State Intervenes in Stalled MTA Talks

At the behest of Gov. Gray Davis, the director of the state Department of Industrial Relations has intervened in the contract talks between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and unions representing bus and train operators, mechanics and clerks.

Stephen J. Smith met with MTA officials and union representatives in Los Angeles on Thursday and Friday “to assist in mediation of the labor dispute,” department spokesman Richard Stephens said.

As a result of his efforts, the union that represents MTA mechanics will return to the bargaining table Tuesday after a week’s absence. The move ensures that MTA bus and rail service will continue to operate well into next week.

Neil Silver, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, credited the governor and Smith for “getting things back on track” in the union’s stalled negotiations with the MTA.

As the head of the state agency that mediates labor disputes, Smith “swings a lot of weight,” Silver said.

Silver called Sacramento’s intervention “a very positive move.”

Smith met with MTA officials, including some members of the transit agency’s board, in order to understand the issues that divide the parties. “He is there to help facilitate discussions until there is some resolution,” said Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for the governor.

The involvement of the high-ranking state official came only days after Silver met with the governor’s staff to discuss the lack of progress in resolving persistent differences between the transit agency and three of its powerful unions on new contracts.

MTA spokesman Barry Liden said Smith’s intervention came about “because things were not moving along. I guess the governor thought somebody higher up needed to get involved.”

Discussions continued Friday between the MTA and the United Transportation Union, which represents the MTA’s bus drivers and train operators, but the other two unions did not meet face to face with agency negotiators.

Liden said that the MTA and the drivers union had exchanged proposals on wages, benefits and pension issues, but that the union was refusing to consider the agency’s demand to institute a four-day, 40-hour workweek for a small number of its drivers.

Each side continued to accuse the other of refusing to negotiate on important issues.

The MTA continued to insist on changes in work rules that govern the hours that some drivers work and the union resisted it. “They are drawing a line in the sand and we’ve drawn a line in the sand,” said United Transportation Union spokesman Goldy Norton.

The mechanics union persisted in its demand that members’ pay, benefits and job security be protected in the event that new transit zones are created in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. The new transit districts would operate existing MTA bus lines in those areas and the unions want such operations to inherit MTA’s contracts with their members.

Supporters of the zones adamantly object to a union-backed bill by Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) that would mandate such protections for at least four years. They are urging Davis to veto the measure.

The drivers union along with the Transportation Communications International Union, which represents MTA clerks and customer service agents, agreed last Monday to a five-day extension of their contract. The extension ends at midnight tonight.

The two unions also promised to give the public at least a five-day advance warning of any strike. Norton said the earliest a strike by those unions could occur would be just after midnight next Friday.

The mechanics union never agreed to the extension or the five-day notice, but Silver said he does not intend to call a strike in the near future, especially when a mediator is being assigned to the talks with each union.

“I met with the governor’s staff in hopes of averting a strike,” he said.