Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 11, 1990 TAG: 9003112538
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: New York Times
DATELINE: DALLAS LENGTH: Medium
That was the case in past labor disputes at Greyhound, the nation's largest intercity bus system, but this time the strikers appear to be running a bigger risk of losing their jobs.
A few blocks from Greyhound headquarters in a Dallas office tower, the 118 jobs vacated by strikers were taken Thursday either by union drivers who had crossed picket lines or by drivers who were recruited mostly from lower-paying jobs at commercial trucking companies, the company said.
Fred G. Currey, Greyhound's chairman and chief executive, said the company warned union leaders and rank-and-file members months ago that replacement workers would be hired permanently if the union drivers walked out.
The walkout began March 2.
Now, whenever vacant positions are filled, as in Dallas, striking workers "won't have a job unless business improves and we get more openings," he said in an interview.
Many striking Greyhound drivers are laughing at Currey's warnings.
Tommie Lee Thomas, 54, who has driven Greyhounds for 23 years, smiled on the picket line and said, "He's just saying that to scare the young drivers into coming back to work."
The union is seeking a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board on a claim of unfair labor practices that, if the board agrees, would force Greyhound to take striking workers back before hiring replacement workers.
Even if that effort fails, union officials say, Greyhound would be compelled to rehire striking workers in "any contract" that brings the strike to a close.
"Union members will not lose their jobs," said Jeffrey Nelson, a union spokesman.
Greyhound is straining to re-establish service to all 9,500 cities and towns on its nationwide system of routes by the end of the month, using newly hired replacement drivers and union members who cross picket lines. But violence has flared in several locations.
Three shots were fired from close range at a Greyhound bus carrying 29 passengers in central Ohio shortly after midnight Friday.
No injuries were reported.
Rocks, bricks and eggs have been hurled at buses from several picket lines.
Strikers continued picketing Saturday and Greyhound reported some violence in a nationwide series of memorials Friday for a driver killed on a California picket line.
According to a report by the Associated Press, federal mediators called the union to Washington and may call the company to a separate meeting in an attempt to get both sides back to the bargaining table as the strike enters its second week.
by CNB