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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 31, 1991                   TAG: 9103310265
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B/8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUS SYSTEM TO CONTINUE

Stephen Mancuso, Valley Metro's general manager, said Thursday the company and union have agreed to extend the existing contract on a day-by-day basis.

Company and union negotiators met for several hours Thursday and agreed to meet again, but they said no date has been set for talks to resume.

The bus system's 50 drivers and 20 mechanics are members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1493.

Tommy Mullins, the union's international vice president, would not discuss the issues in the negotiations or say whether the parties are close to an agreement. He said both sides have agreed to keep the talks confidential.

The contract extension will assure that bus service will continue next week, Mancuso said.

The last time bus drivers went on strike in Roanoke was in 1975, when there was a five-week walkout after the city acquired the bus system from a private company.

The main issues in that dispute were pay, pensions and other fringe benefits. A federal mediator was called in to help resolve the differences.

The drivers also threatened to strike in the early 1980s during negotiations on a new contract, but they agreed to keep working until an agreement was reached on a new contract.

Roanoke owns Valley Metro and uses local tax money to subsidize it. City Council members serve as directors of the transit company. But the company is a legal entity separate from the city, and the drivers and mechanics are not city employees. As a result, they are not bound by the state law that prohibits local government workers from bargaining collectively and striking.