In November 2005, the Port Authority and Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union, engaged in a 47-hour negotiating marathon before ending a five-month stalemate and reaching tentative agreement on a labor contract.

Gov. Ed Rendell flew in from Philadelphia to join county Chief Executive Dan Onorato to participate in all-night talks that concluded on a Saturday morning.

Since then, riders have been whacked with the biggest service cuts in authority history and across-the-board fare hikes based on a 25-cent increase for Zone 1.

Since then, the state has enacted long-sought legislation to provide reliable transportation funding, and the county has enacted a 10 percent drink tax and $2-a-day car rental tax to subsidize transit.

Since then, the number of retirees has exceeded the number of active employees, and the authority has experienced double-digit percentage increases in health-care and pension costs.

Since then, Mr. Rendell and Mr. Onorato have run for re-election and won.

Enough said.

The contract that the two political leaders helped forge ends at midnight June 30. Port Authority and Local 85 negotiators sat down for their first face-to-face meeting March 21 to work on the next contract. And in the eyes of the transit union, Mr. Onorato has gone from good guy to louse.

Although he agreed to union benefits in 2005, perhaps reluctantly, Mr. Onorato has since characterized them as "outrageous."

In the past year, he has promised to withhold county money necessary to keep the transit system running unless Local 85 agrees to reduce labor costs and put benefits on par with industry peers and county workers.

Meantime, Mr. Onorato remains under heavy fire from county residents, restaurants, taverns and social clubs over the 10 percent drink tax. Mr. Rendell agreed to the measure, too, in essence, when he signed Act 44 last summer, but he hasn't felt the heat.

That sort of sets the scene for the current negotiations, which could deteriorate into the most contentious yet when the two sides start talking wages, benefits, concessions and other sensitive issues.

Local 85, now representing about 2,150 bus-trolley workers and 175 first-level supervisors, points out that benefits have been achieved over years and it would be unconscionable, for example, to take health care away from employees who counted on it when they made a life decision to retire. Union leaders also note that employees and retirees for the first time are giving up 1 percent of their wages and making higher co-pays to offset the high costs of health care.

Some of the "money issues" that management has brought -- or is expected to bring -- to the bargaining table:

• Although staff and nonunion employees were assessed 1 percent of base pay for health-care premiums at the same time as Local 85, the amount for the former was raised to 2 percent last July 1 and goes to 3 percent this July 1. Union employees will be asked to pay the same 3 percent, and maybe 5 percent, by July 1, 2010.

• The authority wants to raise the minimum retirement age to 60, the number of years of service notwithstanding. Union employees hired before Dec. 1, 2005, can still retire after 25 years of service regardless of age. Some who apply military time have hung it up in their mid-40s, saddling the authority with growing payments for health, eye, dental and prescription coverage.

• Negotiators are poised to seek a wage freeze, based on a Pennsylvania Economy League/Allegheny Conference on Community Development study maintaining that Port Authority hourly workers are paid more than peers across the nation when wages are adjusted for the cost of living here. The average operator wage is $23.30 an hour before deductions, including 4.5 percent toward pensions.

Meanwhile, authority leaders are interested in policy and operating issues that will enable them to increase productivity, allow more managerial flexibility and outsource work such as cleaning buses when it proves cost-effective.

If that sounds like so much gobbledygook, take something seemingly as easy to settle as wanting to change rules affecting "car shifters," who oversee light-rail vehicle traffic at the vast South Hills Village Rail Center. It's a 24/7 operation because, even when the authority's 83 trolleys aren't running, they're constantly being shuttled over a web of tracks and through switches to and from maintenance garages or lined up to start the next round of service.

It's a specialized position that few Local 85 people choose because of stress and responsibility akin to an air-traffic controller. Employees who get "bumped" into the job as a result of union seniority procedures usually get out as soon as possible, so the turnover is high.

Consequently, the authority almost always ends up with new people taking a 12-week training program, leaving an insufficient number of car shifters to cover operations. And, once trained, they seldom stay long enough to keep experienced personnel in the position.

The authority wants Local 85 to agree to keep car shifters in place for a minimum of two years so they can provide more reliable service on the T.

In exchange, management is willing to pay $2 an hour more than the current $26.80 an hour, a move that'll still enable it to save money on overtime and training.

But when it comes to the Port Authority and Local 85, there are few win-win situations.