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Mediator Wendy H
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Lauren Wimer | Senior photographer
LTD: Parties squabble over safety inspection
Continued from page 1
with the union’s action committee to
day to plan and strategize for a
strike he says union members are
prepared to go through with.
“We do not want to go strike, but
it would be foolish to wait ‘til Friday
to start to prepare,” Allred said.
Friday’s mediation session lasted
more than eight hours, with union
representatives and LTD representa
tives in separate rooms of the Hilton
Eugene Hotel and professional me
diator Wendy Greenwald serving as
a room-to-room messenger and ne
gotiation facilitator between the two
bargaining sides.
Both sides contend the other
failed to bring anything new to the
bargaining table. Hunt accused LTD
of merely “shuffling stuff around,”
and LTD Service Planning and Mar
keting Manager Andy Vobora dis
missed the union’s claim of agree
ing to the district’s proposed
health-care plan and saving the dis
trict more than $332,000 with its
new offer.
“While we had some agreement
on the type of plan, we were still off
on the cost,” Vobora said.
Hunt said the union proposed a
one-year wage freeze.
But Vobora said because the
freeze would apply to the contract
that expires on June 30, it did not
make sense to freeze wages after
implementing a wage increase with
the current contract offer.
“It would expire June 30 — we
would never stop bargaining,” Vob
ora said about the wage freeze. “We
would really prefer to have a three
year contract.”
Vobora said LTD’s revised con
tract offer included the removal of
the previously proposed 10-minute
bus safety inspection time, which
was the source of several claims
filed in Lane County Circuit Court
last week.
A judge dismissed two claims
Thursday that LTD drivers and
union representatives filed to stop
LTD from implementing the change
from a 15-minute bus safety inspec
tion time to a 10-minute time.
A disabled LTD rider filed a simi
lar claim against the district, and
there will be a hearing Thursday
to decide whether LTD is permitted
to reduce safety inspection time
in light of laws protecting
disabled passengers.
“It didn’t mean a thing to me that
they withdrew that because it never
should have been on the table, accord
ing to the judge,” Allred said, referring
to the judge’s skepticism about the le
gal reasoning behind the district’s
change in safety inspection time.
Allred said that if the district was
really serious about withdrawing
the safety inspection time change, it
would not have implemented the
change reducing the safety inspec
tion time on Sunday.
Neither side expects to offer any sig
nificant changes during Friday’s medi
ation session because both say they
have stretched as far as they can.
Vobora said the 4 percent wage
increase the LTD Board of Directors
had previously asked for when the
contract negotiations began in May
has increased to around 5 percent.
“They were willing to do that to
try to get a settlement,” Vobora said.
But Hunt and Allred both said the
main problem lies in the spending
habits of the district. LTD has plenty
of surplus funds but wants to save
them for “a rainy day,” Hunt said.
But, Hunt said, when the
bus drivers are preparing to go
out on strike, “it sounds like it’s
pouring out.”
“We’re not going to let them bal
ance their budget on our members’
backs,” Hunt said.
Vobora said he will be meeting
with the district’s negotiating team
today to debrief its members on Fri
day’s mediation session, but he said
he is not sure whether the board
will meet this week to discuss any
possible alterations to Friday’s
contract offer.
LTD General Manager Ken Hamm
is at a conference with city officials
in Washington, D.C., and will not
be available to meet this week,
Vobora said.
Allred said Hamm’s absence is a
reflection of his lack of concern for
the contract negotiations, adding that
the union’s business representative
was scheduled to attend the same
conference but decided not to go be
cause of the pending driver strike.
Vobora said Hamm’s absence is
not problematic because the district
does not believe there is much more
to discuss about the contract offers.
meghanncuniff@dailyemerald.com
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IN BRIEF
Hussein's half brother
captured by Syrians
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi offi
cials said Sunday that Syria cap
tured and handed over Saddam
Hussein’s half brother, a most
wanted leader in the Sunni
based insurgency, ending
months of Syrian denials that it
was harboring fugitives from the
ousted Hussein regime. Iraq au
thorities said Damascus acted in
a gesture of goodwill.
Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan,
who shared a mother with Hus
sein, was nabbed along with
29 other fugitive members of the
former dictator’s Baath Party
in Hasakah in northeastern
Syria, 30 miles from the Iraqi
border, the officials said on
condition of anonymity. The
U.S. military in Iraq had no
immediate comment.
Al-Hassan’s capture was the
latest in a series of arrests of im
portant insurgent figures that the
government hopes will deal a
crushing blow to the violent op
position forces.
Israel's Sharon threatens
to freeze peace attempts
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon threatened
Sunday to freeze peace efforts if
the Palestinian leadership does
not crack down on militant
groups after a weekend suicide
bombing in Tel Aviv killed four Is
raelis and wounded dozens.
At a Cabinet meeting, Israel de
cided to suspend a plan to turn
control of five West Bank towns
over to the Palestinians and free
400 more prisoners. Those ges
tures were agreed upon at a Feb. 8
summit in Egypt, where Sharon
and Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas declared a truce.
The attack and the Israeli meas
ures underlined the fragility of the
truce and its vulnerability to vio
lence by extremists who oppose
any accommodation.
A familiar pattern appeared in
danger of re-emerging: a truce, a
Palestinian attack, Israeli retalia
tion, another Palestinian attack and
ultimately the end of the truce and
rekindled violence.
Thirteen states raise
high school standards
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coali
tion of 13 states confirmed plans Sun
day to require tougher high school
courses and diploma requirements,
changes that could affect about one
in three students.
The announcement is the most tan
gible sign that the nation’s governors,
gathered in the capital for a summit on
improving high schools, want to see
that progress quickly.
The participating states have com
mitted to making their core high
school classes and tests more rigorous
and to match their graduation stan
dards with the expectations of employ
ers and colleges. They also pledged to
hold colleges more accountable for en
suring students graduate.
Such changes would require time
and significant legislative and political
work, as teachers unions, school
boards, legislatures and parents would
be affected. Governors, state school
chiefs and business executives will
lead the efforts in each state.
Pope surprises world
with public appearance
VATICAN CITY — Touching his
throat fitted with a breathing tube,
Pope John Paul II on Sunday made
a surprise first public appearance af
ter surgery, appearing at his hospi
tal window just moments after a
Vatican official stood on the steps of
St. Peter’s Basilica to read the pon
tiff’s appeal for prayers.
The 84-year-old pope did not
speak during his one-minute greet
ing from Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic
hospital, but sent an implicit and
powerful message about his deter
mination to maintain continuity in
the church.
The appearance, in which the
seated pope waved and appeared
alert, raised hopes that he was mak
ing progress following a tracheoto
my Thursday to ease a breathing
crisis. The Vatican had previously
announced John Paul would skip
his weekly blessing — a 26-year tra
dition he did not miss even after he
was shot in 1981 and recovered
from an operation in 1992.
— The Associated Press
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