California: Muni Talks Freeze - Union Won't Budge
According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
Contract negotiations between Municipal Railway operators and the bosses who run San Francisco's transit agent skidded to a halt Monday, with union representatives refusing to give up more control of scheduling and discipline.
Union leaders say they won't agree to Muni managers' demands without a promise of better pay and benefits.
The current labor agreement expires June 30. Under law, Muni drivers cannot strike, but management relies on their cooperation to keep the system from falling apart.
"They stormed out of my office. They didn't like what I was telling them," said Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs Muni.
Irwin Lum, president of Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, which represents the roughly 1,900 men and women who operate the city's fleet of buses, streetcars and cable cars, agreed with Ford's assessment. That's apparently about the only thing the two sides could agree on as the deadline nears for a new labor agreement.
"We're at a standstill," Lum said.
For months, the union and management have said that they would not fight for public support by revealing their negotiating points to the press. But that position began to unravel Monday as frustration over the closed-door talks boiled over.... click to continue.
