Greyhound On Strike Across U.S.
Drivers for Greyhound Lines Inc. went on strike against the only nationwide
intercity bus company early yesterday, leaving passengers stranded in Philadelphia and across the country.
The walkout began at 2:01 a.m. after negotiations between Greyhound and the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 9,400 drivers and mechanics, broke down in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Bus operators took their passengers only to the next stop before joining the walkout.
Only a few riders were stranded in Philadelphia at the deadline, but lines of bewildered would-be passengers grew as people arrived to take scheduled morning buses from the main Greyhound terminal at 10th and Filbert Streets.
Beverly Justice, 35, was at the terminal all night after getting off her bus from New York shortly before the strike deadline.
"They told me on (my ticket) I was supposed to change to another bus" to get to San Antonio, Texas, Justice said. "I didn't see any buses leaving here."
National Greyhound spokeswoman Liz Hale said the company was operating about 20 percent of its service yesterday nationwide, using 700 permanent replacement workers hired in the last two weeks and approximately 1,100 union workers who she said crossed picket lines.
Greyhound has been the only national bus line since it bought out competitor Continental Trailways in 1987. It provides the only intercity transportation in 9,000 of its 9,500 destinations.
No new negotiations were scheduled.
Greyhound, which earned a profit last year after several years of losses, said it had offered a three-year contract with a 6.9 percent raise in the first year, at a cost of $14 million; 10.4 percent in the second year, and 13.5 percent in the third.
Union officials have said Greyhound based its projections on the assumption that every driver would benefit from all possible incentive bonuses. According to the union, the company's offer would result in an average raise of about 2 percent a year.
The union said its last proposal, made Thursday, would have cost $20 million in the first year and provided a 4 percent to 5 raise.
Greyhound drivers, who took a 20 percent pay cut after a 1983 strike and more cuts in 1987, earned an average of $24,743 last year, according to the company. Philadelphia-area drivers earned $22,000 on average, union representatives said.
Nationally, the first day of the strike was mostly peaceful. The company and passengers reported two cases of shots being fired in Chicago, but there were no injuries.
In Philadelphia, only two buses crossed picket lines and left the terminal, between 7 and 8 a.m. One was bound for New York and one for Washington, said Frank Farrow, general manager of the Philadelphia region for Greyhound.
Small independent carriers such as Carolina Trailways and Capitol Trailways continued their routes to locations such as Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Norfolk, Va., loading passengers on nearby streets instead of at the Filbert Street terminal.
Throughout the morning, Greyhound passengers bought tickets and waited for buses that were delayed and then canceled at the last minute.
"I don't understand why they're still selling tickets. There's no buses going out," Faye Clark of Ridley Park, Delaware County, said about 11 a.m., after she had been waiting more than two hours for a bus to New York. Station personnel kept saying the bus would come, she said, but it never did.
By afternoon, agents in Philadelphia were validating Greyhound tickets for use on Amtrak, which agreed to accept them through midnight yesterday.
Richard D. Horton, a manufacturers' representative who had come looking for a bus after missing a train to Harrisburg, helped a Chinese man, Hoang Chuong, get his ticket validated to take Amtrak to New Haven, Conn. "I'm going to take him to 30th Street Station and get a train to Harrisburg myself," Horton said.
Pickets, massed at the terminal bus entrance on Arch Street, blocked an empty bus from entering the terminal around noon and held back two other buses - one empty, one full - that tried to enter at 3:30 and 4 p.m.
The strikers cheered as each bus turned back. When the full bus appeared, one picket held up a sign reading: "Beware: Scab operating this bus" and yelled at the driver. "Scab, read that - that's you," he said.
Yesterday evening, Greyhound obtained a temporary restraining order in Common Pleas Court to limit picketing, said John Bal, vice president of ATU Local 1210 of Runnemede. Asked if the union would comply, he said, "We will make an attempt. If people show up, I'm not going to tell them to go home."
Greyhound operated limited commuter service - at least a dozen buses - from its Mount Laurel depot to Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York, said Bob Harold, a Greyhound worker at Port Authority.
But Bal said pickets counted only five buses leaving Mount Laurel. Commuters coming back said pickets lay down in front of at least one bus in the morning before being removed by police.
Greyhound service to Atlantic City - normally 25 round trips a day - was suspended, Hale said.
Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said volume was unusually heavy yesterday throughout the Eastern corridor. But Amtrak would accept bus tickets only through midnight yesterday, he said. Greyhound, which paid the price difference for passengers to ride the train, did not wish to extend the deal, Black said.
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