Bus drivers, monitors set to picket (Democratic) convention

[Khephra]

Boston's school bus drivers and monitors are planning a picket line outside the FleetCenter during the Democratic National Convention, reviving the specter of labor unrest outside the convention arena.

The nearly 1,200 bus drivers and monitors lack the political clout of the 1,400-member Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, which dropped its threats to picket at the FleetCenter last week, and it is unclear how many drivers would turn out for picket lines. But labor demonstrations at the convention arena could present a difficult choice for convention delegates and Senator John F. Kerry, who last week honored the police union's picket line at the US Conference of Mayors meeting in Boston. "I don't cross picket lines," Kerry told reporters at the time.

Now, the unions representing the bus drivers and monitors are calling on Kerry and delegates to do the same at the convention later this month. "We appreciated John Kerry's position that he wouldn't cross a picket line," said Steven Gillis, president of the bus drivers' union, which has gone a year working without a contract. "Hopefully, local and national Democrats will do the same."

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http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/07/07/bus_drivers_monitors_set_to_picket_convention/