Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 22, 1993 TAG: 9309220262
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The union drivers ratified the company's revised offer that provides more vacation days, time off and other benefits.
Eighty percent of the members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1493, voted to accept the new proposal. Earlier this month, the union rejected the company's first proposal.
Under the revised agreement, the bus drivers will get a 30-cent increase in hourly wages in each of the next two years.
Now, the top pay for drivers is $9.10 an hour. It will increase to $9.40 this year and $9.70 next July.
A.J. Wicker, an executive board member for the union, said most members believed the contract was fair in the current economic climate.
"I'm pleased with the membership's response to the new agreement," said Tommy Mullins, international vice president of the transit union. "We look forward to concentrating on the business at hand, which is serving the public."
Stephen Mancuso, Valley Metro's general manager, said the agreement is fair and equitable for the union, the bus company and the people. The city owns the bus system, but it is operated by a management company.
The new contract will provide one additional holiday and two additional vacation days, and each employee will have the opportunity to have two days off each week.
Wicker said there also will be improvements in the employees' disability and life insurance benefits, in addition to providing an eye examination benefit for the first time.
The agreement will be retroactive to July 1. The drivers have been working without a contract since July when the old agreement expired.
About 5,000 passengers ride daily on Valley Metro's fleet of 35 buses.
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.
by CNB