BUSCH OKS MEDIATOR IN DISPUTE; BREWERY TALKS TO RESUME.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Efforts to stave off a brewer's strike at Anheuser-Busch Cos. continued as the St. Louis-based brewery agreed to bring in a third party to help resolve a contract dispute.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal to a lawsuit filed by the Teamsters union against the brewer over a drug search nearly three years ago at the Van Nuys brewery.

In May, workers overwhelmingly rejected the company's final contract offer that would have raised the $21.12 an hour pay by 40 cents this year, 50 cents each of the next two years, and 55 cents each of the following two years. Brewers work 37.5-hour weeks.

The sides agreed Friday to bring in John Calhoun Wells, former head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, as the third party. Talks will take place over the next two weeks, after which the union will ``be given an opportunity'' to again vote on the contract, the company said.

The issue isn't about the pay but about discipline, overtime and other policies that the company wants to change, said Ed Kinsbursky, Teamsters Local 896 chief shop steward for brewing in Van Nuys.

``We hope the company will actually change some of their requests,'' he said. ``If nothing changes, nothing's going to change on our part.''

But company spokesman Steve LeResche said the offer is the company's final one and the talks are intended to clarify issues. ``We think that Dr. Wells may be helpful in getting a better understanding about the offer.''

The lawsuit was prompted by an August 1995 search during which several hundred workers were held in a fenced area for five hours while dogs sniffed for drugs in the parking lot. Five workers were disciplined.

In refusing to revive the lawsuit, the court upheld two lower court rulings that the union's complaint was covered by the collective bargaining agreement requiring arbitration of disputes.