ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 19, 1990                   TAG: 9003192627
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


GREYHOUND TALKS BREAK DOWN

A warrant has been issued in North Carolina charging a union vice president from Roanoke with striking a Greyhound bus driver at the Fayetteville, N.C., bus station.

Hours later in Tuscon, Ariz., on Sunday talks between Greyhound and its striking drivers abruptly broke down when company officials accused union leaders of failing to negotiate and committing new violence.

"The union is stonewalling on the contract," Greyhound executive vice president Anthony Lannie said in a statement. "They had nothing new for us today (Sunday) or yesterday while stepping up the violence."

Fred Ingram of Roanoke, the union official charged in the Fayetteville encounter, denied striking anyone, but Cumberland County magistrate Sam Mathis issued a warrant Saturday for Ingram's arrest. Mathis said the warrant, accusing Ingram of simple assault, was based on the complaint of driver Stanley Harvey, 57, of Jacksonville, Fla.

According to a police report, Harvey was collecting tickets from boarding passengers when a man came up and struck him on the side of the head and then ran. Harvey declined medical attention.

Fayetteville police Sgt. Rick Porter said Greyhound workers identified Ingram by viewing videotapes of picketing taken by security cameras at the bus station. The assault was not captured on tape.

Ingram, president of a local in Roanoke as well as vice president of the national organization, said Sunday he did not beat up on any driver when he was in Fayetteville and knew nothing of any warrant. He accused Greyhound of making the charge to "try to discredit us."

Lannie charged that violence continued Saturday even while the two sides were meeting for the first time since 6,300 drivers and an estimated 3,000 other Greyhound workers walked out March 2 over wages, job security and grievance procedures.

In Washington, Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for the Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions, called Lannie's statement "the desperate words from a desperate man. We clearly condemn violence and anything we can do to discourage our members we are doing so."

The union presented a new proposal Saturday, but the company said it was unacceptable, and the talks broke off Sunday after only about an hour.

Greyhound operates the only nationwide inter-city bus service, and the strike has stranded many smaller communities for which buses are the only public transportation.

During the walkout, Greyhound says, there have been at least 14 shooting attacks on Greyhound buses, 46 bomb threats and numerous other incidents of vandalism or threats.

Greyhounds officials said there have been eight incidents of violence since the talks began Saturday, including two in Fayetteville in which union members allegedly assaulted non-striking drivers.

In the other Fayetteville incident, driver Edwin J. Ludwigsen, 46, of Spring Lake, N.C., said he was struck on the head by a man. A magistrate issued a criminal summons for William Daniels, whom Greyhound said was a union member.

FOR THE RECORD CORRECTION: Thursday, March 22, 1990

Because of an error by The Associated Press, a story in Wednesday's editions incorrectly stated that Fred Ingram, a union vice president accused of hitting a non-striking Greyhound bus driver in Fayetteville, N.C., is from Roanoke. Ingram is from Charlotte, N.C.


Memo: correction

by CNB