TRANSIT STRIKE'S END NOT ON SCHEDULE UNIONS PLAN TO REJECT LATEST MTA OFFER.

Byline: Alexa Haussler Staff Writer

The county transit strike enters its seventh day today with the two sides giving strong signals that the walkout will stretch into a second week.

No negotiations occurred Thursday as bus and rail drivers and their supporters staged a defiant rally outside MTA headquarters while officials of the county transit agency voiced frustration over how little progress was being made toward a new contract.

Talks are scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. today in Pasadena, although the chairman of the United Transportation Union said he's ready to reject the MTA's latest proposals.

``I'm going to tell them my members said take it and stuff it,'' James Williams told more than 2,500 cheering members of the drivers union and their supporters in front of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority headquarters downtown.

Members of about a dozen unions - including transportation, hotel workers, musicians and teachers - converged downtown and marched from MTA headquarters to the county government's Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.

Meanwhile, members of the MTA board called a press conference and criticized the union for not showing up at the bargaining table.

MTA Chief Executive Officer Julian Burke said he is frustrated that more face-to-face talks have not taken place since talks broke down late into the night on Sept. 15. Since the strike began, contract negotiations have occurred on only one day, Wednesday.

The United Transportation Union, representing 4,300 drivers, went on strike after rejecting the MTA's proposals for controlling costs, particularly overtime. The agency says it faces a $438 million operating deficit over the next 10 years unless it cuts costs or raises fares.

Members of unions representing mechanics, maintenance workers and clerical workers are honoring the drivers' picket lines. The walkout has shut down the MTA, which runs the nation's second-largest bus line.

``I was talking to some restaurant owners and they said they haven't been able to get all their workers in, so they have to do double duty,'' said former Assemblyman Richard Katz, co-chairman of a transportation committee of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association.

VICA and homeowner leaders have scheduled a news conference for today to discuss the impact of the strike in the Valley and to again urge Gov. Gray Davis to veto legislation that would regulate a proposed Valley transportation zone.

Senate Bill 1101 would require new transit zones, such as the one proposed to take over MTA employees and routes in the nine-city San Fernando Valley region, to abide by current MTA work rules and pensions.

``We don't have a problem with providing MTA wages, benefits and pensions for existing workers,'' Katz said. ``What we want is the freedom to negotiate with new workers to make it workable.''

At the rally Thursday, Williams blasted Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, an avid cyclist who is on a bike tour in France this week, for failing to be more active in negotiations.

``With a strike going on for a week in this city, he's off someplace riding a bike? Give me a break,'' Williams said, as the crowd chanted ``Where is the mayor?''

Riordan spokesman Peter Hidalgo called Williams ``absolutely irresponsible'' for being absent from the negotiating table while criticizing the mayor.

Riordan, a member of the MTA board, has been briefed daily, said Hidalgo, who refused to confirm the mayor's whereabouts.

``He wants the unions to come to the table and the fact that they were absent today to posture at a rally is absolutely irresponsible,'' Hidalgo said.

Staff Writer Rick Orlov contributed to this report.

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Photo:

Drivers Danielle Garcia, left, and Cynthia Rodriguez wear cardboard buses while walking the picket line Thursday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer