LTD talks rolling along.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran April 17, 2007): Lane Transit District bus driver Dan Dreier's last name was misspelled in a story that appeared on Page D1 Saturday. Also, the headling wrongly implied that bargaining between the transit district and its union members already has begun.

Twenty-five months after an unprecedented strike, Lane Transit District managers and union leaders return to the bargaining table Thursday to begin hammering out a new three-year contract.

While "wait and see" is the official mantra, virtually everyone involved says they are confident the district and its workers will avoid a repeat of 2005, when the buses didn't roll for a week following 11 months of strained negotiations.

The reasons cited for optimism include a deliberate strategy to improve union-management relations, positive worker evaluations for General Manager Mark Pangborn, a dearth of contentious issues to be bargained, and even the workplace excitement surrounding the early success of LTD's EmX bus rapid transit system.

Another motivation is the strong belief that the public won't easily tolerate another disruption in bus service.

"Management and the union are both under the gun to do something better," said Jim Stinson, an LTD bus driver and member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757. LTD's board of directors "didn't like the heat it got, and the (union) membership didn't like the way things went, either."

The Portland-based ATU represents 244 of LTD's 323 workers, including bus drivers, vehicle maintenance workers and customer service representatives. The union's current contract expires June 30.

That contract was approved in 2005 only after an outside mediation team led by Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy intervened. The messy process spurred the departure of General Manager Ken Hamm, who resigned in December 2005 amid continued fractious relations with employees.

As with many public and private workplaces, health insurance was the biggest obstacle in securing a new contract in 2005. The district moved to a consumer-driven model in which employees now pay the first $400 in their medical expenses but can turn to district-funded accounts to help cover additional costs.

The new plan has effectively controlled health care costs for the district, according to Mary Adams, LTD's human resources manager and a member of its bargaining team. Overall personnel contract costs have been held to a 5.4 percent annual increase, she said.

Pension plan may be an issue

Adams and other negotiators on both sides of the table won't comment on what they see as emerging issues this time around. But one veteran bus driver, Dan Drier, said he believes the biggest topic this go-round will be the workers' retirement pension plan.

Many drivers and other union workers with seniority are delaying retirement because their accrued accounts are too low, said Drier, who argues that it's in LTD's self-interest to replace older, top-salary drivers with younger, lower-salary operators.

Despite the challenges, Drier said he's among those who are hopeful about negotiations this time around. One reason, Drier said, has been General Manager Pangborn's efforts to mend fences among employee groups.

That's quite a turnaround for Drier, who previously referred to the day that LTD's board of directors named Pangborn interim general manager as "Black Friday."

"From the moment he stepped into office, Mark Pangborn has shown a very reasonable and willing attitude to resolve issues and work together," Drier said. "I can say that I was happily and pleasantly wrong ... so far."

Pangborn's longevity at LTD - he was first hired as director of administrative services in 1982 - appears to count with many employees. The district's seven-member board initially planned to have him serve as interim general manager until a national search could identify a new permanent manager. The board changed its mind and dropped "interim" from Pangborn's title a year ago February. He earns an annual salary of $125,358.

Pangborn, who turns 59 on Tuesday, said he's hesitant to predict how bargaining will fare but doesn't see any issues, such as health care in 2005, that loom as major obstacles. He said he has worked hard to open lines of communications among employees, and hopes those efforts pay off in the bargaining process.

"I always liken an organization to everyone being in the same boat," he said. "If we get a leak, it really doesn't matter where it came from or how it got there. We all need to get together to patch it. My hope is that people understand that, and that we can collaborate as an organization together."

In an unprecedented gesture, Pangborn last fall invited employees - not just LTD board members - to participate in his job performance evaluation via an anonymous survey. Union workers offered mostly positive, sometimes glowing, responses.

`The wariness is dispelled and his `open door' policy is genuine,' said one union employee. "Any subject is broachable and Mark is not offended nor retaliatory."

Relationships on the mend

Adams, the human resources director, said other outreach efforts have included hiring a training specialist in response to employee requests for such a position; paying a consultant to conduct a "communications audit" that looked at ways to improve workplace communication; and adopting a plan that lists the development of "supportive relationships" among administrators and workers as the first of eight goals.

Along those lines, a record number of bus drivers recently met stringent criteria to qualify for excellence awards, and employee participation in company social events and the annual United Way campaign drive have reached record highs, Adams said. "That doesn't happen in organizations where people are really upset," she said.

Walt Boynton, an EmX bus driver and executive union board officer, said the union got a strong response when it recently asked members to complete a survey listing their top workplace issues. The response rate, he said, suggests that members feel their voices will be heard.

One unknown in the bargaining process is a bill moving forward in the state Legislature, House Bill 2537, which would add mass transit employees to the list of safety workers prohibited from going on strike - but who instead can seek binding arbitration when labor negotiations reach an impasse. The bill could be amended to include LTD's impending bargaining.

The bill is sponsored by ATU leadership in Portland, but may have ambivalent support among rank-and-file members, said Drier, the veteran LTD bus driver. "People are very reluctant to give up the right to strike," he said.

LTD Board President Gerry Gaydos said he considers the 2005 strike - the first in LTD's 37-year history - to have been "an anomaly" that's unlikely to be repeated. Board newcomer Greg Evans, who 20 years ago worked as a customer service representative at LTD, said there may even be a silver lining to the strike.

"Sometimes good things can come out of that - people find a new way to talk through the issues," he said. "I think we're going to demonstrate to the community that we know how to move forward from some difficult times, and move into some times that are really great."