Optimism Fades as Talks Stall Again in MTA Walkout

Movement toward an end to the month-old transit strike stalled Sunday as persistent differences between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and striking bus and train operators blocked progress toward settlement of the protracted dispute.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, acting as a mediator between the two sides, said the talks had hit another roadblock. “We’ve hit a certain impasse on the part-time workers . . . issue,” he said. “We’re in this dead zone. . . . It is one of those deal breaking issues.”

The negotiations were scheduled to resume early this morning at 7 in Pasadena.

The air of optimism that had hung over the bargaining sessions since Jackson arrived on the scene Friday dissipated Sunday after the MTA presented a counterproposal to one offered by union negotiators.

Nevertheless, Jackson said the talks must continue. “We’re closer than ever before. We’re too close to give up,” he said. “We will not go away. We’ll get the buses back on the streets.”

Despite the exchange of new proposals and counterproposals, the MTA and the United Transportation Union were still divided over the transit agency’s insistence on hiring more lower-paid, part-time drivers. The MTA also wants to ease work rules that have provided the overtime that many full-time drivers have relied upon for years to boost their income.

“Their offer isn’t a real offer,” said Miguel Contreras, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. “The question is where do we go from here? I’m not too optimistic. It’s still about taking away middle class jobs.”

The labor leader said “there isn’t going to be a settlement” to the longest Los Angeles transit strike in two decades “unless there is a breakthrough on the side of the MTA.”

Jackson suggested that if the issue preventing agreement is money, a final solution to the stalemate might have to involve Gov. Gray Davis and the state legislature.

Contreras said MTA officials refuse to discuss how much the transit agency has saved since the Sept. 16 walkout brought all MTA-operated bus and rail service to a halt. Union officials believe the savings already exceeds the $23 million in cost reductions that MTA had sought during the contract talks.

The MTA’s chief operating officer, Allan Lipsky, countered that “at best we are breaking even. When we don’t operate we don’t get the revenue.”

The question of the strike’s impact on MTA’s finances is expected to come up today when transit agency officials appear at a special legislative hearing in Los Angeles.

Concerned about the protracted strike’s impact on the 450,000 bus and rail riders who depend on the MTA, state lawmakers have begun to question the flow of state funds to the agency when it is not providing transit service.

Some lawmakers are considering legislation to change the makeup of the MTA board to reduce the power of the mayor of Los Angeles, the Board of Supervisors and smaller cities.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the most influential member of the MTA board of directors, said before Sunday’s talks began that he was optimistic about ultimately reaching an agreement. But the mayor added, “It’s going to take a lot of work to get there.”

Members of the drivers union unanimously rejected what the MTA called its “last, best and final offer” at a mass meeting Friday night. That offer would have expanded the use of part-time drivers. It would also have created a new four-day, 10-hour-a-day workweek for a small number of full-time drivers. Some of them would have a split shift spread over 12 hours with no overtime. Their weekend shifts would be filled by part-time drivers.

Goldy Norton, spokesman for the United Transportation Union, said the union was not willing to accept provisions that erode protections under the existing contract.

Before arriving at the talks Sunday, Jackson delivered a sermon at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

With United Transportation Union Chairman James Williams sitting in the front pew, Jackson told the congregation that the strike might be over by Tuesday.

“It’s not a fact, but a faith I have that between now and Tuesday morning, these buses are going to roll again,” said Jackson, whose appearance filled the church with a standing-room-only crowd.

“Workers deserve the dignity of jobs,” he said. “You know we’ve got to pay those bus drivers. They can’t work for free. You know poor people have to get to work.”

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Times staff writer Larry Stammer contributed to this story.