AGENCIES SEEK TRANSIT ZONE GUIDE; UNIONS, ADVOCATES DEBATE DETAILS.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer

Advocates of greater local control over public transit services are waiting to get their hands on the MTA's latest draft of guidelines for the creation of transportation zones like one proposed for the San Fernando Valley.

They expect to see the newest zone guidelines Monday or soon after. Another group eager to study the document is union officials.

For months, the two unions that represent the bulk of MTA employees - the United Transportation Union representing 4,000 bus and rail operators, and the Amalgamated Transportation Union representing 2,000 workers, including mechanics - have been working to ensure that a zone's potential benefits don't come at the expense of their members.

``If they want to create a zone, fine,'' said Neil Silver, president and business agent for the ATU. ``But not on our backs.''

Fearing the worst, the two unions are lobbying for state Senate Bill 1101, which would require any transit zone that takes over Metropolitan Transportation Authority functions to assume all union contracts.

The new guidelines are expected to require - as did previous guidelines - that a new transit zone be able to operate at lower cost than the current operator of the bus lines.

The Senate bill, introduced by seven senators and co-authored by 14 Assembly members, would prohibit the MTA from approving or rejecting a zone if the projected savings are based on based on ``wages and other forms of compensation or hours and working conditions of employees of the proposed transportation zone.''

Silver said organized labor will fight - in court if necessary - to make sure a zone does not diminish workers' rights, pay and benefits.

``Without that bill going through, there's going to be war,'' Silver said.

Goldy Norton, spokesman for the UTU, said his union believes zones don't save taxpayers any money - they just reduce workers' earnings and shift the money to the zone's managers and contractors in the form of salaries and profit.

``We're going to make sure our members' rights are protected every step of the way,'' Norton said.

Valley civic leader Nate Brogin, a member of the Planning and Transportation Committee of the Southern California Association of Governments, said the zone guidelines ``need to be structured in a way that gives the zone a fair chance to be successful.''

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority committee made the same recommendation in February, rejecting MTA staff proposals for new guidelines that critics said would have been obstacles to new zones.

Nine cities are exploring creation of a Valley zone - Agoura Hills, Burbank, Glendale, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, La Canada Flintridge, Los Angeles, San Fernando and Westlake Village. The county also is involved in the talks.

The zone would take over operation of 27 MTA Metro Bus lines.

Ideally, a zone will operate cleaner buses with more reliable service and with cost savings that could possibly translate into lower fares, Brogin said.

Also opposed to zones is the Bus Riders Union, which believes a court order requiring improved service will be harder to enforce if there is not central accountability, organizer Kikanza Ramsey said.

Brogin is bewildered by the opposition, asking: ``Why would anybody oppose a successful transfer (from MTA to local control) like Foothill (Transit)?''

But unions and their supporters say Foothill's creation in the San Gabriel Valley in the late 1980s was unique for a number of reasons and cannot be replicated.

Tom Rubin, a consultant to the UTU, the ATU and the Bus Riders Union, said Foothill has lower costs than the MTA ``virtually all because of cheaper labor.''

Rubin is a former chief financial officer for the old Southern California Rapid Transit District, which was combined in the early '90s with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to form the MTA.

He predicted the MTA board will create a San Fernando Valley transit zone - and unions will successfully sue to stop it.

Valley zone proponents have no experience in running a bus company and don't know what they're facing, he said. Even the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which has taken a lead role in the Valley zone effort, contracts its Downtown Area Shuttle and Commuter Express services, he noted.

``What these people don't realize is the incredible number of limitations they must work under'' to run the 27 bus lines, including state and federal law, labor contracts, and political and operational realities, Rubin said.

But Brogin said a zone could achieve savings by adapting service to market demand. In the sprawling San Fernando Valley, that might mean using a fleet of vans that offer curbside pickup rather than relying solely on 40-passenger buses, he said.

James Okazaki, the city transportation department's assistant general manager, said zone proponents hope to negotiate with the unions - contracts expire in June 2000 - on work rules to reduce, for example, the amount of overtime paid to MTA employees who would transfer to the zone.

``It doesn't mean they're going to make less per hour than they're making now,'' Okazaki said. He said it's his understanding that the work rules now in the MTA contracts account for much of the MTA's higher costs.