Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 4, 1993 TAG: 9309040275
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Get what you can in higher pay and other fringe benefits, they say, but settle your differences without interrupting bus service.
On Friday, the day after the drivers rejected a proposed new labor contract, most riders interviewed seemed sympathetic to the drivers' case.
But as you'd expect, they want the buses to keep running.
"I ride the bus almost every day. If there were a strike, I'd have to stay at home," Arthur Brown said as he waited to board a bus Friday morning at Campbell Court in downtown Roanoke.
"If the buses stop, I stop," said Rufus Webb, a retired Norfolk Southern Corp. worker. Webb doesn't own a car.
Stephen Mancuso, Valley Metro's general manager, said Friday that both labor and management hope to avoid a strike.
"I don't think that it's going to come to that," Mancuso said.
If there is a strike, however, Valley Metro will continue bus service with other drivers, he said.
About 5,000 passengers ride daily on Valley Metro buses. For many people, the buses are their only means of transportation.
Lois Jones is one of those passengers. She has ridden buses since she was a teen-ager. And she remembers riding streetcars in Roanoke when she was a child.
"I would be hurting if there is a strike," said Jones, who rides the bus four or five times a week.
Jerry Hurst, a semi-retired window washer waiting for a bus Friday morning, said he, too, would have to rely on a taxi or relatives for transportation if bus service were halted.
Hurst, 68, said he has never driven a car. He used a bicycle for transportation when he was younger.
The last bus strike in Roanoke occurred in 1975, when there was a five-week walkout by the drivers, who are members of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Betty Martin remembers the strike well. She is a domestic worker for some South Roanoke residents. She rides the bus from her home on Hanover Avenue Northwest to South Roanoke.
"If the buses stop, I couldn't afford a taxi," Martin said.
During the 1975 strike, the people she worked for gave her rides to and from her job. But she's not sure they will do that again.
Union drivers rejected the company's offer Thursday night, saying they are not satisfied with its proposed pay, sick leave and personal leave. The top pay for bus drivers now is $9.10 an hour.
Both the union and management have agreed to return to the bargaining table.
Mancuso said the company's package of pay and fringe benefits presented to drivers was a final offer, but the company is willing to consider shifts between categories.
If the drivers want to shift funds within the package, he said that would be acceptable.
The company made such a shift last year, Mancuso said, when it agreed to increase health-care benefits by moving funds that had been earmarked for pay and other benefits.
"So long as the total amount doesn't change, we are willing to consider changes," he said.
Tommy Mullins, international vice president of the drivers' union, said he hopes the issues can be resolved at the bargaining table. Because of conflicts in schedules, he said, the talks may not resume until late this month.
The last contract expired in July, but the drivers have stayed on the job as negotiations have continued.
by CNB