DENVER -- Bus drivers, light-rail operators and mechanics asked Gov. Bill Owens to intervene in their two-day strike against the Regional Transportation District, but the governor rebuffed the plea Tuesday, comparing the workers to children who murder their parents and then throw themselves on the mercy of the court.

Owens could order arbitration if the strike was deemed to interfere with the public's health and safety, but the Colorado Labor Department has ruled that public safety doesn't appear to be at risk and Owens said he won't rescind that ruling.

During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Owens said workers should get back to work as they say they want to do and that RTD should privatize if the strike continues.

"I think clearly that public employees have a public responsibility and I urge them to return to work immediately, and if not, and if this strike continues, I encourage RTD to consider privatizing even more of its bus routes. I think an appropriate model would be what President (Ronald) Reagan did when the air traffic controllers struck back in the early 1980s," Owens said.

He said that union management -- who unanimously approved of the contract -- had a responsibility to convey to the rest of the union membership that RTD offered a good contract that they had all agreed to.

"They failed and now the public is suffering because of that failure," Owens said.

He said that the strike didn't have to happen and blamed the union members for failing to listen to its union leadership.

"I don't want a strike, we didn't encourage the strike. Here's how the process works. This union asked for permission to strike several weeks ago, and then asked us not to let them strike. You know, in many ways, this union reminds me of the youngster who murders his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's now an orphan. They've now gone and struck against their own leadership's advice and they're blaming me and the RTD board for this strike," Owens said.

He said he won't intervene and won't seek binding arbitration -- where a third party negotiator would step in and reach a settlement between the two sides.

"We have a locally-elected board, a democratically elected board called the Regional Transportation District. We vote for these leaders to run that district. That district has decided that it can't afford to give even more of a raise to its drivers and to the members of the union. The leadership of the union agreed with RTD and encouraged its members not to go on strike. The members chose to do so and now they are playing from a very weak hand. This is a union that itself is split and is looking for any opportunity to blame anybody else for a strike," Owens said.

He said the union membership should go back and vote on the contract again.

"I don't believe as governor of the state of Colorado it's my responsibility to second-guess the RTD board in terms of what it can afford to pay these bus drivers," he said.

Workers Say They Want Arbitration, Not Strike

RTD workers who were on the picket line were upset with Owens' response, saying that they believe the governor should get involved.

"We were left no alternative but to strike. If RTD agrees to binding arbitration, the buses and trains will roll right away while we settle our differences with RTD at a hearing instead of the picket line," said union president Yvette Salazar.

Salazar said they still wanted a face-to-face meeting with Owens.

"We know he isn't a transit-friendly, labor-friendly governor," she said. "I hope he hears the public and passengers out there. We will continue to ask him."

Salazar was part of an afternoon rally outside RTD headquarters, where at least 200 workers shouted chants, whistled and yelled as they carried signs demanding that RTD agree to arbitration.

"The governor is playing politics with the lives of riders and workers," Salazar said. "By leaving workers no alternative to strike, he opened the door to more privatization."

RTD spokesman Scott Reed reiterated the agency's position that it would not agree to arbitration.

"They decided to go on strike. To bring in a third party that has no direct stake in the outcome just doesn't make sense," said Reed.

Representatives of both sides planned to sit down informally Wednesday with a federal mediator in an effort to resolve the stalemate but no formal negotiations have been scheduled.

By law, a union must ask the state Department of Labor for permission to strike. If the department determines there is no public safety threat, it gives permission for a strike. If a threat is found, binding arbitration automatically occurs.

In the current transit strike, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001 filed a notice of an intent to strike on Jan. 20.

Michael J. McArdle, director of the Division of Labor, issued a written ruling March 2 that a strike against RTD would not jeopardize public safety and told the union it could strike.

"A strike by ATU would likely affect the public interest; however, it is not apparent that a strike would effectively hinder or obstruct the preservation of the public peace, health and safety," he wrote.

History Of Strikes, Stalemates

Gov. Owens's decision not to interfere has a precedent.

In 1982, then-Gov. Dick Lamm ruled that a strike against RTD would not affect public safety, triggering a monthlong walkout before that wage dispute was settled.

In the early 1990s, then-Gov. Roy Romer ruled a teachers' strike in Denver would jeopardize public safety and forced the teachers and district into arbitration. Five years later, he refused a transit union request to strike against RTD and again ordered arbitration.

It was in 1988 that Owens, as a legislator, sponsored a bill that later became law requiring RTD to privatize a portion of its "rubber-tired" service, meaning buses and not the light-rail operations.

Because of Owens' bill, today RTD agency must give 50 percent of its routes to private companies. Since the strike began, RTD has operated about 45 percent of its bus service using three private contractors. The other 5 percent is dedicated to special services.

RTD Won't Budge

More than 1,750 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001 walked off their jobs Monday hours after workers rejected RTD's latest contract offer.

The executive board of the union had recommended that workers approve the contract, but workers rejected the offer 55 percent to 45 percent.

RTD has said it has made the best offer it can and that the overall $15.3 million cost of the new three-year contract cannot be increased.

The latest contract offer would have included wage raises of about $1.80 an hour phased in over three years, a $250 bonus for all employees and a promise from RTD to pay half of any increases in health-insurance premiums. The new contract would increase a top-scale RTD driver's wage to $19.85 an hour by the third year of the deal.

RTD is responsible for bus and light rail systems in all or parts of Denver, Broomfield, Boulder, Jefferson, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Weld counties, a service area with about 2.5 million residents. It had 86.2 million passenger boardings last year and averages about 275,000 per weekday.

Because of the strike, all light-rail operations have been shut down and shuttles on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver have been been shut down.

Access-a-Ride and Call-n-Ride services continue to operate, as well as the HOP in Boulder and the LINK in the Denver Tech Center. The only regional service being offered is Route Y.

Because Denver Public School students take RTD to school, officials are allowing high schoolers to hitch rides on school buses that transport physically handicapped students, or on district buses that carry elementary or middle schoolers.

The RTD strike is boosting business for local taxicab companies. Calls are reportedly flooding their phone lines. Yellow Cab said their phones are ringing off the hook.