The Michigan Daily Vol. LXXXVII, No-41-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Tuesday, July 12, 1977 Ten Cents Twelve Pages Strike halts city bus service By SUE WARNER Ann Arbor Transit Authority (AATA) bus service came to a halt yesterday morning as 215 members of the Transportation Employes Union (TEU) failed to report to work after contract negotiations broke down Sunday evening. The city bus workers voted overwhelm- ingly to stage the work stoppage after a ten-day extension of their present two- year contract expired Sunday at midnight. ACCORDING TO AATA statistics, an es- timated 8,000 commuters use the bus ser- vice daily in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and rural areas of Washtenaw County. AATA Was unable to provide any road service yesterday and according to Colleen McGee, AATA spokesperson, there will "probably" be no service today either. Although McGee said bus service would depend on "driver availability" - the number of drivers who cross the picket line - AATA's first priority this week will be to restore special services for the han- dicapped. She added that modified line service may be possible by the end of the week. SUPERVISORS kept one bus operating yesterday to serve handicapped residents in need of emergency transportation. Management and union negotiators are scheduled to begin bargaining again tomor- row with the aid of a state-appointed me- diator. Picket lines were set up yesterday in front of the AATA's administrative offices on Carpenter Road, at the intersection of Fourth and William streets in Ann Arbor and at one bus transfer point in Ypsilanti. Approximately 75 picketers showed up for a rally yesterday morning at the AATA's administrative offices and between five and ten strikers walked the picket line at Fourth and William yesterday, combatting intermittent sprinkles. "THERE'S BEEN an overwhelming show of support on the part of the membership," said Beatrice (Tasha) Berry, TEU Vice- President. "Our turnout (picketing) has been excellent." Many morning commuters were sur- prised to find the bus lines out of opera- tion and were forced to take cabs or find other means of getting to work. However, according to Berry, most regular bus com- muters were prepared for the walkout by ution leaflets explaining the negotiation and suggesting passengers devise an alter- native transportation plan for yesterday morning. The leaflets were distributed late last week. The union had urged AATA bargainers to extend the present contract utp to 30 days, but management felt the 10-day ex- tension should have been sufficient. STEVE McCARGER, union bargaining team member, stated yesterday: "We feel the issues at the table have to be address- ed in a more thorough manner and there just wasn't enough time for that." In a prepared statement, TEU mem- bers blasted AATA officials for leaving town on vacation during the negotiations. Two of the six AATA board members are presently out of town, and AATA's chief negotiator left the city for seven days dur- ing the recent contract extension. A sev- enth seat on the board is vacant pending Citv Council appointment. TEU leaders contend the absence of board members may stall efforts to end the strike. "Essentially it creates a situa- tion that restricts the natural bargaining process," McCarger said. HOWEVER, according to Nancy Crumb, Administrative Assistant to Karl Guenther, See AATA, Page 10 Transportation Employees Union (TEU) strikers pound the pavement at Fourth and Liberty in protest of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority's (AATA) latest contract offer. Court halts Kent State gym KENT, Ohio (t') - A county judge yesterday ordered dem- onstrators evicted - and uni- versity construction plans de- layed temporarily - at a site near the spot where four Kent State University students were shot to death seven years ago by National Guardmen. The ruling, if observed, would take the dispute from the hill- top from which the guardsmen fired and would leave its reso- lution in a more orderly set- ting -a court of law. T H E DEMONSTRATORS have been occupying the site for 61 days in attempts to pre- vent the university from build- ing a gymnasium annex. The university went to court yesterday in attempts to get the protestors evicted. The temporary restraining or- der issued yesterday by Com- mon Pleas Court Judge Joseph Kainrad tells the demonstrators to clear out by 8 a.m. today. But it also tells university of- ficials to postpone construction of the $6 million addition until he can hold another hearing on the matter July 21. THE PORTAGE COUNTY judge also ordered police to rope off Blanket Hill, where the May Fourth Coalition has set up headquarters. ; The demonstrators have been on the hill since the seventh an- niversary of the May 4, 1970 shootings. They say they want to preserve the memory of that day, and they say the planned building would obscure it. This time, each side has been careful to keep tempers cool- and the legal battle that be- gan yesterday presents a vivid contrast to the rock-throwing melee that preceded the shoot- ings. THE STUDENTS say the site should be preserved as a memorial to the dead students. The university, with expensive contracts already let, wants to begin construction of the $6 million complex by Wednesday. .Thetdemonstratorssay in turn that they will have to be carried off, but will not become violent. And the university's response has been to go to court. The request for an injunction against the students complains that the demonstrators are jeo- pardizing health and prope ry rights- and that "the threat that the encampment will be- come uncontrollable has in- creased dramatically." THOSE WORDS point up the Kent asked for help in dealing weapons at the rioters to scare biggest difference so far be- with demonstrators in town and them. tween this confrontation and after a Reserve Officers Train- that of May 4, 1970 - a classic ing Corps building on campus BUT THE MELEE went on, "uncontrollable" , demonstra- was burned and demonstrators many students jeering confi- tion, interfered with firemen trying dently and some taking the The immediate issue then to put it out. guard tactics as a joke. The was President Richard Nixon's That Monday, having chased troopers reached the hill, turn- order to invade Cambodia. But rock - throwing students and in ed once more, and pointed their it was only one of many issues turn having found themselves guns. around which protesters of the out maneuvered and pearly This time some of them fired, time galvanized. Gov. James surrounded, a group of about and four students fell dying in Rhodes had ordered the Nation- 50 guardsmen retreated to the a nearby parking lot. al Guard onto the campus two high ground, occasionally stop- Again this year, emotions days before, after the mayor of ping and pointing their loaded See COURT, Page 9 Hijaclkers freea 75 hostages HELSINKI, Finland (Mt - The remaining three plane landed in Helsinki, where early yesterday hostages aboard a Soviet airliner escaped early Finnish officials began negotiating with the hi- today, leaving the two armed hijackers alone jackers through a window of the plane. on the plane, a government spoesman announced. Shortly before midnight, the hijackers closed Asked if the military was preparing to move the window, an airport official said. It was un- in on the TU134 jetliner, in which the hijackers clear whether they meant to break off the ne- had hoped to escape from the Soviet Union to gotiations or to suspend them for the night. Sweden, the spokesman said, "We'll try to per- In the course of the day-long negotiations, the suade them (the hijackers) to surrender." hijackers released their hostages in several A Russian air hostess was quoted as saying groups, starting with 42 women and children. the hijackers were armed with hand grenades The last group of 20 men was released shortly and explosives. before the window was closed. - THEY SEIZED THE Aeroflot jet with 78 other SEVEN CREWMEN escaped from the plane passengers and crew on a domestic flight Sun- soon after,-it landed in Helsinki Sunday, and six day night and ordered it to Sweden. But the - See HIJACKERS, Page 10