited service.

* THE ROUTES:

The MTA is offering regular service on these routes:

204 Vermont Ave.; 240 Reseda Blvd.; 424 Ventura Blvd.-L.A., and 442 Hawthorne-Manchester-Express. The Red Line is running regular service.

Portions of the following routes are being served:

1/217 Hollywood Blvd.-Fairfax Ave.; 16 West 3rd St.; 18 E. Whittier Blvd.-West 6th St.; 21 Wilshire Blvd.; 30 East 1st St.; 31 Pico Blvd.; 33 Venice Blvd.; 45 Broadway; 70 El Monte depot-Garvey Ave.--Union Station; 76 Valley Blvd.; 78 Las Tunas Drive-Union Station; 81 Figueroa St.; 90 Los Angeles-Sunland-Tujunga-Sylmar; 92 Glenoaks Blvd.-Brand Blvd.; 105 Vernon Ave.; 108 Slauson Ave.; 115 Manchester Blvd.-Firestone Blvd.; 117 Century Blvd.; 125 Rosecrans Ave.; 130 Artesia Blvd.; 152 Roscoe Blvd.; 163 Sherman Way; 180 Hollywood-Glendale-Pasadena; 207 Western Ave.; 210 Crenshaw Blvd.; 212 La Brea-San Fernando Valley; 232, Long Beach-Los Angeles International Airport; 234 Sepulveda Blvd.- Hubbard St.; 251 Soto St.; 260 Atlantic Ave.; 420 San Fernando Valley-Hollywood-L.A.; 470 Whittier-Montebello-L.A.; 560 Van Nuys Blvd.-Westwood.

The Blue Line route runs between Willow station in Long Beach and 7th/Metro station only.

* HOURS: Bus and train service is from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays only.

* FARES: 50 cents on MTA buses and Blue Line, with no transfers. Elderly and the disabled pay 25 cents. No fee on the emergency school buses.

* FOR INFORMATION: (800) COMMUTE or (800) 371-LINK (for Metrolink information.) Recorded information in English and Spanish is available at (800) 870-0MTA.