A Uniform Drivers Can Wear With Pride

Clothes, they say, make the man and woman. If true, what does the current Greyhound uniform say about ATU Local 1700 members behind the wheel? It isn’t flattering, judging by widely heard opinions. Executive V.P. Jimmie McCoy and stewards Sandra Frye, Leonard Weaver and Michael Pierce are conducting a survey to find out which features Local 1700 members care about most, including where and how the garments are made.

Earlier this year, Local 1700 Executive V.P. Jimmie McCoy and stewards Sandra Frye, Leonard Weaver and Michael Pierce met with Greyhound V.P. Myron Watkins, other company officers and Pam Peale, a representative of supplier Lion Uniform.

McCoy and the newly formed Uniform Committee were holding Greyhound to a commitment it made during the last contract talks to discuss long-standing union dissatisfaction over the non-union, imported uniforms. The company, however, sang a different tune at the March 31 meeting.

“Greyhound insisted,” McCoy said, “that the current and previous outfits are of equal quality, that no members have complained about quality except for some defective belts that have now been replaced, and that the global price of cotton and existing inventory make replacing them too expensive. We don’t believe a word of it.”

The committee has prepared a survey to find out which features Local 1700 members care about most, and how much priority they place on where and how the garments are made.