In a deal brokered by Jesse Jackson, the union representing 4,300 striking transit workers reached a tentative deal with county transit officials on Tuesday aimed at ending a four-week walkout and restoring bus and rail service to 450,000 commuters.
The agreement was reached after an all-night bargaining session during which Jackson shuttled between negotiators for the United Transportation Union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Los Angeles County, union officials said.
“We were down to overtime,” Jackson said. “We had just about given up after all night long. Then we were awakened this morning by some angel that blessed us out of somewhere with a fresh start, a fresh idea and we shared it with the MTA leadership.”
He added: “I think there must be some balance between labor, business, the government and customer service. All four must win.”
Union members were to vote on the proposed contract Tuesday night. Union members said bus and rail service would resume later this week, provided the contract is approved.
“We have a contract and we believe it provides the protection our members need,” said Goldy Norton, spokesman for the transit union representing 4,300 bus drivers. About 2,700 rail operators and other transit agency workers in other unions joined the strike in solidarity with the drivers.
Jackson is the second religious leader to intervene successfully in a Los Angeles strike. Last week, Cardinal Roger Mahony persuaded 47,000 striking Los Angeles County workers to return to work while their negotiations continue with the county’s Board of Supervisors. Mahony had argued that that strike, which disrupted everything from election preparations to emergency services at county hospitals, harmed the most vulnerable, the poor.
Jackson and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who appointed four of the 13 members of the transit board, joined the talks Friday.
Jackson “was just bringing the parties together and using the force of his personality to keep the parties going when it was easier to say, `Oh, the heck with it,'” Norton said. “We were going up and down like a yo-yo, but [Jackson] would not let us quit.”
Riordan, Norton added, “is a very persuasive individual. He said it was time to bring this thing to an end, and he convinced his [appointees] on the board.”
During the strike, the union had rejected the transportation authority’s attempts to impose new work rules that the agency said were needed to plug a $400 million deficit projected for the next 10 years.
