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Strike Continues in Los Angeles, Negotiation to Resume
Both sides in the four-day-old strike by 4,400 Los Angeles bus and train operators agreed Tuesday to resume negotiation in a dispute that has left thousands of the area's poorest residents pounding the pavement or scrambling to find rides to work.
Negotiators for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the United Transportation Union (UTU) agreed to begin formal contract negotiations Wednesday, marking the first meeting between the two sides since the strike started early Saturday.
For the past four days, traffic clogged city streets, freeway traffic swelled five percent, commuter times in some areas doubled, cab drivers worked overtime and MTA workers picketed in more than a dozen locations.
Some 2,000 buses, plus 95 kilometers of light rail and subway lines have been halted by the dispute that centers on MTA's desire to require some drivers to work four, 10-hour work days a week and cut overtime.
Union members contend that such a plan would mean a 15-percent pay cut for its senior members.
The MTA said it faces a 438-million-dollar operating deficit over the next 10 years if it doesn't cut costs or increase fares. The MTA has offered 2.7 percent raises per year for three years, but the unions want four percent per year.
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