POUGHKEEPSIE – Teamster bus drivers for Dutchess County Transit voted on Sunday to give the county one more month before considering a strike vote.
The contract for the 100 members of Teamsters Local 445 expires this Wednesday, January 31, but lead negotiator Jerry Ebert said they decided to extend their deadline for one month.
“They did this because we made significant progress during our most recent set of negotiations and we feel we want to give the process a little more time to breathe,” he said. “They had been scheduled to strike on February 1 but we have decided to hold off on that because we made significant progress during negotiations.”
The union set a new date of March 1 to consider a walkout if no new contract is agreed upon.
The county system assumed the routes of the former Poughkeepsie City bus system last summer and a strike could cause considerable backlash from those in the city who opposed the takeover.
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