BUS STRIKE IN 25TH DAY WAGES BACK AT EYE OF MTA DISPUTE.

Byline: Troy Anderson  Staff Writer

As the Los Angeles transit strike entered its 24th day on Monday, making it the third longest in county history, talks focused on a new wage-benefit package.

Union officials called the offer inadequate, saying they feared the Metropolitan Transportation Authority management was extending the strike toward the point where workers wouldn't be able to make house payments and meet other financial obligations.

Transportation Communications Union Chairman Ray Huffer said Monday that negotiations have been set back by months, and he predicted the strike could last for 30 days or longer.

The MTA directors can ``stand their ground forever,'' said Huffer, who represents MTA clerks. ``They are out to get concessions from the unions, and whether it's revenge . . . or whether it's economics, they do not feel they need to meet us on middle ground.''

MTA spokesman Ed Scannell said the board is not attempting to run its employees into the ground financially but wishes the unions had brought written proposals to the table sooner.

``The MTA wants its drivers to come back to work,'' Scannell said. ``We value our employees.''

Union officials said the MTA's latest salary offer would reduce an earlier offer from 2.7 percent to 2 percent.

But Scannell said workers would get an overall increase when benefits and other items are added.

``The overall proposal is a greater increase,'' Scannell said, declining to provide details.

Union officials said the new offer represents a 25 percent cut.

``I have no way of knowing how they compute,'' United Transportation Union spokesman Goldy Norton said.

``But certainly I don't know how you increase a package by decreasing the salary.''

The county's longest transit strike occurred in 1974 and lasted 68 days. The second longest - in 1976 - lasted 36 days. Until Monday, a 23-day strike in 1979 had been the third longest.

In response to the MTA's proposal, the UTU met with management negotiators Monday afternoon at the Pasadena Hilton and gave them a counterproposal.

Talks are scheduled to resume at 1 p.m. today.

The talks have repeatedly bogged down over wages, benefits, work rules and whether union contracts would be maintained in proposed transit zones.

Even though Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation giving MTA workers protection if new transit zones are formed, the unions are seeking those same protections written into their new contract.

``There have been things exchanged regarding the transit zone issue and Senate Bill 1101,'' Norton said, ``but there's been no agreement on those issues.''