MTA'S BUSES WON'T ROLL MONDAY.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

The strike by Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers dragged into its sixth day Saturday, with officials predicting that buses would not be rolling Monday as had been hoped.

``It's certain you won't have any on the street Monday,'' said MTA Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky. ``We are making some progress with bus drivers, but it's slow, and I am disappointed at the pace.''

Negotiators, he said, were prepared for all-night talks Saturday at the Sheraton Suites Fairplex Hotel in Pomona.

Talks with the United Transportation Union, which represents bus drivers and operators, appeared closer to resolution than those with the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 2,000 mechanics. Accords must be struck with both unions before workers will return to the posts.

The strike, which began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, has cost the region an estimated $4 million daily and stranded half a million people - mostly poor and working-class people and schoolchildren.

At a news conference Saturday near Koreatown, members of the Bus Riders Union urged the MTA to end the strike. The advocacy group has long criticized the MTA for what it says is disproportionate transit spending geared to wealthy suburban commuters over of inner-city riders of color.

``We have people that are not able to go to work, people that are ill that are not able to go to the doctor, not able to pick up their prescriptions,'' said Barbara Lott-Holland, a member of the Bus Riders Union steering committee.

The strike has halted 2,400 MTA buses and 185 bus lines, the Red Line subway as well as the Metro Green, Yellow and Blue Line trains.

Only 12 bus routes, operated by contracted workers, are running.

``The key word is 'hope,''' said MTA spokesman David Sotero. ``We are letting negotiators do their thing. We are looking forward to getting metro service back as quickly as possible so we can get Los Angeles moving again.''

MTA mechanics, followed by bus drivers and service workers, walked off the job after talks broke off over the mechanics union's troubled health-benefits fund.

At the heart of the strike is who will manage the fund and how much members will have to pay for it.

Currently, the mechanics, who make $50,000 on average a year, pay nothing for health-care coverage, $6 monthly for family coverage and $3 for a spouse. The union also includes service workers who earn $30,000 a year and have the same benefits, as well as 500 retirees.

But the fund, managed by the union, is near bankruptcy. Union leaders lay the blame on skyrocketing health-care costs, while MTA officials contend that more than $1 million a year was being wasted because of inefficiencies.

``We are prepared to negotiate for as long as it's necessary if we think we are going to get an agreement. That's our goal, to get an agreement,'' said Goldy Norton, consultant for the United Transportation Union. ``But the ATU still has to get to an agreement before the buses are running again.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com