Mechanics Refuse to Cross Picket Line

Nearly all the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s mechanics continued to honor striking bus drivers’ picket lines Tuesday, a stinging public rejection of their union president’s request that they return to work.

Only eight of nearly 2,000 mechanics appear to have heeded their leader’s call to resume work during the morning shift.

That means the MTA’s 2,000 buses and its Metro Rail trains won’t roll for at least another few days.

Moreover, new labor problems threaten a shutdown of the Metrolink commuter rail service.

On another front of the walkout, now in its third week, there appeared to be progress in talks between leaders of the United Transportation Union, which represents 4,400 striking bus and rail operators, and the MTA.

“Things are looking up,� said union President James A. Williams after an afternoon negotiating session. “I am somewhat optimistic that perhaps we have finally got on the right road.�

Williams’ comments represented the most optimistic assessment yet in the strike, which has disrupted weekday bus service for 450,000 MTA riders, cost businesses about $40 million, kept thousands of people from medical appointments, and resulted in numerous reports of tardiness or absenteeism by schools and employers.

Williams has summoned striking drivers to a mass meeting at 11 a.m. today at the Olympic Auditorium. Williams said the meeting was called in part because Gov. Gray Davis personally asked him to allow the drivers to return to work while negotiations continued.

The drivers union president was optimistic when he emerged from a morning negotiating session with MTA negotiator Brenda Diederichs at union headquarters in Irwindale.

“I hope to have it done real soon,� said Williams.

In a more ominous development for Los Angeles area commuters, a Teamsters Union official said mechanics who service Metrolink commuter trains may walk off the job, too.

If they do, the Teamsters, who have been honoring bus drivers’ picket lines and are a constituent union of the AFL-CIO, expect MTA unions to honor their picket lines. That would have the potential to shut down Metrolink, a 416-mile rail network that runs commuter trains into downtown Los Angeles from Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

“A strike vote was taken last Friday by the [Metrolink] mechanics, and they mean business,� said Don Thornsberg, an official with Teamsters Local 986. Thornsberg said he is applying for strike sanctions from the Orange County and Los Angeles County labor federations.

The spread of labor troubles to Metrolink stems from a decision during the summer by about 100 Metrolink mechanics to affiliate with the Teamsters.

The mechanics work for a Canadian company, Bombardier, based in Montreal. Bombardier in turn has a contract with Metrolink to service its trains.

Thornsberg said the company is refusing to negotiate such basic American worker rights as sick pay. He said the mechanics are also fighting for a significant pay boost.

“If we don’t get proper pay and sick days, we are going on strike,� said Thornsberg.

A complicating factor is that because the Metrolink mechanics just voted to join the Teamsters and don’t yet have their first contract, they officially are not members of the union.

But Thornsberg said federal law allows for a strike if the employer engages in what unions call “surface bargaining,� or bad-faith bargaining.

Claudia Keith, a spokeswoman for Metrolink, said, “Our contract is with Bombardier. We expect [the mechanics] to uphold the contract with them.�

Bombardier officials could not be reached for comment.

On Monday, Neil Silver, president of the mechanics’ Amalgamated Transit Union, asked the union’s 1,860 mechanics to go back to work and stunned members of his union and the drivers, creating widespread anger within union ranks.

Many union members learned about the move through radio or television reports, and said they considered that a breach of union protocol. That point was driven home again and again by the United Transportation Union’s Williams, who said he would never take an action like that without polling his members.

Perhaps alluding to Silver’s reelection campaign as president of the mechanics’ union, another union official referred to the mechanics union chief as a “dead man walking.�

Silver defended his action, once again praising Davis for signing a union-backed bill over the weekend that protects his members in the event of an MTA downsizing into smaller regional transit zones.

“The governor gave us a tremendous, tremendous favor. He helped out families, helped save our jobs,� Silver said. “[The governor] said show me something. Get the buses out on the street. I don’t think that was such an outrageous favor after he did so much for our families.�

Silver, whose members will begin their internal election next month, said all he did was make a request, not give an order. He said there would be no reprisals for mechanics union members who refused to cross picket lines.

On the picket lines, Edward Rivera, a 16-year MTA mechanic, echoed the sentiments of others walking with striking drivers when he said, “We’ve been told for years you never cross a picket line, so I am here to support the drivers.�

“Neil Silver did what he had to do,� Rivera said. “We are doing what we have to do.�

Drivers applauded the show of support by mechanics.

“The tree has been split apart, but the roots run deep and are as healthy as ever,� said Aiden Avila, a driver walking a picket line on Mission Road near downtown Los Angeles.

Mechanics and supervisors trying to return to work at the MTA on Tuesday morning were stopped in their cars by co-workers chanting, “Scab go home!� and “Shame on you!�

About 100 protesters, gathered outside the MTA Central Maintenance Facility, were closely watched by sheriff’s deputies as they chanted.

They were successful in turning some of the cars around. Instead of reporting to work, some mechanics parked and joined the protest.

As the morning wore on, the mechanics and bus drivers grew increasingly angry at Silver.

“Everybody feels he sold us out,� said Manuel Chavez, a shop steward. “We’ll be in it until the end. We don’t want any backdoor deals.�

“We will all go back to work together,� said Tom Lujan, another shop steward. “I am still shocked that our president would ask us to cross a picket line. It is ridiculous.�

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Times staff writer Twila Decker contributed to this story.