Larger text
Smaller text
Print
E-mail
Onorato vows to keep talks going
Mike Wereschagin can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7900.
"We have to get both parties in a room," he said. "We've got to get this thing resolved."
That could involve essentially locking union and Port Authority of Allegheny County officials in a room until they can agree on what would be the transit workers' first contract since July 1, Onorato said. A week-long transit strike in Philadelphia ended Monday morning after Gov. Ed Rendell kept both sides talking through a meeting that began Sunday afternoon.
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 -- which represents about 2,200 bus drivers and mechanics at the Port Authority -- plan to vote Nov. 20 on whether to strike. The Port Authority wants them to pay some health care costs, which they don't do now. A strike could mangle the commutes of about 230,000 people each work day.
"This is a heavily subsidized industry, from the federal government, state government and local government," Onorato said.
The county, for instance, spends $20 million a year on the Port Authority, which gives Onorato some leverage. He declined to go into specifics on what the final contract should include, saying only that talks needed to resume within the next week or so. The last negotiating session was Nov. 3.
"This idea of, 'We'll meet for a few hours, then not meet for three weeks,' has got to stop. We've got to get them in a room," Onorato said.
Union and Port Authority officials promised Onorato they'd attend a meeting if he organized it. Port Authority Interim Executive Director Dennis Veraldi issued a statement yesterday welcoming Onorato's involvement in the dispute. Local 85 President Patrick McMahon could not be reached for comment.
Rendell has pledged to help out personally or through a proxy, Onorato said.
Onorato also noted that he will spend Monday and Tuesday in Harrisburg, lobbying lawmakers for about $240 million for capital projects that would be paid for if lawmakers decide to borrow more money, which they're expected to do next week. The move could make about $500 million available for brick-and-mortar projects -- called capital projects -- across the state.
At the top of his list are three industrial sites around the airport. Businesses are ready to move into those areas, but only once they have roads, sewer and water lines, Onorato said.
More Pittsburgh, Allegheny headlines
- Humar believes in being UPMC surgeon first, administrator second
- Defendant cooperates with DA in Meadows casino theft
- Planners need billions to rehabilitate roadways, bridges
- UPMC unit to increase use of organs from living donors
- Autopsy shows Hill District baby in bin was stillborn
- Cranberry couple under investigation in use of orphans' trust fund
- Fewer flights don't result in fewer authority workers in Allegheny
- UPMC Braddock closure plan upsets council
