Neil Silver

Late Monday night, in the darkness outside a bus yard in the San Fernando Valley, the president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's mechanics union stood with a small group of men and considered the fruitless end of more than a year of labor negotiations. As the clock struck midnight, Neil Silver checked the time, looked over his workers and calmly assessed the situation for a reporter. "OK," he said, "this is the beginning of it. This is what [the MTA] has gotten for the public.

As a former labor arbitrator, I find L.A. Mayor James Hahn's Nov. 6 proposal that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority go to binding arbitration irresponsible and ludicrous. In collective bargaining for new labor contracts, employers -- and in particular public agencies -- never submit disputed issues to arbitration for several reasons. First, arbitration is a crap shoot to start with, and no employer wants to get stuck with an agreement that some arbitrator has arbitrarily and unreasonably imposed on the employer or employers.

As a former labor arbitrator, I find L.A. Mayor James Hahn's Nov. 6 proposal that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority go to binding arbitration irresponsible and ludicrous. In collective bargaining for new labor contracts, employers -- and in particular public agencies -- never submit disputed issues to arbitration for several reasons. First, arbitration is a crap shoot to start with, and no employer wants to get stuck with an agreement that some arbitrator has arbitrarily and unreasonably imposed on the employer or employers.

Late Monday night, in the darkness outside a bus yard in the San Fernando Valley, the president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's mechanics union stood with a small group of men and considered the fruitless end of more than a year of labor negotiations. As the clock struck midnight, Neil Silver checked the time, looked over his workers and calmly assessed the situation for a reporter. "OK," he said, "this is the beginning of it. This is what [the MTA] has gotten for the public.

"Good to see you . . . good to see you, again," Young croons in the first track--and the feeling is going to be mutual for Young's audience. Much like the album as a whole, that opener is as comforting and informal as an overdue visit from an old friend--though the message is so good-natured and embracing that you don't know whether the veteran singer-songwriter is speaking this time about a wife, a child or maybe even the audience that has accompanied him on his long, great musical journey.

Neil Silver, who led bus and train mechanics on a five-week strike against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in the fall, has been reelected president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1277. Silver drew about 56% of votes cast, a spokesman said.

The Times' Nov. 18 editorial ("A Permanent MTA Solution") on how to avert future Metropolitan Transportation Authority strikes was cute and folksy when it stated that L.A. Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa believed the end of the work stoppage was near when he thought MTA board President Zev Yaroslavsky and union chief Neil Silver "were going to exchange recipes for matzo ball soup." Let's get real: Both parties to this crippling 35-day disaster have demonstrated twice in the last three years that no commitment to arbitration will ever happen.

On the fifth day of a walkout that has hobbled Los Angeles County's transit system, leaders of the striking mechanics union sat in a hotel conference room watching television as Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials struggled to reach a deal with another union. Leaders of the Amalgamated Transit Union clustered around a small TV set someone had brought from home to pass time during stalled negotiations at the Sheraton Suites Fairplex in Pomona.

As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority mechanics strike enters its 13th day today, momentum in talks between the parties appears to have stalled. Negotiations continue to be conducted with a mediator shuttling proposals between the parties, sequestered in separate rooms. Saturday's talks began about 11:30 a.m. with the delivery of a proposal from the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 2,200 bus and train mechanics, to the MTA.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority mechanics and maintenance workers have given their union leader authority to call a strike if current labor talks break down. The union and the MTA, which have been trying to hash out a new contract for about seven months, have recently clashed over issues such as wage increases and benefit packages, said Neil Silver, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents the workers.

"Good to see you . . . good to see you, again," Young croons in the first track--and the feeling is going to be mutual for Young's audience. Much like the album as a whole, that opener is as comforting and informal as an overdue visit from an old friend--though the message is so good-natured and embracing that you don't know whether the veteran singer-songwriter is speaking this time about a wife, a child or maybe even the audience that has accompanied him on his long, great musical journey.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials and striking mechanics disagreed Wednesday on whether progress was being made on negotiations over a nine-day strike that has shut down most Los Angeles County bus and commuter rail service. For the second day in a row, MTA negotiators and union leaders holed up in separate rooms of the County Hall of Administration, bargaining through a mediator who shuffled between the rooms.

In the first sign of movement in Southern California's weeklong transit strike, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has backed off its demand to take control of a mechanics' health-care fund, prompting their union to agree to come back to the bargaining table. MTA officials said in a proposal circulated at 1 a.m. Monday that they would accept equal representation on the six-member board overseeing the fund, which is nearly insolvent. The MTA also agreed to pay $4.