In the face of an unrelenting anti-union campaign in the media and by local politicians, the strikers held the line and forced the company to yield substantial gains in the new agreement.

The strikers’ main demand was for a reduction in the age at which drivers can retire with a full pension from 62 to 57. The strikers won a reduction in the age to 59 by the fourth year of the agreement, which makes it possible for workers with 20 years of service to receive full benefits at that age.

Workers who retire earlier than that lose 25 percent of their pension. “For many, many years we have had this 25 percent penalty for early retirement,” Ware said. “Now with this strike settlement, we have cut three years off the age where we can retire with no penalty.”

The drivers also won a wage increase. “We got yearly raises of 3.5 percent, 3 percent, 3 percent, and 3.25 percent in the new contract,” said John Watson, a bus driver with 8 years’ seniority. “I have an ill wife at home, so keeping the mail order prescription plan in effect and the other medical benefits are important to me.”

The company pushed for concessions on the health-care benefits and won some takebacks. Under the old contract workers paid $5 weekly for medical insurance. The new contract increases this figure to $13.80 the first year and adds a few more dollars each year of the contract.

But overall, the workers coming out of the contract vote were happy about the gains they had won through the hard-fought strike. “What they offered us at the beginning of the strike was substantially less than what they offered at the end,” said James Pace, a driver with 30 years seniority. “That’s why I voted for the contract.”

The settlement meeting, which almost all of the strikers attended, also had a sad note to it as one of the members of the local, Barry Garvey, was killed in a motorcycle accident while leaving his picket duty the day before. Those attending the meeting wore a ribbon reading “Mourn for the Dead. Fight for the Living.”

“Barry was on the picket line everyday,” Watson said. “As far as the local goes, he died in the line of duty.” More than $1,000 was collected at the meeting for Garvey’s wife and three children.  
 
 
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