Council Sits Down Key Players In Bus Strike To Talk

Transit union leaders appeared before the City Council subcommittee on zoning and franchises Monday in the wake of their two-day bus strike last week, which forced thousands of Queens residents to find other ways to work.
The hearing was scheduled quickly at the behest of Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) shortly after last weeks two-day strike of the Jamaica, Triboro Coach, and Queens Surface bus lines. The forum was for the Department of Transportation (DOT) and both unions affected the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and Amalgamated Transport Union, which operate seven bus lines in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn to try to hammer out their differences.
Local 100 President Roger Toussaint stressed that his union could no longer wait for talks to reopen with the bus lines. The point of contention in the negotiations, which concern bus contracts that will have to be renewed in the next two years, has been over the issue of extended employee and pension protection. Toussaint could not be reached for comment.
DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall announced her intention to draft an authorizing resolution seeking bids for the renewal of the bus routes, stating that the resolution has no legal mandate for employee protection plans. The City gives the bus lines more than $165 million per year.
Tom Cocola, a spokesman for the DOT, was hopeful that the new Council would be more amenable to the Departments position than the previous subcommittee, which effectively destroyed the same measure under the leadership of former Councilman Walter McCaffrey (D-Woodside). When asked if he thought Weinshalls authorizing resolution would be passed, Cocola said, "Two years ago, if you asked me that question, Id say no. It will be interesting to see how this committee reacts."
At the hearing, Avella urged, "The citizens of New York are counting on us to resolve the outstanding issues." He continued, "While these issues have lingered for almost a decade, it is time now, once and for all, to come to an agreement that will enable the City to provide bus service that we, as the greatest city in the world, can provide."