NEIL SAYS:

"These negotiations are hard because TriMet is at a pivotal point – we have no choice but to get our benefit costs aligned. As nice as I’d like to be to TriMet employees – I can’t lead TriMet down a pathway of $10 million in additional service cuts in FY 12, and $30 million in FY 13, with more to follow every year – if we don’t get our house in order. That would mean literally hundreds of layoffs."

This may be true, and I believe that it is, however, "forcing" the issue by making decrees that everyone has to follow is not the correct process to follow. How can Mr McFarlane say he cares about his union employees but then throws the entire process in which to negotiate with his employees out the window?
Mr. McFarlane, it’s about ethics, process, and methodology!
How can you, with a straight face, tell us that waiting for an arbitrator to decide which side is closer to the truth will “ruin” our agency, which hopefully we all care about?
You have no problem finding money for your beloved projects, like light rail, safety committees, etc, but you have nothing but problems coming up with the funds to follow the process that all the general managers  of Trimet have honored until you took over?

~ When we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy it implies, then the "division" of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form ~

Simone de Beauvoir