MTA Contract Talks to Continue Through Labor Day

With the clock ticking, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and unions representing almost 6,800 bus and train operators, mechanics and clerks vowed Friday to spend the Labor Day weekend negotiating new contracts.

Progress, however, was slow and hopes for an agreement by midnight Monday, when a cooling-off period expires, were slim.

But neither side believes there will be a transit strike Tuesday morning, which could virtually shut down the MTA’s bus and rail service.

Asked if 450,000 MTA bus and rail riders can count on the transit system’s operating Tuesday, Amalgamated Transit Union President Neil Silver said Friday: “I think you will be able to get a bus or train on Tuesday.”

The one thing union and MTA officials agree on is that much more work needs to be done at the bargaining table before any agreement can be reached. “There is no reason in the world there should be a strike,” said the MTA’s chief negotiator, Tom Webb.

He conceded that progress has been agonizingly slow, with no agreement with the three unions on wages and benefits, changes in work rules and efforts to reduce workers’ compensation claims.

The inability to address these major issues stems from deep disagreement and suspicion about another issue--the possibility that the MTA may establish separate transit zones to operate the agency’s bus service in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.

Adding a new dynamic to the picture was the state Senate’s passage Thursday night of a union-backed bill that would require any transit zone to abide by the wages, benefits and job protection provisions of the MTA’s existing contracts. Opponents of the measure argue that it would eliminate the financial incentive to create transit zones.

The bill now goes to Gov. Gray Davis. Last fall, the governor vetoed a similar bill on the grounds that the issue should be settled at the bargaining table rather than as a matter of state law. But Davis said at the time that he would revisit the issue if he were “persuaded that the MTA has acted irresponsibly” in negotiations over the transit zone question.

Fearful that any move to spin off the zones could lead to the loss of well-paying union jobs, the Amalgamated Transit Union has drawn a line in the sand.

“If I don’t get protection on zones, they don’t get a contract,” said Silver. The mechanics union is willing “to let [the MTA] have a zone as long as we get the proper protections that we need.”

The bill by Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) would require any new transit zone to abide by the same contract provisions, including wages and benefits, that are in effect for MTA workers. The protection would remain in place for at least four years after the transfer of bus lines to the transit zone.

The unresolved problem of transit zones was impeding progress in other areas. The MTA’s negotiator said the agency was bargaining separately with three unions on three-year contracts.

United Transportation Union spokesman Goldy Norton said Friday that progress has been slow. “It would be very difficult, given the issues that are outstanding, to reach agreement by midnight Monday.”

Dispute Over Work Hours

Norton said the MTA had offered a totally unacceptable proposal to change work rules governing the hours of bus and train operators. In a move to cut overtime that contributes to its high operating cost, the MTA wants drivers who now work eight hours a day, five days a week to instead work 10 hours a day over four days. However, the drivers actual workday would be spread over a longer span of time to assist the MTA in scheduling service for morning and evening commute periods.

Major questions about pay increases and benefits remain to be resolved with the two major unions and a third, the Transportation Communications International Union, which represents MTA clerks and customer service representatives.

Despite the Monday end of the 60-day cooling off period, which was designed to get the MTA through the Democratic National Convention, Silver said he has not called a strike nor threatened one if an agreement is not reached by that point.

“I am not going to strike unless they try to deadlock,” Silver said.

If there is a walkout, the MTA warns that there will be no subway trains operating on the Red Line from the San Fernando Valley to Union Station. No service is planned on the Blue Line from Long Beach to Los Angeles or the Green Line from Norwalk to El Segundo.

And the agency would provide only a tiny fraction of its bus service on five lines instead of the normal 200. Some of that severely limited bus service is in doubt if unionized drivers of contract bus lines refuse to cross picket lines.

Caught in this high-stakes game of brinkmanship over labor contracts are the MTA’s passengers, most of them poor and members of minorities. The best-case scenario calls for the MTA to run a total of 100 buses compared with the usual 2,000 buses.

The five bus routes are:

* Line 21 from Westwood to downtown Los Angeles via Wilshire Boulevard.

* Line 30 from Pico/Rimpau to East Los Angeles College via Pico Boulevard and East 1st Street.

* Line 60 from Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles via Long Beach Boulevard, Pacific Boulevard and Santa Fe Avenue.

* Line 204 from Hollywood Boulevard to Imperial Highway via Vermont Avenue.

* Line 156/420 from Panorama City to downtown Los Angeles via Van Nuys Boulevard, Lankershim Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard and the Hollywood Freeway.

Buses would run every 10 to 12 minutes between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. every day.

A special shuttle bus would operate from Union Station through downtown Los Angeles to accommodate about one-third of the 8,000 riders who normally transfer from Metrolink trains to the Metro Rail subway.

The shuttle buses would stop close to the five subway stations on the Red Line route from Union Station to Westlake/MacArthur Park. The smaller shuttle buses would run every few minutes during the rush hours on weekdays and every 10 minutes during midday, but there would be no weekend service. There would probably be significant overcrowding on all buses operating out of Union Station.

Metrolink commuter trains would continue to operate on regular schedules, officials said.

In the event of a strike, MTA riders would be urged to explore other transit options, including the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s Commuter Express service; the DASH shuttles in downtown Los Angeles; service operated by municipal bus companies, such as Long Beach Transit, Santa Monica, Montebello, Foothill Transit, Torrance Transit; and carpools and vanpools.

Passengers can call (800) COMMUTE for more information.