Edward M. Strait (June 23, 1930 – December 20, 2008) was an American

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

leader. He was President of the Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions, representing more than 9,300 employees, and head of the

Amalgamated Transit Union The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is a labor organization in the United States and Canada that represents employees in the public transit industry. Established in 1892 as the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America, the un ...

's bargaining unit during the

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

beginning March 2, 1990, and ending in April 1993. As Council President, Strait discussed the terms of all possible negotiations with the 16 local union presidents. Believing the company was motivated by a preconceived desire to bust the union, Strait explained that "they negotiated us into a strike. I think this has been planned. The company wants to get rid of the union." Initial strike negotiations were stalled by acts of violence. While

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...

CEO Fred Currey argued that "no American worth his salt negotiates with terrorists," Strait responded that management's failure to negotiate amounted to "putting the negotiations back into the hands of terrorists." Shortly after Currey declared "victory" and called the strike "irrelevant," Greyhound was forced to declare bankruptcy in June, 1990, which Strait predicted in a debate with Executive Vice President and Chief Negotiator Anthony Lannie on

Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer (; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. Lehrer was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS NewsHour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a de ...

's ''

NewsHour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). Each edition lasts one hour. It consists of ...

''. After Greyhound declared bankruptcy, Strait was primarily concerned with obtaining seniority rehiring for the striking workers, explaining, "They promised these scabs jobs. They just don't want to negotiate seniority. If you have a dollar amount, but no seniority, you don't have a job. Without seniority you don't have anything." Prior to the 1990 strike, Strait was active in the 1983 Greyhound strike as president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1098 in Washington, DC. His initial involvement with Greyhound began when he began driving buses in the 1960s. As a labor leader, Strait was a witness at the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Subcommittee on Labor Management Relations hearing for a bill designed to strengthen protections for striking workers. Strait died on December 20, 2008 at the age of 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strait, Ed 1930 births American trade union leaders Greyhound Lines 2008 deaths