Monday September 17, 2001

Sun Tran buses are scheduled to begin rolling on a full schedule again this morning after striking employees voted yesterday to accept a new three-year contract.

The end of the strike - which lasted for 12 days - means that an estimated 3,000 holders of Sun Tran U-Passes can once again rely on the buses to get to campus.

The new contract provides raises of 50 cents an hour in the first year, 31 cents in the second year and 30 cents in the third. Members of Teamsters Local 104, which represents the drivers, mechanics and fuel island attendants, voted 229-54 to accept the contract.

Teamsters earlier rejected management's offer of an 8-cent raise in the first year.

"The members of Sun Tran and the Teamsters really did feel for the people that were adversely affected by the strike," said Andy Marshall, who heads the Teamsters Local, to the Tucson Citizen.

Sun Tran was taking applications for replacement drivers because of the possibility that the strike would continue for an extended period of time.