Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 19, 1990 TAG: 9003222438
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TUCSON, ARIZ. LENGTH: Medium
"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."
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.
Lannie charged that there were six new incidents of violence after the talks began Saturday, including an incident in Fayetteville, N.C., where a union vice president beat a non-striking driver.
The vice president, Fred Ingram of Charlotte, N.C., denied striking anyone, but Cumberland County, N.C., 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 Greyhound driver Stanley Harvey, 57, of Jacksonville, Fla.
Despite the trading of charges, federal mediator Paul Stuckenschneider said he was not giving up.
"The issues remaining are serious and they are many, and it's not unusual at this stage of negotiations for both sides to remain very firm in their position," he said in a statement.
"We hoped to have stayed longer, but we're not discouraged that it's over now we hope to be back very soon," he said.
Union president Edward M. Strait said that Greyhound never came to the bargaining table in good faith, and "refused to make any compromises, any concessions, from their previous unacceptable proposals."
The union said the company's offer included no guarantee of any pay raises, but would have made raises contingent on increased profits and ridership.
Greyhound says it has been operating roughly one-third of its buses with replacement and non-striking drivers. The company says about 400 union drivers are at work, joining 1,000 permanent replacements. The union says fewer than 100 of its drivers have crossed the pickets lines.
by CNB