TRANSIT: MTA PACT REJECTED.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro and Rick Orlov Staff Writers

The MTA's striking mechanics overwhelmingly rejected the agency's final contract offer Friday, while the union got a tremendous boost from a judge's ruling that allows labor-backed MTA board members back into board contract talks.

The mechanics' Amalgamated Transit Union president, Neil Silver, used the day's developments to urge the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to go back to the negotiating table, while the board held a closed meeting to figure out its next move.

``We're not going to take this draconian offer that has been resoundingly defeated,'' Silver said. ``It's time to end the guessing game and get back to work. We all have jobs to do. One of the jobs isn't holding transit up in Los Angles County.''

On the steps of City Hall, Mayor James Hahn and Councilmen Antonio Villaraigosa and Martin Ludlow celebrated their legal victory by calling for their fellow MTA board members to end the ``vitriol'' and ``finger-pointing,'' and turn to some type of arbitration to resolve the nearly month-old walkout that has shut down public transit for 400,000 riders.

``When I hear from a someone who makes $280 a week and she has to spend $200 of that to get to work, we have to take action,'' Villaraigosa said. ``People are hurting and we can no longer afford the vitriol and name- calling that has gone on.''

Hahn said he has always been reluctant to place public negotiations in the hands of a third party, but is willing to look at it in this case.

``This strike has gone on long enough and I'm willing to look at whatever it takes to get it resolved,'' Hahn said.

MTA Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky, who has led a mostly united board throughout the strike, said the board would meet Monday to consider nonbinding arbitration, among other avenues, for resolving the walkout, but he reiterated his opposition to entering a binding contract with a third party, as the union has suggested.

Silver said he was considering other types of arbitration, as had been suggested, but still had concerns that needed to be resolved.

Yaroslavsky also reiterated that the pot of $87 million in new money on the table will not be increased as the agency tries to hold the line on spending.

``There's not going to be more money. We're simply not going to put our treasury at risk,'' he said, saying the money could be shuffled among wages, health care and other issues.

Any agreement ``cannot result in increased fares, reduction in service, (or) layoffs of employees, and it ought to be (within) ... the operating budget.''

Yaroslavsky added that the board was not considering unilaterally imposing the contract or hiring replacement workers at this point.

``We're not there. We'll do everything we can to try to resolve this without going down that road,'' he said.

While the mayor and councilmen suggested using former county Supervisor and past MTA Chairman Edmund D. Edelman as a third-party negotiator, Yaroslavsky said he opposed putting former MTA board members in that role.

Earlier Friday, Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs granted a preliminary injunction that allows the four conflicted MTA board members - Hahn, Villaraigosa, Ludlow and Supervisor Gloria Molina - to rejoin board discussions and votes on the issue.

She ruled that the MTA's strict ethics law, drafted during the height of MTA spending scandals to prevent board members from voting on contracts when they had taken $10 or more from those doing business before them, does not apply to labor contracts, as the claim brought by Ludlow and Villaraigosa argued.

The unions seized on the ruling as a great boost to their cause, which they believe had been hampered by the sidelining of the labor-backed members.

``They (the four members) can bring some rationality back to the board. They can bring the union viewpoint back,'' said Silver.

``We think it's a very good thing to bring a bunch of very important voices into the discussion,'' said Goldy Norton, a consultant to the bus drivers' United Transportation Union, which is also in contract talks and honoring the picket line. ``I'd like to see them put their input into the board.''

Striking mechanics casting ballots at the Los Angeles Convention Center turned down the MTA's offer, with 1,267 opposed, 87 supporting and four ballots invalidated. In all, nearly 2,100 workers were eligible to vote.

Mechanics said it's worth losing $3,000 in pay on the picket line to protect their health benefits and keep good jobs for future generations.

``It's hard right now, but it's temporary,'' said Antonio Guerrero, a 16- year employee at a San Fernando Valley division with a school-age child. ``What about the retirees? The future? Not everyone's going to be a doctor, a lawyer. We need to leave a good job for them.''

Workers fumed at what they see as waste and excess at the MTA in executive pay and the headquarters downtown.

``We can't afford to give in to this,'' said Scott Hayes, a mechanic with a wife and toddler in Victorville.

Some workers said they'll remain loyal to Silver in the upcoming union elections, which will be decided next month, because they believe he's fighting for them.

But MTA officials said they were disappointed by the workers' vote, and will continue to provide as much ``lifeline'' service as possible to help transit users.

Mechanics earn about $50,000 annually, on average, and enjoy free health care or $6-a-month care for families until they're 65, when they pay $21 monthly for care.

Under the MTA contract, those health care costs would rise - the MTA says to about $70 monthly out of pocket for active workers, but the union puts it at $200, and more for retirees.

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Striking transit workers Dan Ennis and James Nowak picket in front of the MTA bus yard in Chatsworth on Friday.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(2) Art Aguilar, a shop steward for the MTA Mechanics Union, gets a hug from a fellow union member after they voted to extend the strike.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer