ILLINOIS - The head of the CTA said Saturday he would "gladly" accept a union offer of unpaid furlough days and deferred 2011 wage increases to help avoid service cuts but hasn't heard that offer yet at the negotiating table.

CTA President Richard Rodriguez was responding to comments made Friday by Darrell Jefferson, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, representing bus drivers. Jefferson had said the union's offer would cut $80 million from the CTA's budget, through furlough days and a pay deferment, but that the CTA walked away from the offer.

"Although I've personally been at every single negotiation meeting, this is the first we've heard of their proposal," Rodriguez said.

But he said he didn't take what he called Jefferson's "misstatements" personally. "I'm not here to play games, I'm here to serve the taxpayers," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also said he plans to seek the help of Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon, the city's most powerful labor leader, who Friday urged CTA unions to make the concessions necessary to save 1,100 jobs and avoid service cuts.

Jefferson was not immediately available for comment Saturday.

The CTA is poised to cut bus service by 18 percent, slash rail service by 9 percent, and lay off more than 1,000 employees unless unions agree to sweeping concessions by Feb. 7.