Greyhound Sues for $30 Million in Strike

Greyhound Lines filed a $30-million civil suit Monday against union officers for allegedly organizing violence in the 5-week-old drivers’ strike.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Fla., Greyhound charged that unlawful actions by the Amalgamated Transit Union and 20 union officers have cost the company at least $10 million.

The strike has been marked by shootings, bomb threats and other incidents. The company has said it will not resume negotiations until a week goes by without an act of violence.

The suit accused the union of violating provisions of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and Florida state law.

The union dismissed the move as a ploy to keep bargaining talks stalled.

Greyhound Vice President Anthony P. Lannie, who announced the suit in Washington, maintained that several specific offenses showed a pattern of racketeering activity, including extortion, attempted murder, obstruction of justice, interference with interstate commerce and arson.

He charged that, through violent activities, union officers were attempting to “win an inflated financial settlement they could never achieve through lawful collective bargaining, There is a word for that--extortion.”

The suits contends that union officers assigned rank-and-file members to perform violent tasks and then paid them from the union’s strike defense fund.

“That’s false and ridiculous,” said Fred Ingram, president of Local 1493 in Charlotte, N. C., and one of two local presidents the union has asked the court to replace with a receiver.

Strikers are paid $50 a week in strike benefits for manning picket lines, Ingram said. He charged that the company’s “whole plan from the beginning has been to get rid of the union.”

Nick Nichols, a spokesman for the Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions, said: “We have consistently asked this company to present its evidence. We know that there is no evidence.”

He noted that no government agency has filed criminal charges against union officers.

“Anyone can hire a lawyer and submit some documents to the court,” Nichols said of the company’s suit.

Lannie said the company had no plans to resume negotiations.

“We’re still waiting for a seven-day cease-fire,” Lannie said, noting that an Arrow Trailways bus was struck by two bullets near Ft. Worth, Tex., Sunday night. No one was injured on the bus, which is not owned by Greyhound but was scheduled to pick up Greyhound passengers in Dallas, Lannie said.

Besides Ingram, the suit seeks to have Rafael Rivera, president of Local 1600 in Atlanta, removed from office.