King County Executive Dow Constantine and the Metro union, which represents nearly 4,000 employees, just announced that they've reached a tentative contract agreement under which the union would give up its annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2011.

It's hard to say who the winner and loser is here. On one hand, the fact that the union (whose president, Paul Bachtel, was saying as recently as last month that he'd rather cut bus service than give up pay increases) has accepted any concession at all is major news. On the other, the fact that the one-year COLA freeze is all Constantine is announcing seems to indicate that the terms of the agreement are favorable to the union.

Neither the county executive nor the union is releasing any further details about the agreement until sometime after a closed-door meeting between union leadership and members in November.