Local DiskSt. Paul Pioneer Press | 03/04/2004 | Bus strike is onSt. Paul Pioneer Press | 03/04/2004 | Bus strike is onSearch: for News | Business | Sports | Entertainment | Living | Shop Local | Classifieds | Jobs | Cars | Homes <a><img></a><noscript><a target="_new" href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v3|3197|3|0|%2a|z%3B11078452%3B0-0%3B1%3B7938813%3B255-0|0%3B7122144|7140040|1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp%3a%2f%2fclk.atdmt.com/SHC/go/rlctkdnc0030000009shc/direct/01/8082210"><img border="0" src="http://view.atdmt.com/SHC/view/rlctkdnc0030000009shc/direct/01/8082210" /></a></noscript> Welcome NebiyouMy AccountSign OutWelcome NebiyouMy AccountSign Out SUBSCRIBE RENEW START/STOP ADVERTISE SECTIONS LOCAL/COMMUNITY NATION/WORLD COLUMNISTS OPINION POLITICS OBITUARIES BUSINESS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT LIFE & HOME TRAVEL OUTDOORS/LEISURE WEB EXTRAS WEATHER TRAFFIC FORUMS CONTESTS E-NEWSLETTERS WEB LOGS ARCHIVES NEWSPAPER ADS MAPS & DIRECTIONS PRINT EDITION YELLOW PAGES QUICK VOTE SITE SERVICES SITE MAPBack to Home > St. Paul Pioneer Press > Friday, Oct 01, 2004 email this print this Posted on Thu, Mar. 04, 2004 <a><img></a><noscript><a target="_new" href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v3|3197|3|0|%2a|v%3B11078455%3B0-0%3B1%3B7938813%3B255-0|0%3B7122148|7140044|1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp%3a%2f%2fclk.atdmt.com/SHC/go/rlctkdnc0030000007shc/direct/01/8082381"><img border="0" src="http://view.atdmt.com/SHC/view/rlctkdnc0030000007shc/direct/01/8082381" /></a></noscript> Bus strike is onBY PHILLIP PIÑA and JACK SULLIVANPioneer PressMetro Transit bus drivers planned to strike at 2 a.m. today after several hours of last-ditch negotiations failed to produce agreement on a new contract, leaving 75,000 metro-area commuters to fend for themselves.State mediator Alan Olson called the sides back unexpectedly Wednesday night. Talks resumed around 7:30 p.m. Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell joined the negotiations for the first time since the contract talks began.Gov. Tim Pawlenty was in touch with Met Council negotiators throughout the evening. He went to the Bureau of Mediation Services after bargainers reached an impasse on health care cost proposals — the sticking point in the labor dispute.Union President Ron Lloyd emerged at midnight to say the strike was on.New ideas were presented, he explained without providing details, but, "They didn't work out. We're still going ahead with the strike as planned. … We just didn't work it out."Bell and Pawlenty then faced reporters."We worked to the last minute here of the deadline we were facing but just couldn't get it done," Pawlenty said. "In the end, it didn't seem to me that the two sides were too far apart."file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Nebiyou/My%20...0Classes/CE%205212/Links/Bus%20strike%20is%20on.htm (1 of 4)10/1/2004 9:23:38 AMArticles-last 7 daysGoSt. Paul Pioneer Press | 03/04/2004 | Bus strike is on CONTACT US HELP PRINT SERVICES READER'S GUIDE NIE SUBSCRIBE RENEW START/STOP ADVERTISEcall: (800) 678-7737 From the Press •Pioneer Press Special Reports The failure of the talks left metro-area residents facing the possibility of heavier traffic today and as long as the walkout lasts. Bus riders were scrambling to deal with strike consequences.They lined up Wednesday outside a commuter advocacy office in Minneapolis looking for carpools. They rang the phones at area taxi companies off their hooks. And they made pleas for help to anybody with a car, from friends and co-workers to neighbors and fellow parishioners."I'm going to have to walk it, or wing it," said Jim White of St. Paul.White, a mortgage loan officer who works in Vadnais Heights, can't drive because of a vision impairment. He rides the bus every day, and over the past few days he's been arranging rides with relatives, a member of his church, and even Realtors with whom he works.Talks between the 2,200-member Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 and the Met Council had broken off Tues-day after a marathon bargaining session. Lloyd said the union was always ready to negotiate, but needed to see specific proposals before it would consider postponing the strike. He returned to the bargaining table Wednesday despite saying he had no such specifics.HEALTH BENEFITSThe contract dispute centers on health care costs.Metro Transit officials say those expenses, especially for retired workers, have gone through the roof in recent years.Their offer eliminates retiree health benefits for new workers and restricts eligibility for current employees. The offer also gives union members a 1 percent pay raise over two years while potentially increasing their health insurance costs by $136 per month, starting next year.Earlier Wednesday, at the Capitol, a group of DFL legislators called on Pawlenty to step in, in hopes of heading off a strike."The governor and (Met Council Chairman Bell) have the ability to solve this today," said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFLMinneapolis.TENSE TIMEThe mood between Metro Transit and the union remained tense Wednesday. Union leaders questioned the intent behind a Metro Transit notice posted at job sites telling workers how they can cross picket lines."They're trying to bust our union," Lloyd said.Steve Dornfeld, a Met Council spokesman, said that isn't the case. The notices were posted so people who came to work wouldn't feel like they were being locked out, he said. "We are not planning any replacement service at this point," he said.The last time there was a bus strike, riders got two weeks to prepare after a deadline was set. This time they were getting about 33 hours.Meagan Sommers waited until 4 p.m. Wednesday to sign up for carpooling.file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Nebiyou/My%20...0Classes/CE%205212/Links/Bus%20strike%20is%20on.htm (2 of 4)10/1/2004 9:23:38 AMSt. Paul Pioneer Press | 03/04/2004 | Bus strike is on"I'm going to try to drive with a couple of others tomorrow, and we'll see if we can get a parking spot," said Sommers, who commutes daily from her Anoka home to her job in downtown Minneapolis. She was among the 200-plus bus riders who descended on the Metro Commuter Services office in downtown Minneapolis' Pillsbury Center on Wednesday, looking for a ride.Traffic watchers are putting their hopes on carpools to head off gridlock. About 5,000 people signed onto a metrowide commuter database in February for a ride. Some businesses and schools also have hired charter buses to shuttle workers, and at
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