The wrangling between the CTA and unions representing bus and rail workers continued with no apparent progress Thursday, as service cuts and layoffs loom.

The union that represents CTA bus drivers claims that it proposed a plan Wednesday night to cut $80 million from the agency's budget to avoid service cuts and save jobs, and that the CTA turned it down.

But CTA Chairman Terry Peterson said the union has not offered concessions. "We've not had the unions step forward and try to work with us and try to manage our way through it," Peterson said during a taping of WBBM-AM (780)'s "At Issue" program, which airs Sunday.

"He's flat-out lying," said Darrell Jefferson, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, who said Peterson hasn't been at the meetings.

The CTA echoed back the charge, saying that "there is absolutely no truth to the union's claims" and that the union was ignoring an arbitrator's direction not to publicly discuss negotiations.

On Feb. 7, the CTA plans to cut bus service 18 percent, rail service 9 percent and lay off more than 1,000 employees unless the unions agree to concessions such as deferring the wage increases that took effect Jan. 1.