Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 21, 1992 TAG: 9203210349
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Union leaders said they will seek another meeting with bus company negotiators as a result of the vote.
They did not provide a breakdown of the vote that was taken in a closed meeting at the Patrick Henry Hotel.
The current contract expires April 1.
If no agreement is reached by then, union leaders said they will seek an extension of the current contract.
"We want to return to the bargaining table to see if we can address this [hospitalization insurance] issue," said Tommy Mullins, international vice president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Mullins said he is optimistic that the negotiators can reach an agreement.
At this point, the union is not raising the possibility of a strike, he said.
About 4,500 people ride Valley Metro buses daily.
The last strike occurred in 1975, when there was a five-week walkout.
Mullins said the union members want some protection against the rapid increases in hospitalization insurance preminiums.
Coverage for a family costs $385 a month, and the union members have to pay $220 of that cost.
The company has recognized the health-care issue and made some improvements, but not enough to satisfy the union members, Mullins said.
"They have made some movement, but we need to address this more," he said.
Richard Carter, president of Local 1493 of the transit union, said health care benefits are a bigger issue than pay in the negotiations.
The drivers did not get an increase in pay and benefits last year when the union agreed to a one-year extension of an earlier three-year contract.
Because of the recession and the fact that city workers' pay was frozen, union members agreed to keep working without a pay raise or increase in benefits.
The city owns the bus company and uses tax money to subsidize it, but the drivers and mechanics are not city employees.
A private management firm runs the company under a contract with the city.
State law prohibits city workers from striking, but it does not apply to the bus drivers.
by CNB