For the third time this year, employees at three private bus companies in Queens went on strike yesterday, leaving more than 115,000 daily riders scrambling for alternatives and, in some cases, at wits' end.þþAbout 1,500 drivers, mechanics and cleaners for Queens Surface Corporation, Jamaica Buses Inc. and Triboro Coach Corporation, which work under contract with the city, participated in the strike yesterday, union officials said. Livery-cab drivers and vans hired by the city stopped along the 42 bus routes affected to pick up stranded passengers. Union officials said last night that the strike, coming after a one-day surprise strike in January and a two-day strike in February, would continue indefinitely.þþÿThis is the beginning of a prolonged struggle,ÿ Roger Toussaint, president of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, told striking workers early yesterday at a bus depot in East Elmhurst. ÿAnd that should be what we are prepared for.ÿþþAt issue this time is a dispute over health benefits, which union officials said could be settled only by the city, not by the bus companies themselves, and there were no negotiations under way yesterday. The union wants the benefits improved, and says an agreement was reached with the bus companies in March that the city rejected. Dave Katzman, a spokesman for the union, said workers would continue to strike until the Bloomberg administration agreed to approve the new health benefits package.þþBut Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg insisted yesterday that the labor dispute was between the companies and the union. þþÿI am sorry to see the public suffering because of a private dispute,ÿ he told reporters yesterday. ÿBut the law certainly allows a private union to strike a private company, and the private company to negotiate, and they will continue to do that, and the city will not get involved.ÿþþHe added, ÿThis union and company that have work stoppages repeatedly, it's sad, but you want to let the process play out.ÿþþTom Cocola, a spokesman for the city's Department of Transportation, said yesterday's morning and evening commuting went relatively smoothly because of the city's contingency plan for the absence of the buses, most of them running through a sprawling area of southeast Queens where there are few subway stations. þþÿIt went as well as we could hope for,ÿ he said, adding that many riders had heard about the strike before the morning commuting through news reports. ÿRiders knew what was happening. They've been through this before.ÿþþBut at bus stops in Queens yesterday, many commuters said they had no idea that there was another strike. While many said they wanted what was best for the drivers, they said they were tiring of a seemingly endless string of strikes.þþÿSure they should get better health benefits, but kids still need to get to school and people still need to get to work,ÿ said Norma Proana, 40, who usually rides the Q47, a Triboro Coach Corporation route, to a subway station and whose son rides the Q33, also a Triboro route, to high school. Both routes were affected by the strike.þþThe two previous strikes were set off by a dispute over job security and involved the same three bus companies. The companies, three of seven private bus lines that have contracts with the city, are subsidized by the state and the city and operate as franchises with two-year contracts. Workers are therefore not guaranteed long-term benefits, a sticking point that has led to years of protest from the union.þþThe City Council extended the contracts last December to two years from one, but the union contends that the extension still does not offer employees enough job security. þ
Source: NY Times
