Pace bus drivers may strike

Pace riders in northwest Cook County should brace for bus drivers to strike at any time, warned the union's president Monday.

The strike would directly affect 22 routes between Schaumburg and Chicago, including high-volume runs serving Woodfield mall and local schools and hospitals.

Pace officials are working on a plan to communicate with riders should a strike occur, but they have not outlined alternative measures to keep the routes running.

"At this point, our outlook is really toward negotiating," said Pace spokesman Patrick Wilmot. "But certainly, we have to be prepared if there is a work stoppage."

The 215 drivers and mechanics working out of Pace's Des Plaines garage have been without a contract for nearly a year.

The union voted down a final offer by Pace officials earlier this month and voted for a strike, but both sides won't say what the sticking points are in the negotiations.

"We have tried everything we can to try and bring this thing home," said Terrence J. Hancock, president of Teamsters Local 731. "We are very sensitive about the commuters and the people this would impact."

Hancock refused to say when bus drivers and mechanics might walk off the job, but he made it clear the option is on the table and riders should be prepared.

Both sides are working on holding another round of negotiations with a federal mediator, but a date has not yet been set.

This is the first contract negotiation for the union at the Des Plaines garage. The bus drivers and mechanics at the garage voted last year to join the Teamsters after leaving the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents most other Pace and CTA employees.

During Pace's last strike, which occurred at an Elgin garage in 2000, nonunion personnel were brought in to drive the buses for five days.