[ TEACHER STRIKE ]

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Strike adversely
affects TheBus

Delays and other problems
from picket lines force the
closure of one route

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By Tim Ruel
Star-Bulletin

The city bus route that serves Leeward Community College in Pearl City was to be discontinued today because of picket lines.

The cancellation is not much of a concern for the community college, which conducted only 17 of its usual 330 classes yesterday, with 93 percent of professors participating in the strike, said university spokesman Jim Manke.

Route 73, which primarily serves the college as well as other parts of Pearl City, stopped driving onto campus yesterday when schoolteachers and university professors went on strike. Those on campus who took Route 73 yesterday had to board and exit their buses at Kamehameha Highway.

The route is no longer economical and will remain discontinued until the strike is over, said Ken Stanley, vice president of operational planning and marketing for Oahu Transit Services, which manages TheBus for the city.

"We don't have the buses cross picket lines," said Stanley. Too many delays and other problems occur, he said.

At the Manoa campus, the two bus routes that normally drive through campus are instead stopping only on University Avenue, requiring passengers to walk through the picket lines to meet their buses. Route 6 and CityExpress! Route A are the two lines affected, and will continue operating, Stanley said.

Local 996 of the Teamsters Union, which represents 900 drivers of TheBus, held a news conference at its Kalihi offices yesterday to emphasize that Teamsters do not have to cross picket lines while on the job.

"We do urge our members to go out and support the striking workers on their days off," said Teamsters Secretary-Treasurer Ronan Kozuma.

J.N. Musto, executive director of the union representing 3,000 university faculty members, showed up at the conference to give Teamsters leaders some T-shirts that were printed up for striking professors.

"We really thank you brothers," said Musto, of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.

So far, the picket lines have not caused any major problems for Teamsters, Kozuma said.

The union also represents 342 drivers for United Parcel Service, which can reroute deliveries and staff trucks with nonunion drivers where necessary.

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>> HSTA Web site
>> UHPA Web site
>> State Web site
>> Governor's strike Web site
>> DOE Web site