Today Tuesday Wednesday
High: 53 High: 55 High: 60
Low: 37 Low: 38 Low: 39
Precip: 50% Precip: 0% Precip: 10%
IN BRIEF
Iraqis cast votes in defiance
of threats, boycott calls
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqis em
braced democracy in large numbers
Sunday, standing in long lines to
vote in defiance of mortar attacks,
suicide bombers and boycott calls.
Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if
they couldn’t walk, the elderly, the
young and women in veils cast bal
lots in Iraq’s first free election in a
half-century. Iraqi election officials
said it might take 10 days to deter
mine the vote’s winner and said
they had no firm estimate of turnout
among the 14 million eligible voters.
The ticket endorsed by the Shiite
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was
the pre-voting favorite. Interim
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s slate
was also considered strong.
Bush declares Sunday's
election in Iraq a success
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President
Bush called Sunday’s elections in
Iraq a success and promised the
United States will continue trying to
prepare Iraqis to secure their own
country. “The world is hearing the
voice of freedom from the center of
the Middle East,” Bush told re
porters at the White House on Sun
day, four hours after the polls
closed. He did not take questions af
ter his three-minute statement.
Marine, war veteran in
coma receives new liver
LOMA LINDA, Calif. — With little
time left before his organs would
likely fail, a U.S. Marine received a
new liver Sunday for a mysterious
ailment doctors said would kill him
if he didn’t get a transplant. Doctors
operated on Lance Cpl. Chris
LeBleu, who had been in a coma
and on life support, for nearly 12
hours Sunday after an unidentified
donor from New Mexico was found
late Saturday night.
230,000 without power
after Georgia ice storm
ATLANTA — More than 230,000
customers had no electricity Sunday
in Georgia while crews worked to re
pair power lines snapped by an ice
storm, and the city’s airport re
opened all its runways as tempera
tures rose above freezing. Two traf
fic deaths in Georgia and one in
South Carolina were allegedly
caused by the storm that spread
sleet and freezing rain across parts
of the Southeast on Saturday.
Legislators move to repeal
school zone speed limit law
SALEM — Seven months after it
took effect, some 50 legislators are on
board to repeal a law that restricts
speeds at marked school crossings to
20 mph at all times.
There’s even a move afoot to re
fund fines paid by those ticketed
under the law.
The law won near-unanimous ap
proval in the last legislative session,
and the state spent hundreds of thou
sands of dollars on new signs.
The new bill calls for a 20 mph limit
in school zones only when children
are present at crosswalks or when a
flashing light indicates children may be
arriving or leaving.
The old law imposed the limit 24
hours a day, every day.
— The Associated Press
LTD strike averted for at least 35 days
An independent auditor
will examine the
proposed driver contract
BY MEGHANN M. CUNEFF
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Amalgamated Transit Union di
vision 757 has agreed to enter a
35-day cooling off period in its
contract negotiations with Lane
Transit District, averting a driver
strike that would have left busses
immobile and thousands of peo
ple who depend on their service
seeking alternative transportation.
A committee consisting of citi
zens from Eugene and Spring
field formed last week to inter
vene in the negotiation process
and persuade both sides to enter
a cooling-off period, allowing
time for an independent auditor
to examine the contract and see
where the negotiations have bro
ken down. The union voted
unanimously Sunday night to ac
cept the committee’s offer.
“A strike will not happen for the
next 35 days, or until the commit
tee comes forward with their rec
ommendation,” ATU Vice Presi
dent Jonathan Hunt said.
ATU officials had announced at
a rally Saturday their intentions to
strike Tliesday at 12:01 a.m. if
Sunday’s mediation session did
not produce changes in LTD 's pro
posed contract, which they say is
inadequate in areas ranging from
health care coverage to the
amount of time allotted to inspect
the safety of the busses.
Committee co-organizer Claire
Syrett spoke at the ATU rally Sat
urday, asking for both sides to
continue seeking alternatives to a
driver strike “because it would be
wrong for both parties not to try
to find another way.”
Syrett said she will deliver an
official request on Monday to LTD
and ATU, accompanied by letters
from Rep. Bob Ackerman, D-Eu
gene, Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene,
Rep. Debi Farr, R-Eugene, Rep.
Elizabeth Terry Beyer, D-Spring
field, and Sen. Floyd Prozanksi, D
Eugene, asking for a continuation
of the negotiation process.
LTD officials still have to ac
cept the committee’s offer and
agree to pay for half of the audi
tor’s fees, Hunt said.
LTD officials said last week
that the contract they proposed
on Jan. 27 may be the best LTD
would be able to offer.
“I don’t know that LTD is go
ing to be coming back with any
ability to stretch beyond what
we’ve already offered,” Vobora
said on Friday.
Syrett said she and the other
committee members are hopeful
a strike can be avoided and were
encouraged by the welcoming re
sponse ATU officials gave her at
Saturday’s rally.
“I was pleased with the
r
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
Tom Stry, a Lane Transit District bus driver, waves to other LTD workers as they march around the bus mall on 10th Avenue and Olive
Street on Saturday. At Sunday’s negotiations, the drivers agreed to wait for a 35-day 'cooling off’ period before going on strike.
reaction not only of the ATU leader
ship but some of the general member
ship,” Syrett said. “They seemed re
lieved that some other members in the
community were stepping up to try to
find another solution to the problem.”
A1 Zullo, president of ATU division
757, spoke after Syrett and said the
committee’s offer of outside expertise
was appreciated.
“We need to find out who’s right
and who’s wrong here and your com
mittee can do that,” Zullo said.
Union officials spoke to a crowd of
about 150 people in a meeting room
at the Eugene Public Library on Sat
urday before rallying at the LTD sta
tion chanting a series of pro-union
chants with signs denouncing LTD
General Manager Ken Hamm and the
LTD Board of Directors.
“The employees of LTD haven’t
failed,” ATU executive board
officer for division 757 Carol Allred
said. “It’s the leaders of LTD that
have failed.”
Allred was joined by Zullo, Hunt
and numerous union supporters and
community members who spoke in
support of the pending strike, empha
sizing the importance of supporting
labor movements that maintain a
standard of family-wage jobs
throughout the state.
“We feel like we set the standard in
this community and we’re not willing
to join the downward spiral,” Allred
told the crowd. “We’re fighting for all
of you.”
Lane County Commissioner Peter
Sorenson spoke in support of ATU,
calling for the public to be educated
about the need to obtain and main
tain family-wage jobs in Oregon.
“Anytime we see the threat to
family-wage jobs our state, elected
officials have to come forward,”
Sorenson said.
Sorenson denounced the LTD
alternative ride services offered, but
nothing can be confirmed until the
packet is released, Lu said.
ludiidgeuieui lor us
handling of the con
tract negotiations.
Sorenson, who re
cently declared his
candidacy for the 2006
Democratic nomina
tion for governor, said
it is important to edu
cate everyone about
the importance of a
good labor communi
NEED A RIDE?
Car pool information is
available at www.rideshare.us
and the ASUO Web site,
asuo.uoregon.edu/.
Assault Prevention Shuttle will
be running its usual hours,
6 p.m. to midnight Sunday
through Thursday and 6 p.m.
to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
university otticials
have said the parking
lot at Autzen Stadium
will be open during
the day free of charge
and security will
be monitoring the lot
and the walkway be
tween campus and
the stadium.
The 2004-05 service
contract between
ty, adding that negotiation is the
only way to obtain and maintain fair
labor practices.
“Benefits and wages do not come
unilaterally, they come through nego
tiation,” Sorenson said.
Between speeches, LTD driver
Carl Faddis performed a number of
songs that he had written about the
ongoing contract negotiations be
tween LTD and the union, which
have been going on since May.
Faddis said what many others had
already said: that the last thing the
union wanted to do was harm the
community, but agreeing to a con
tract they say is inadequate would
harm the community more in the
long run.
“We make our living with you, and
not off of you,” Faddis said.
ASUO officials are working to help
coordinate carpools and plan a reim
bursement process for the incidental
fees that would normally go to LTD
should a strike occur, ASUO Commu
nity and Housing Coordinator Scott
Lu said.
The University is set to release a
packet of information about addition
al parking around the University and
LTD and the University allots
$583,250 in student fees to be used
to provide unlimited bus service to
University students.
“LTD has agreed to reimburse all
money that would have been paid for
that day,” Lu said.
The University pays for the service
every term, so the money that will be
reimbursed will go toward spring
term’s balance and the remaining
funds will go the ASUO Student Sen
ate surplus, Lu said.
Lu said details cannot be con
firmed on any type of reimbursement
process or alternative transportation
plan until he has more information.
The agreement to reimburse stu
dent fees was reached between LTD
Service Planning and Marketing
Manager Andy Vobora and Ravas
sipour. Ravassipour said the details of
the arrangement haven’t been figured
out yet but plans are in the works.
“We haven’t nailed down all the
details, but we know we want to
make sure kids can get to campus,”
Ravassipour said.
meghxinnciiniff@dailyemerald.com
WHAT WILL YOU DO IF THE LTD BUS DRIVERS GO ON STRIKE?
"If I had to use something for
transportation other than
walking, I guess I'd ask my
friends or my parents."
Adam Howard | Non-admit grad student
“There are going to be a lot of people
who are screwed. I'm going to
carpool, but if I can’t make that
possible I’ll just walk or bike."
Peter Sky | Freshman
“I might have to walk. It's
going to be a little bit of an
inconvenience, but I can’t
do anything about it."
Eugene Ahn | Junior
“I’d be in support of it and I'll ride
my bike. It’s the workers that keep
the country going."
Elaine Phillips | University employee