Bus Workers OK Pact, End Strike : Transportation: MTA officials say two-thirds of buses will be in operation today. The agency’s small savings in the contract raise questions about walkout’s high cost.

Striking mechanics Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a new contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, halting the transit walkout and signaling the gradual return of normal bus service to Los Angeles streets.

MTA officials vowed to deploy two-thirds of a fleet of 1,900 buses along usual routes today and bring relief to hundreds of thousands of frustrated mass transit passengers stranded by the nine-day strike. As a gesture to those who have been inconvenienced, fares will remain 50 cents on buses and the Blue Line trolley through Saturday. Full service is expected by Friday.

“I’m happy we have our jobs back,” said Renee Navarre, a 40-year-old West Covina mechanic. “Everything can get back to normal.”

Although the agreement was greeted with cheers from commuters at crowded stops, the new contract only provides small savings to the MTA, raising questions about the high toll paid by the agency, the strikers and thwarted bus riders. The strike is expected to cause a 5% drop in ridership, MTA officials said.

They estimate that the contract will save the MTA about $9.4 million over three years, $6 million of it the first year--or just 0.2% of the agency’s $2.9-billion annual budget for the current fiscal year.

“It wasn’t worth it,” said MTA board member James Cragin, a Gardena city councilman. “We all lost.”

But County Supervisor Ed Edelman, MTA chairman, said the contract would help streamline the agency, which already has approved a fare hike effective this fall in an effort to balance its books.

“What was worked out in the agreement will be a help to the MTA in terms of being able to do things more efficiently,” Edelman said.

Union members ratified the settlement 1,050 to 104 after a noisy 2 1/2-hour meeting at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Mike Blatz, 49, of Canoga Park, a mechanic for 15 years, said that when the vote was announced, “I felt the surge--’let’s go back to work!’ ”

“It’s better than we expected, but not as good as we wanted,” said Efraim Garcia, a 49-year-old mechanic.

Forged after marathon negotiating sessions, the pact calls for concessions from both the union and the transit agency.

Union members will receive small wage increases in the second and third years of the three-year contract, increased sick pay and the promise that 63 recently laid-off mechanics will be rehired. Negotiators solved the biggest sticking point--the issue of subcontracting work to private companies--by agreeing to establish a joint committee to review any controversial contracts.

“I’m glad it’s over,” said Mike Bujosa, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

More than 1,100 mechanics and service attendants swarmed to the massive South Hall auditorium at the Convention Center to learn for the first time details of the proposed settlement, which came after an all-night negotiating session that ended before dawn Monday.

At 3 p.m. Tuesday, an upbeat Bujosa moved through the crowd outside the auditorium, heading upstairs for the meeting hall. Mechanics tugged at his elbow, asking him what did he really think of the agreement.

“We’re fine,” he said. “But it’s up to you guys.”

Many in the hall were ready to go back to work, feeling impatient for a paycheck and restless with walking the picket line.

“We want to see this resolved today,” said Armando Urena, a 39-year-old Southgate mechanic who has worked for the transit agency for 15 years.

Bujosa launched the meeting by reading a 10-page summary of the settlement. When the wage freeze for the first year was announced, the crowd booed. About 4 p.m., the reading concluded and the mechanics and service attendants applauded. After 30 minutes of discussion, union officials passed out yellow paper ballots. Members trickled out of the hall as soon as they had voted.

“We got a good contract,” beamed Steve Hearn III, a 20-year veteran mechanic.

Several workers, however, disapproved of the settlement, saying that the union had conceded too much on the issue of subcontracting. Even the establishment of a committee, some argue, makes the union increasingly vulnerable to the loss of union jobs.

“They definitely gave in on subcontracting. We should have stayed out longer. That week was for nothing,” said Sergio Barron, 33, a mechanic who has worked at the agency for four years.

Barron emerged from the meeting with two other members, shouting: “Vote no!”

About 5,000 clerks and bus and train drivers reached tentative agreements last month, the drivers on July 24 and the clerks the next day. But those unions walked out in support of the mechanics and service attendants. All the contract expired June 30.

The walkout dealt a devastating blow to the region’s transit system, as MTA officials could only deploy about 17% of the usual 1,900 buses on 200 routes. Riders were left stranded or endured delays of up to several hours. People with night jobs, such as security guards, were offered no possibility of service as the transit system--which normally runs around-the-clock--stopped about 6 p.m.

When Hilda Rodriguez, standing at a Downtown bus stop, learned that the strike was over, the 40-year-old receptionist was jubilant.

“Fantastic!” said Rodriguez, who figured that the commute from her Van Nuys home to an office Downtown was bound to improve dramatically.

Rodriguez, like the about 500,000 other bus riders in the area, desperately hoped for a quick settlement. Transportation officials too waited uneasily for a conclusion to what has been Los Angeles’ longest transit strike in 15 years.

Several MTA board members touted the settlement, saying it was an equitable solution during tough financial times.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, an MTA board member, said: “It’s going to allow for much more efficient running of the MTA.”

Under the settlement agreement, union members will not be granted wage increases until the second year of the three-year contract. In that year, they will get a 30-cent-per-hour increase and the following year, a 1.5% increase in wages plus a cost-of-living adjustment.

In an effort to reduce the agency’s costs, the pact calls for newly hired service attendants to start at $12.50 an hour--instead of the current starting salary of $16.26 per hour.

The new contract also calls for:

* Union members to receive sick pay for the first day of a reported illness. Currently, sick pay does not kick in until the second day.

* The 63 mechanics laid off in July as the agency cut its staff to be rehired within the next two years.

* A reduction in the amount paid for health benefits. The MTA now pays $573 in monthly health benefits per union member--an amount that will be reduced to $533.

Union and MTA officials proposed solving the most controversial issue--subcontracting--by establishing a joint union-MTA committee to review any controversial bids, or contracts that union members want to keep in-house.

Union officials long have opposed such contracting with private companies because they fear that the cost-cutting measure will lead to the loss of union jobs. The agreement, however, guarantees that no union member will lose his or her job because of a subcontract.

The Walkout Ends

Mechanics and service attendants overwhelmingly approved a new contract, ending Los Angeles’ first transit strike in 12 years. Here’s a look at several key aspects of the three-year contract:

THE CONTRACT

* Wages: No increases in the first year. A 30-cent-per-hour increase in the second year. A 1.5% increase in the third year and a cost-of-living adjustment.

* Maintenance assistants: Newly hired maintenance assistants will start at $12.50 per hour instead of the current $16.26 per hour.

* Sick pay: Union members will receive sick pay for the first day of a reported illness; now, sick pay does not begin until the second day.

* Subcontracting: A joint union-MTA committee will review bids for subcontracting.

* Rehires: The 63 recently laid-off mechanics will be rehired within two years.

* Layoffs: No Amalgamated Transit Union employee will be laid off as a result of subcontracting.

* Overtime: Overtime assignments will be distributed equitably among employees on a rotating basis.

* Smoking: Prohibited, except in areas where it is expressly authorized.

WHAT’S OPERATING

* MTA officials hope to run two-thirds of normal bus and rail service today.

* For information: call (800) COMMUTE

* Fares on buses and Blue Line will be 50 cents through Saturday.