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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993                   TAG: 9309020144
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

METRO DRIVERS TO VOTE ON NEW LABOR CONTRACT

Valley Metro drivers will vote tonight on a proposed new labor contract that has been negotiated by company and union leaders.

Details of the company's offer were being withheld until the drivers could be briefed and vote on it.

Steve Mancuso, Valley Metro's general manager, said Wednesday he believed the offer was "fair and equitable" for the drivers, company and city residents.

The last contract expired in July, but the drivers have continued to work.

Bus service will continue on a day-to-day basis until a new contract has been ratified, Mancuso said.

The city owns the bus company and uses tax money to subsidize it, but the drivers 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 that does not apply to the bus drivers. The last strike occurred in 1975, when there was a five-week walkout.

Health insurance was the main issue in the negotiations for a new contract last year. Valley Metro agreed to increase health-care benefits after the drivers rejected the first offer.

About 5,000 people ride Valley Metro buses daily. Ridership has increased in recent years, reversing a decline for most of the 1980s.

by CNB