Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990 TAG: 9003023478
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Staff and wire reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The walkout over wages began after contract talks in Scottsdale, Ariz., between Greyhound Lines Inc. and the Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions failed to reach an agreement by the 12:01 a.m. MST strike deadline.
In Roanoke, the ATU set up pickets at 2 a.m., according to Bob Harman, district manager for Greyhound. He said the union took the pickets down and brought them back in time for a 6:45 p.m. bus departure for Washington. All 47 seats were filled, he said.
On a limited strike schedule, the next bus scheduled out of Roanoke is to Washington at 9:15 p.m. A bus to Knoxville leaves at 9:45 p.m.
By Saturday, Harman said, the company hopes to have two daily runs to Washington, two to Knoxville and one round trip to Norfolk. The drivers are provided by Manpower Inc.
None of the approximately 50 ATU drivers based in Roanoke has crossed the picket line, Harman said. The terminal manager said he does not expect any local problems during the strike "because we never have had trouble here."
The last Greyhound drivers' strike lasted 47 days in 1983. In 1986, the ATU approved a new contract that cut their pay 20 percent.
Harman said some of the union drivers have not come home after parking their buses in Knoxville, Washington and Richmond when the strike began.
No new negotiations were scheduled in Scottsdale.
Besides the 6,300 drivers, 3,075 maintenance workers, whose three-year contract expired at midnight, are on strike.
Dallas-based Greyhound carried 22 million passengers last year, an average of about 60,000 a day. Some customers stranded at terminals across the country complained that Greyhound hadn't warned them before they bought their tickets.
Editor George Kegley and The Associated Press provided information for this story.
by CNB