ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 28, 1990                   TAG: 9003280063
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

BUS ATTACKS TARGETED

Greyhound offered $100,000 rewards Tuesday for information about bus shootings in the nearly month-long drivers' strike, a move the union called a ploy to keep negotiations stalled.

"They're using that as a smoke screen to avoid coming back to the bargaining table," Edward M. Strait, president of the Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions, said as he and a handful of other union members picketed outside the building where the rewards were announced.

P. Anthony Lannie, vice president and chief negotiator for Greyhound Lines Inc., said $100,000 would be paid for information leading to convictions for shooting at buses and terminals.

Since the strike started March 2, there have been attacks on 21 Greyhound buses and two attacks on terminals, Lannie said. The latest violence occurred Monday, when a shotgun was fired into a terminal in Amarillo, Texas, and a bus was hit by gunfire near Orlando, Fla. Numerous other buses have been pelted with bricks and rocks and there have been several bomb threats, the company said.

"The terrorism must stop," Lannie said. "It's inevitable that somebody is going to be hurt."

No one has been seriously injured in any of the shootings on buses or terminals. But on the second day of the walkout, a striking driver in Redding, Calif., was crushed to death by a bus driven by a replacement driver. No one was charged.

Negotiators for the union are willing to return to the bargaining table at any time, Strait said. Lannie said the company would not resume talks, which broke down Sunday in Tucson, Ariz., until management had "hard assurances" from the union that the violence would stop.

Federal mediators are trying to meet separately with both sides but no immediate sessions were scheduled, Lannie and Strait said.

Lannie said there were 2,100 drivers, including 400 union members, driving Greyhound's routes and enabling the Dallas-based company to provide half of its normal service. Union officials contend Greyhound is providing only 10 percent to 15 percent of its normal routes. 


 by CNB