The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has brought in a $100,000 hired public relations agency during contentious and delicate labor negotiations with its workers. The contract comes at a time when the agency is struggling financially, and the city is also looking at a large budget shortfall. The labor negotiations are the first since voters approved Proposition G, which gave the agency's management more leverage to change work rules that have been blamed for inefficiency and wasteful overtime spending.

The proposition eliminated certain salary guarantees for workers, and now their compensation is up for negotiation. The reason the agency gave for bringing in an outside PR consultant is that they expect the Muni negotiations to become contentious, and the agency's press office is not familiar enough with all aspects of the labor negotiations. They are trying to avoid the threats and hostile work environment that can result from communication snafus.