Workers at three private bus lines in Queens voted overwhelmingly yesterday to ratify a new contract and return to work, ending a seven-week strike that cut bus service to more than 100,000 passengers a day.þþOfficials with the three bus lines — the Queens Surface Corporation, Jamaica Buses Inc. and Triboro Coach Corporation — said service would resume today, but they said there would not be full service because the mechanics did not have enough time to service all the buses.þþÿWe're going to provide limited service on the local runs, and probably not start express service until Thursday,ÿ said Michael Gill, spokesman for Queens Surface, who noted that mechanics had to check batteries and fluid levels for hundreds of buses.þþAs the drivers, mechanics and cleaners lined up to vote on the contract at a union hall in Flushing, many among the 1,500 strikers voiced relief that the walkout was finally ending. ÿIt was hard on us and hard on the family,ÿ said Neil Winberry, a bus driver for 19 years.þþUnion officials said that the contract was approved, 1,058 for ratification and 88 against, with 78 percent of the workers voting.þþÿThe agreement has most of the qualifications we were looking for,ÿ said John Duff, a driver with Jamaica Buses. ÿI'm glad it's over.ÿþþThe 27-month agreement is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2001, the day the previous contract expired. It calls for a 4 percent raise in the first year, 4 percent in the second, and 1 percent on the contract's last day, March 31, 2003. þþIn an unanticipated outburst near the voting booths, a worker named Tony told several union leaders: ÿWe were out seven weeks for nothing. We're signing a contract that was the same as the original offer.ÿþþWith many workers unhappy about the walkout, simmering tensions within the powerful union began to erupt yesterday. Accusing a rival of fomenting the walkout, Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, said that he had originally advised the bus drivers' negotiating committee against a strike.þþOn June 12, Mr. Toussaint sent a memo to Sonny Hall, the president of the parent union, saying he feared that any strike would last a long time. In an interview yesterday, Mr. Toussaint said it was important for him to ultimately back the strike when the negotiating committee decided on that course of action.þþMr. Toussaint criticized George Jennings, director of Local 100's private bus division. Mr. Toussaint said that Mr. Jennings fomented the strike. Mr. Jennings said he was shocked that Mr. Toussaint would talk publicly about an internal dispute and declined to discuss his role in pushing for the strike. He said, however, that the city's original offer to help finance the company's health plan was unacceptable.þþMr. Toussaint said rivals seeking to outmaneuver him had prolonged the strike. He has been at odds with Mr. Hall, having unsuccessfully challenged him for the parent union's presidency last year.þþAt a stormy union meeting three weeks ago, Mr. Jennings — an ally of Mr. Hall's — blocked a vote to end the strike when he insisted that a deal negotiated by Mr. Toussaint did not provide enough job security guarantees and was not good enough to put to a vote. At the time, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg declined to make any promises on job security, saying the dispute was between the union and the bus companies and should not be settled by City Hall. þþThe union, the bus companies and the city reached a tentative deal on Saturday after a majority of City Council members backed a resolution calling for job security for the bus workers, and after City Hall promised to give the companies a $3.75 million advance to pay for health coverage.þþLocal 100 faces a more important set of negotiations this fall because the contract for more than 30,000 subway and bus workers with New York City Transit expires on Dec. 15. Mr. Toussaint denied any intention of supporting a strike, but several Toussaint supporters said internal union disputes could pressure him to take a more militant stance.þþÿI hope to start early negotiations with the M.T.A.,ÿ Mr. Toussaint said. ÿThese negotiations will be tough, and we are interested in doing all we can to resolve this contract early.ÿþ
Source: NY Times
